University of East London Religious Education (V6X1)

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 - secondary
• Course length: 1 year - full time
• Date you can apply from: 11 October 2022
• Date course starts: September 2023
• Website: https://www.uel.ac.uk/teacher-training

Contents

Course summary

This course leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for the 11 to 16 age range, which qualifies you to be a teacher in secondary schools in England and Wales. Where possible, we also give you the chance to gain experience in the 11 to 18 age range.

Religious Education (RE) helps build young people’s understanding and appreciation of different beliefs, practices and religions, and how these relate to the modern world.

Training to teach RE in London offers you the chance to tackle challenging, thought-provoking topics with young people.

You can use your creativity and passion for the subject to develop lessons that help your pupils discuss and answer the most fundamental questions – from belief in God to the meaning and purpose of life.

By training as a religious education teacher, you can help your pupils become compassionate young adults, respectful of religious and cultural differences.

School placements

We work within a very large partnership of schools across London and also Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey. You will be teaching all year groups in the 11-16 age range but we do provide 16-18 experience as well in many school placements. You will experience two, twelve week placements in two complementary schools. You will be supported in these schools by a school based mentor as well as your UEL tutor.

Entry requirements

Qualifications needed

An undergraduate degree, or equivalent.

Your degree subject should be in religious 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.

Personal qualities

• Good interpersonal skills with young people and/or adults;
• Evidence of ability to respond to a challenge and overcome setbacks;
• Resilience and commitment;
• Evidence of knowledge of wider education issues and the ability to express and justify opinions and to consider those of others.

Fees and financial support

The course fees for 2023 to 2024 are as follows:

UK students	£9,250
International students	£13,500

About the training provider

The University of East London is an experienced and successful initial teacher training (ITT) and education provider. Courses are taught and supported by exceptional and dynamic staff, all of whom foster creativity, collaboration, innovation and student engagement at the heart of what they offer. We value the link between the academic and the practice, and this will form a significant part of the ITT programme you undertake.

We offer PGCE routes into teaching as well as School Direct Salaried and Non Salaried, and the Post Graduate Teacher Apprenticeship. We also have two undergraduate courses to consider that lead to QTS - BA Primary Education and BSc Computer Science and Education.

Our end of programme survey outcomes, suggest that over 95% of our teacher trainees rate the quality of their training through UEL as good or higher. Employability is also excellent with most subjects, phases and routes achieving 95-100% employment each year.

UEL is an inclusive university and our teacher training programmes are highly diverse and multicultural. We are very proud of our trainee teachers, new and old, and what they have gone on to achieve in our schools. We are especially proud of the community we serve and how we take people from the local community who then go back into this community to teach - over 50% of our trainees find jobs within our partner schools each year.

We look forward to welcoming you to UEL and the School of Education and Communities.

Interview process

You will be interviewed at UEL by the RE ITT course tutor, and where possible, a practising teacher from one of our partner schools. The interview will involve two tests - one that focuses on your literacy expertise and one that considers you subject knowledge. These tests are not pass/ fail in design, but simply enable us to ascertain the best ways of supporting these areas as you hopefully progress onto the programme. You are also asked to prepare a lesson plan for Year 7 pupils, which you will present during the interview.

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

Applications from students with disabilities or other specific needs are welcomed. Initial teacher training programmes are based at our Stratford campus, which is fully accessible to all. UEL operates a very clear inclusivity policy. As a large provider of ITT, we have access to various support mechanisms for students who need this or would benefit from this additional support.

Contact this training provider

• Email: study@uel.ac.uk
• Telephone: 020 8223 3333
• Website: https://www.uel.ac.uk/teacher-training
• Address: School of Education and Communities; Water Lane; Stratford; London; E15 4LZ

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).

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