Each year the Centre for Teacher Education trains around 450 budding teachers, with many taking the 1 year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).

Kate Glavina, Primary and Early Years PGCE Course Leader and Dr Alison Morgan, deputy head of Secondary PGCE and lead for the core programme, tell us here how they welcome new recruits during August and September.

Tell us a little about the PGCE induction programme

Kate: The Primary and Early Years PGCE team is a small team of tutors who undertake teaching, personal tutoring and link tutoring in schools.

The Primary & Early Years PGCE programme starts on Tuesday 29 August with a welcome lecture delivered by the Course Leader, followed by introductory ‘Getting to know you’ seminars with Personal Tutors. We expect to have recruited about 110 trainee teachers. Induction Week is a packed week during which trainees will register, start the Professional Studies and Subject Studies modules, undertake some self-study tasks and create their on-line portfolio for Professional Reflection throughout the year.

Alison: For the first time, the Secondary PGCE team are holding two inductions, one for the core or university-led PGCE beginning on 11 September and the other for School Direct beginning on 21 August. The decision to divide the cohort into two is in order to tailor the induction programme more effectively to the needs of the students. This is our largest cohort yet with 111 students across eighteen specialist subjects on the core route and 159 on School Direct across twenty-one subjects, covering STEM, the creative arts and humanities. Both induction programmes last for nine days and cover a range of topics from the philosophy of teaching to critical thinking, vocal presence in the classroom to safeguarding.

As well as teaching, our role also involves visiting our students on placement in partner schools to observe them teach and moderate the judgements of their school mentors.

It’s a great time of year because…

Kate: tutors are busy planning the 17/18 programme, booking visiting speakers and creating new resources to ensure the course is the best that it can be.

Alison: we have the time to plan next year’s programme to ensure we build on the successes of previous years to deliver a programme of the highest quality.

One of the biggest challenges at this time is…

Kate: securing room bookings for a busy and varied timetable for the days trainees are on campus. No two days are the same, which is what makes a PGCE course such an interesting one to experience but a challenging one to organise!

Alison: securing teaching space is a challenge for us too, given we have such a large cohort. Another challenge is ensuring that students across all twenty-one specialisms have a top-quality experience, whether it is one of our fifty mathematicians or two dancers. We are liaising with partner schools and other specialists, as well as our in-house team to develop an excellent programme of subject studies provision.

People may not realise but…

Kate: upon qualifying, the majority of our trainees are employed locally and are keenly sought after by employing head teachers due to the high reputation of our course.

Alison: we work with around 100 secondary schools across the region, putting us in an excellent position to support widening participation and school improvement.

The team

Kate: The Primary and Early Years PGCE tutors responsible for Induction are:

• Kate Glavina – Primary and Early Years PGCE Course Leader
• Deborah Roberts - Professional Studies and Professional Practice Module Leader
• Mark Harris – Subject Studies Module Leader
• Jo Dobb – English Tutor
• Sally Spicer – Science Tutor
• Becky Bartram – Early Years Tutor
• Jen Rowan-Lancaster – WCS Tutor

Alison: The Secondary PGCE team includes thirteen teaching fellows and senior teaching fellows, and we’ll be joined by a new teaching fellow in October, who is also a maths specialist.

• Paul Taylor-McCartney – head of secondary PGCE
• Dr Alison Morgan – deputy head of secondary PGCE and lead for the core programme
• Jonty Leese – senior teaching fellow and lead for the school direct programme
• Dr John Thornby – senior teaching fellow
• Georgina Newton - senior teaching fellow
• Kate Mawson - senior teaching fellow
• Vikki Armeson – teaching fellow
• Kate Hamer – teaching fellow
• Will Haywood – teaching fellow
• Safina Perveen – teaching fellow
• Cathy Williams – teaching fellow
• Rachel Cooper – teaching fellow
• Rosemary Butcher – teaching fellow