Coventry University Biology (B408)

PGCE with QTS, full time or part time

• Financial support: Bursaries and student finance are available 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.

• Course length: 1 year full -time, 2 years part-time
• Date you can apply from: 13 October 2020
• Date course starts: September 2021
• Website: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/education

Contents

About the course

We are different from other University teacher training courses in that all of your time is spent in school. Our Secondary PGCE with QTS in Biology is available nationally, and you will undertake your teacher training in an approved school in a location to suit you.

We partner with a significant number of schools across the country. Alternatively, it can be advantageous for prospective trainees to source their own main school placement, and we will work with the school to enable your application and training.

You will be in school for the full 5 days a week or 2½ days a week if you are part-time. In your school you will develop your craft of the classroom, guided by an in-school mentor who will support you on a day-to-day basis. This is underpinned by our interactive, online learning platform, which hosts our regular engagement with you in webinars, tutorials and podcasts, and allows opportunities for collaboration with fellow trainees.

You will also receive 1-1 support from your own University Tutor, who is part of a dynamic and highly-skilled University team. You will also have the opportunity to attend termly two-day educational conferences with us, where you will share ideas with fellow trainees and engage with leading educators and teachers. Where Covid-19 prevents attendance in-person, the conferences are delivered online.

Other advantages of training to teach with us are:

• A competitively-priced course fee of £7500.

• A flexible approach to training: You can start in September or January and choose to train on a full-time or part-time basis.

• The practical relevance of in-school training combined with the quality and rigour expected of a University PGCE with 60 Masters-level credits.

For more course details, visit www.coventry.ac.uk/education

School placements

Our course enables you to train to teach in a location in England to suit you. Your training is based in full in two schools – a main school placement for two terms and a second school for one term. For part-time students, you will spend a year in one school and a year in another. Other than to attend our termly 2-day conferences at our Northamptonshire campus, all of your time will be based in these schools where you will combine practical in-school teaching with your learning from the University team and the online course material.

We partner with schools throughout the country to host these placements. Alternatively, you may have a preferred host school, which is currently not working with us. New schools to our partnership respond well to prospective trainees who show the initiative of contacting them directly to arrange a placement. This approach also provides the school with the opportunity of meeting you at a very early stage, enabling them to build a relationship with you from the outset. We can assist you in this, and we will support the school in meeting our criteria to partner with us.

We believe that outstanding, daily mentoring is one of the most important elements of teacher training. On placement, your in-school mentor will be an experienced, highly effective teacher who receives regular training from us.

In addition, your University tutor will oversee and help guide your progress throughout the course, including support with your assignments as well as providing practical tips for your teaching.

Entry requirements

Qualifications needed

All applicants are required to hold an undergraduate degree from a UK higher education institution, or equivalent qualification as assessed by NARIC.

In addition to the degree you will need to have passed GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade 4 (grade C) or above. We will also consider applications from those with qualifications recognised by the University as equivalent to GCSE standard.

Applicants, whose first language is not English, should have an IELTS of 6.5 overall.

Other requirements

Health and Physical Capacity to Teach:

The DfE requires providers to ensure that all trainees have the health and physical capacity to teach and will not put children and young people at risk of harm.

DBS:

All entrants to ITT programmes are subject to appropriate pre-selection checks, including an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service), criminal records checks and children’s barred list information.

Further details on these checks will be provided during the selection process.

Fees and financial support

The course fees for UK students in 2021 to 2022 are £7,500.

This includes accommodation and sustenance at our termly 2-day conferences.

About the training provider

The National School of Education and Teaching is part of the Coventry University Group, which is one of the largest universities in the UK. With campuses in Coventry, London, Scarborough and Whittlebury (near Silverstone), we have some 40,000 students studying with us in the UK and 17,000 students studying overseas with our international collaborative partners.

Excellence in teaching and learning is at the heart of what we do, and we are the University of the Year for Student Experience in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2019). We also received the highest rating of Gold in the 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework, in which we ranked as the top public university in the UK.

The National School of Education and Teaching is based in Whittlebury, near the Silverstone racing track. On our educational conferences, you will enjoy first-rate conference and leisure facilities and 4* accommodation, which are included in the course fee.

Interview process

Whilst an interview can cause apprehension, ours is designed to be fair and relaxed, and we will look at your suitability to train to teach, more than anything else. It is a two-way interview process: we encourage you to ask questions so you can evaluate what we offer, while at the same time we learn more about you. It is a chance for you to share with us your knowledge about your chosen phase or subject as well as your enthusiasm for a career in teaching.

At interview, you will:

• Prepare a 5 minute presentation on a given title, which will be sent to you prior to your interview.

• Complete a task (this is not an exam) about understanding the fundamental English and Maths skills required of a teacher. This task will be sent out prior to interview and is designed to inform us of any wider development or training requirements you would need to complete as part of the course.

• Reflect on your subject knowledge and identify your current strengths and areas that you will need to develop either before the start of your course or as part of the course.

• Be given an opportunity to answer questions to enable the interviewer to assess your communication skills, pedagogical understanding, subject knowledge, and enthusiasm for teaching.

• Be given an opportunity to discuss any flexibility in provision that might be beneficial (i.e. part-time or individual needs).

Training with disabilities and other needs

Coventry University is committed to promoting equality of opportunity to ensure that it meets the needs of all students.

If you have a disability we encourage you to disclose this along with any other relevant information that could support your studies.

Disability Advisors are part of the Health and Wellbeing team and are available to provide advice and support to students from application through to graduation. This team of dedicated professionals have the experience and skills to ensure that individuals receive appropriate support throughout their time at University. They offer support to students with a variety of disabilities including (but not limited to) Specific Learning Difficulty (Dyslexia), Physical and Sensory Disabilities.

Further information can be found here: https://www.coventry.ac.uk/study-at-coventry/student-support/health-and-wellbeing/disability/

Contact this training provider

• Email: nset@coventry.ac.uk
• Telephone: 01327 850320
• Website: http://www.coventry.ac.uk/education
• Address: The National School of Education and Teaching (NSET); Whittlebury Park, Whittlebury; Nr Towcester; Northamptonshire; NN12 8WP

Support and advice

For support and advice, you can speak to a Get Into Teaching adviser for free. They’re all experienced teachers who can help you to prepare your application, book school experience, and access exclusive teaching events.

You can also call Get Into Teaching free of charge on 0800 389 2500, or speak to an adviser using their online chat service Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm (except public holidays).

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