Secondary Social Sciences - PGCE

Entry requirements

You must have a good degree (normally a 2:2 or above) in a relevant subject from a UK higher education institution or equivalent. If you are a graduate and wish to train as a Science with Chemistry teacher but your degree did not provide any or enough chemistry content for you to gain automatic entry on to a secondary Science with Chemistry teacher training course, you may be required to complete an appropriate Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course.

You must have a GCSE grade 4 (C) or above (or equivalent) in both English language and mathematics prior to application and if you are offered an interview you will take a written test to assess your standard of English.

If you do not already have GCSEs in English language and mathematics, or their equivalent, and are not registered to take them, you should visit Equivalency Testing. We also offer our own in-house equivalency tests. If you are successful at interview and need to pass an equivalency test to meet the entry requirements, our Admissions team will refer you to the details of our test. It should be noted that applicants taking the equivalency tests need to have passed prior to enrolment.

The selection interview will assess your subject knowledge and personal qualities such as the potential to relate well to secondary age students, enthusiasm, sensitivity, communication skills and robustness and resilience for teaching. You will also take a written test to assess your standard of English.

Successful candidates must meet Department for Education requirements for Initial Teacher Training prior to enrolling on this course. This includes obtaining a satisfactory occupational health check and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, as well as prohibition and children’s barred list checks in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our course provides you with the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding for you to become a successful teacher of Social Sciences. Social Sciences encompasses Health and Social Care, Psychology and Sociology, giving you a broad base of knowledge to pass on to your students and a wider range of employment opportunities, even if you specialise in a particular area.

You’ll develop and share knowledge of core areas of psychology, including cognitive, social, biological, and developmental psychology. We will support you to develop the skills and strategies needed to enthuse your students about human lifespan and development, health and social care services, and factors that affect people’s health and wellbeing both positively and negatively, and look at how these interact with the wider sociological context, including culture, identity, families and relationships, global development, the media, health, poverty, crime, ideology, and religion. It is an innovative, practice-based programme designed to fully support you to become a confident, dynamic, and creative teacher committed to making learning accessible for all.

The subject curriculum and Professional Studies forms the key elements of your course, which will focus on the pedagogical approaches that enable young people to learn effectively in the classroom. You will also be able to support your students in the development of critical analysis, independent thinking, and research skills. Taught modules, assignments and School-Based Training are structured around the development of your evidence portfolio which demonstrates your progress against our ITE Core Curriculum. Our ambitious curriculum incorporates the ITT Core Content Framework (DfE, 2019) and the nationally agreed competences - the Teachers’ Standards, which all teachers must meet throughout their career.

Information for international students

A minimum IELTS score of 7.0 is required with no individual component less than 6.5. Candidates who have undertaken IELTS will also need to successfully pass our GCSE English equivalency test.

Fees and funding

Although this is a postgraduate course, current PGCE students are eligible for the finance support package available to full-time undergraduates.