Teach South West (WeST) Physical Education (358Z)

Postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) with qualified teacher status (QTS)

• Accredited body: University of Exeter
• Financial support: Student finance if you’re eligible
• Qualification:
  PGCE with QTS

  A postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) with qualified teacher status (QTS) will allow you to teach in state schools in England and may allow you to teach in other parts of the UK.

  It may also allow you to teach overseas, though you should always check what qualifications are needed in the country you’d like to teach in.

  Many PGCE courses include credits that count toward a Master’s degree.

• Age range: 11 to 18 - secondary
• Course length: 1 year - full time
• Date you can apply from: 11 October 2022
• Date course starts: September 2023
• Website: https://www.westst.org.uk/page/?title=Teach+South+West&pid=176

WarningYou cannot apply for this course because it currently has no vacancies. To find courses with vacancies, change your search settings to ‘Only show courses with vacancies’.

Contents

Course summary

Physical Education (PE) at Exeter is widely recognised as a leading PE course nationally. The PE cohort is an academically able group and employability rates are exceptionally high. Within the first 5 years of teaching, the majority of our trainees take on leadership roles, such as Head of Department or Head of Year and complete their Master’s Degree in Education.

The PE course is constantly evolving and changing to take account of: (a) the latest empirical research and government policy initiatives in teacher education both in PE and the wider educational landscape, (b) internal quality assurance measures such as trainee evaluations, school-based teachers’ evaluations, peer reviews and, (c) external quality assurance health checks, such as recent Ofsted inspection findings, external examiner’s reports to keep the course vital, stimulating and moving forward.

Supported by a team of highly-qualified and experienced university and school-based tutors, the PE course places considerable importance on trainees collaboratively planning, teaching and reflecting critically on their teaching both in university and in schools. The PE course includes university taught lectures, practical/workshop-based sessions, directed study tasks, assignments and school experience to prepare traine.es to inform, inspire and engage the diverse needs of young people in the 21st century and withstand the demands of the modern day PE teacher.

The course is constantly evolving and changing to take account of: (a) the latest research both in PE and the wider educational landscape, (b) internal quality assurance mechanisms such as student teacher evaluations, school-based teachers’ evaluations, peer reviews and, (c) external quality assurance mechanisms such as recent Ofsted inspection findings, external examiner’s reports to keep the course vital, stimualting and moving forward.

The programme lasts for 39 weeks (one academic year). The course starts at the beginning of September students are inducted into TSW and spend one week in a primary school and one week in a secondary school and to carry out a variety of pre-course tasks. These include an initial needs analysis focussing on subject knowledge and a variety of reading tasks. The first term is predominately based at the University with an open-door policy to placement school one. The first placement then continues in January and lasts around 12 weeks. Induction into the second placement school takes place before the Easter vacation and then continues in the summer term until early July.

Read more at https://www.exeter.ac.uk/teachertraining/secondary/pe/#5rbZG1aGtChXL56v.99 https://www.westst.org.uk/page/?title=Teach+South+West&pid=176

School placements

We work with our candidates to secure placements that, wherever possible, meet their needs. The earlier the application the more flexibility we have for placements.
We partner with approximately 50 schools who are very supportive of the programme and keen to recruit our trainees into future posts. Read more at https://www.westst.org.uk/page/?title=Teach+South+West&pid=176

Entry requirements

Qualifications needed

An undergraduate degree at class 2:1 or above, or equivalent.

As entry onto the course is highly competitive, we will be looking for applicants with the following strengths:

1. Personal qualities: Knowledgeable, experienced, intelligent, organised, honest, hardworking, reliable, resilient, dependable, committed, intuitive, enthusiastic, positive, passionate, reflective, genuine and shows initiative.

2. Academic qualifications: (a) C grade or above (or equivalent) in PE at GCSE and/or A level, (b) 2:1 Honours degree (or higher) in a sport-related undergraduate degree.

3. Health and Safety qualifications.

4. National Governing Body (NGB) coaching award qualifications.

Passes at GCSE in English and Mathematics at Grade C/4 or equivalent are required.

Read more at https://www.exeter.ac.uk/teachertraining/secondary/pe/#5rbZG1aGtChXL56v.99

Your degree subject should be in physical education or a similar subject. Otherwise you’ll need to prove your subject knowledge in some other way.

Grade 4 (C) or above in English and maths, or equivalent qualification.

We’ll consider candidates with pending GCSEs.

We’ll consider candidates who need to take a GCSE equivalency test in English or maths.

Tests offered by www.equivalencytesting.com (please contact the PGCE admissions team for further guidance before signing up for the equivalency test)

Personal qualities

• A passion for teaching and for learning

• A real love of their subject

• An appreciation of the role of a teacher in a pupil’s life

• Adaptability

• Stamina

• A willingness to reflect

• Great organisation

Teach South West is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and expect all staff, trainees and volunteers to share this commitment. As such all personnel will undergo the following before being able to train/enter our Schools and Colleges;

• DBS clearance enhanced check
• Safeguarding training
• Data Protection training

Other requirements

Most successful applicants have a 2:1 or above. If however, you have a 2:2 or different academic background, equivalent to degree level, you are welcome to make an application through DFE Apply System for consideration.

In addition to the academic requirements listed, successful selection based on DFE Apply application, interview (online due to Covid-19 restrictions), Fitness to Teach assessment and DBS enhanced disclosure.

Although not essential it would be advantageous to be able to reflect on any school-based experience or experience working with young people in another context at interview.

Fees and financial support

The course fees for 2023 to 2024 are as follows:

UK students	£9,250
International students	£21,500

Financial support from the training provider

For information on Government loans and training bursaries, please visit the Student Finance England and Get into Teaching websites.

For more information, please see our Fees and finance webpages

About the training provider

Ivybridge Community College is a lead school for Teach South West within Westcountry Schools Trust (WeST).

WeST are a partnership of high performing schools sharing our skills, experience, talent and capacity to help improve learning and achievement in schools across the South West both within and beyond our Trust.

Teach South West is our Initial Teaching Training branch of WeST and offers Secondary (11-16 with Post-16 enhancement) School Direct training placements in English, Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, History, French, Spanish, PE and RE. All our programmes are through an @Exeter model in partnership with The University of Exeter, delivered at The Graduate School of Education, St Luke’s Campus, Exeter.

We always endeavour to place Teach South West trainees in schools that are agreeable to their circumstances and offer a breadth of experience; promoting future employability, hopefully within our Trust and/or local area of schools.

Teach South West trainees have access to high quality CPD available within the WeST Training School and are supported in finding the right post for their ECT (Early Career Teacher) years following their PGCE year.

Please review our website for more details or to come on a Taster Event, https://www.westst.org.uk/page/?title=Training+events&pid=188&action=saved

Interview process

After successful application through UCAS, a candidate will be invited to be part of an online interview process which will involve formal interviews and a presentation/teaching episode. Interviews are being held remotely.

What we are looking for:

• A passion for teaching and for learning

• A real love of their subject

• An appreciation of the role of a teacher in a pupil’s life

• Adaptability

• Stamina

• A willingness to reflect

• Great organisation

• The ability to work collaboratively

International candidates

You’ll need the right to study in the UK. You already have this if, for example, you:

• are an Irish citizen
• have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (you may still be able to apply)
• have indefinite leave to remain in the UK

If you do not already have the right to study in the UK for the duration of this course, you may need to apply for a Student visa.

To do this, you’ll need to be sponsored by your training provider.

Before you apply for this course, contact us to check Student visa sponsorship is available. If it is, and you get a place on this course, we’ll help you apply for your visa.

Alternatively, check if you’re eligible for a different type of visa, such as a Graduate or Family visa, that allows you to train to be a teacher without being sponsored.

Find out more about training to teach in England.

International qualifications

If your qualifications come from a non-UK institution, we may want to see a ‘statement of comparability’ from UK ENIC. This will show us how they compare to UK qualifications.

You can call Get Into Teaching on 0800 389 2500 for:

• guidance on the UK equivalents of your qualifications
• a free statement of comparability once you’ve submitted your application (if we ask you for this)

Training with disabilities and other needs

The University of Exeter provides comprehensive student services that include AccessAbility and Wellbeing teams, Student Learning Skills Service, Student Advice Unit, Counselling Service, Students’ Union Advisors, Student Health Centre, Family Centre and the Chaplaincy. For further details on the wealth of support available to you please go to Student Support Services

PGCE trainees can access the support of a Wellbeing Services Welfare Caseworker to discuss concerns, talk through options for support or understand more about how the University Wellbeing Services may be able to help. Alongside the support described above, every PGCE trainee is assessed by an Occupational Health provider as part of the admissions process to ensure they are fit to teach in a school setting. If the Occupational Health provider recommends any adjustments, the University’s Partnership Office will ensure you are placed in schools where these adjustments can be made, providing they are logistically possible and reasonable.

We always seek to support teachers for whom special educational needs could be a barrier to teaching. We will openly discuss the accessibility of our courses and indeed various partner schools in terms of training.

Contact this training provider

• Email: traintoteach@ivybridge.devon.sch.uk
• Telephone: 01752 691000
• Website: https://www.westst.org.uk/page/?title=Teach+South+West&pid=176
• Address: Teach South West (WeST) Ivybridge Community College; Harford Road; Ivybridge; Devon; PL21 0JA

Support and advice

You can speak to a teacher training adviser for free, dedicated advice. They are all experienced teachers who can give you one-to-one support with your application. They can also help you get school experience, and find events where you can speak to training providers and teachers.

Call Get Into Teaching free of charge on 0800 389 2500, or chat online Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm (except public holidays).

Is there something wrong with this page?

If there is something wrong with this course listing, contact us by email.