University of the West of England, Bristol Art and design (Distance Learning) (W1X2)

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

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 16
Course length
Up to 2 years
Date you can apply from
11 October 2022
Date course starts
April 2023
Website
http://www.uwe.ac.uk

Contents

Course summary

Our PGCE Online Distance Learning courses enable graduates to train and qualify as teachers while studying remotely. Study your chosen course over one year full-time or two years part-time, giving you the flexibility to fit your studies around your other commitments.

UWE Bristol is committed to training the best teachers for the future, able to provide first-class educational experiences and make a significant difference to children’s lives. We’ll train you to do so in partnership with your schools or educational settings.

Teaching is a challenging, exciting and rewarding career, with a high level of job satisfaction. It’s a great privilege, as well as a great responsibility, to be able to influence and shape the progress of children and young people. All children deserve to learn well, with enthusiastic specialist teachers.

To undertake the course, you must be in a role, or secure a role, in a school. This will enable you to undertake the required teaching practice specified by the Department for Education (DfE), which must be agreed by UWE Bristol before starting the course.

Your teaching practice will need to include some time spent in an alternative placement school, ensuring you’ll gain a variety of teaching experience. The schools involved will need to support your engagement with and progression through the course.

The Secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) is a course that trains graduates to be secondary school teachers of art and design.

The online PGCE course has been designed to train you to practise as a subject specialist teacher for the secondary age range (11-16). During the course you’ll be assessed according to the standards for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Our students will often gain experience of the 16-18 age range too, although they won’t be formally assessed in this phase.

On this course, you’ll study and practice strategies that enable you to support learners to look, think, and speak about art and design in ways that are relevant to them. We’ll explore the concept of the creative process in depth. You’ll debate and reflect on the purpose of delivering inclusive art education that encourages learners to think independently and empowers them to actively shape their own lives.

School placements

You’ll complete two school-based placements that you’ll need to organise before starting the course. You may be already employed by a school as a Teaching Assistant or Support Member of staff.

Trainee teachers are supported in schools by their Class Mentor (Primary) or Subject Mentor (Secondary), who is their day-to-day contact and supporter in school during placement.

Entry requirements

Qualifications needed

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

At least 50% of your degree should be in a subject related to what you want to teach, however we may be able to consider other personal, professional or educational experience as evidence of subject knowledge. In these instances, if your application is successful, you may be required to boost your subject knowledge with a Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course before starting your PGCE. (Deadlines apply.)

Your degree subject should be in art and design 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.

A minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 6.0 in each component (or approved equivalent). Please see our website for more information.

Personal qualities

Our PGCE courses include a high level of placement-based learning and working with children. We would encourage all applicants to get as much relevant experience of working or volunteering with children to help prepare them for this crucial element of their course.

Other requirements

All offers will be subject to satisfactory DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) and health checks.

Fees and financial support

The course fees for UK students in 2023 to 2024 are £6,750.

Please visit our website for further information.

About the training provider

At UWE Bristol we are particularly proud to be in the top 10 universities in the UK for student satisfaction and to be awarded the highest possible rating in the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) 2018, achieving GOLD Standard.

Our Education subject provision is highly successful - we came 5th in the UK for Education in the Guardian University League Table 2019 and 9th in the UK in the Complete University Guide League Table 2019. All of the subject-level university league-tables show us as clear leaders in Education in the region.

Significant components of the subject rankings are student satisfaction and quality of teaching. Our students are extremely positive about our provision and about the excellent support they receive from our wide range of school partners. The programme tutors at UWE along with our community of schools are committed to providing a teacher training experience which enables trainees to graduate as skilled and thoughtful practitioners who know what works and who can put this into practice in the classroom.

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

We take a great deal of care to ensure all our trainees can be successful and have many examples of this in practice. We evaluate needs in advance of students starting their course to enable us to put all the necessary measures in place both at UWE and in collaboration with our school partners. We are committed to ensuring that the teaching profession is as diverse as possible, just as we are committed to helping trainees to support the needs of all of their pupils they teach.

Contact this training provider

Email
admissions@uwe.ac.uk
Telephone
+44(0)117 32 83333
Website
http://www.uwe.ac.uk
Address
Bristol, University of the W/E
Frenchay Campus
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol
BS16 1QY

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.