The course is for trainee teachers who wish to develop as subject specialists in Media and Film Studies in the 14-19 year old age range, and for graduates who have gained a degree in Media Studies, Communications or a related subject.
The PGCE is a partnership initial teacher education programme where you will gain experience in becoming a teacher of Media Studies, both at Central and in your two placement schools. You will train to teach in the 14-19 year old secondary age range, across key stage 4 and 5 and in post-16 contexts. The course comprises 36 weeks, 12 weeks of which are based at Central and the remaining 24 in two secondary schools.
The course is structured to provide you with opportunities to integrate theoretical concerns with practical experience and to apply your subject knowledge and skills to classroom contexts. The course comprises study of Media Teaching and Learning and Educational and Professional Studies, alongside school placements.
The course is inspected regularly by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) on behalf of the Teaching Agency (TA), which is responsible for all such courses in England and Wales and was recently judged to be ‘Good with outstanding features’ (April, 2010).
Ofsted said that the key strengths are:
- outstanding recruitment and selection procedures to identify trainees whose commitment to the teaching profession is matched by high suitability for the course with potential to become at least good teachers
- the exceptional ability of trainees as highly reflective learners in responding to feedback from all trainers
- very good coherence between training at the centre and that on school placements, leading to at least good progress for trainees
- modelling of best practice by experts at the centre and in the partnership so trainees know how to adapt their work to support learning of different student groups
- outstanding achievement of trainees in preparing to teach in a culturally diverse society
- outstanding work of leaders in anticipating and responding to local and national initiatives, particularly in drama and media studies pedagogy.
During Term One, you will be introduced to a range of educational and media-specific strategies and issues, such as Special Educational Needs, behaviour management and the current reforms to the school curriculum. You will go on to apply this understanding while on placement at two different kinds of school or college over the duration of the course.
Placements are likely to be based in inner London and will allow you to have access to a diverse range of pupils as well as the rich cultural context of the capital. During your placements you will be supported by an experienced teacher and mentor who works closely with your Central-based tutor.
This course provides trainee teachers with professional training in the context of Central and its associated partner schools.
By the end of the course, successful trainee teachers will have acquired the skills, knowledge and understandings needed to start an effective teaching career. These will provide the basis on which they will build in future years and in particular during the Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT-Induction) year. At the end of the induction NQT year, they will need to have met the Professional Standards for Teachers – Core, in order to become a fully-qualified teacher. At the same time, trainee teachers will be helped to develop their capacity for independent and professional judgment.
During your placements you will be supported by an experienced media teacher, acting as your mentor and working closely with your Central-based link tutor. At the end of the year we expect successful trainee teachers to be capable, confident and well-informed new practitioners, who will be able to profit from subsequent experience and reflect intelligently on their daily practice and the context in which they work in order to provide the children and young people with whom they work with the high quality learning experiences to which they are all entitled.
