Secondary Social Sciences - PGCE Postgraduate Certificate in Education - PGCE

Our course provides you with the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding for you to become a successful teacher of Social Sciences for students aged 14 to 19. 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.

What's covered in this course?
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.

Through our Intensive training and practice (ITAP), which we have designed to strengthen the link between evidence and classroom practice, you will consolidate your knowledge of key evidence-based principles for effective teaching. You will also gain and understanding of adaptive teaching for SEND learners via expert input.

You will gather an evidence portfolio which maps your development as a subject specialist with reference to identified subject priorities appropriate to the needs of secondary teachers entering the profession. A system of continuous review and assessment of progress within your portfolio will support your growing ability to take responsibility for your own professional development and ensure that you approach QTS with a sound understanding of research-informed pedagogies and practices.