Course description
PGCE Secondary – Engineers teach Physics will train you to become a Physics or Physics with Maths teacher across the 11 to 16 or 11 to 18 age range. You will be trained to teach across all sciences up to KS3.
The course will prepare you to teach the National Curriculum and related national strategies, GCSE and A-level. Completion leads to both a postgraduate qualification and recommendation for qualified teacher status (QTS).
University-based sessions will enable you to reflect on teaching methods and engage critically with the Science curriculum. Experienced teachers will work alongside PGCE tutors, plus visitors from exam boards and the Institute of Physics.
Some sessions are run with the University's science departments to benefit fully from the University's resources, and with Manchester Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.
Find out more about your Science tutors:
Special features
- Our PGCE programmes are rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted (2019), and we have been judged best university provider of initial teacher training in the North of England (Good Teacher Training Guide 2017).
- Benefit from dedicated support to enhance your subject knowledge and teaching skills.
- We have links with more than 200 schools, academies and colleges, and you will benefit from significant school-based teaching experience.
- Our leading experts in education have trained more than 5,000 teachers in the last 15 years.
Teaching and learning
The structure of our PGCEs includes both school-based and university-based learning.
On our secondary PGCEs, around two-thirds of your time will be spent in secondary schools, academies and colleges on placements.
The course is run in partnership with schools and colleges drawn from a wide area, including Bolton, Bury, Cheshire, Deeside, Lancashire, Manchester, Merseyside, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Staffordshire, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Warrington and Wigan.
The University's partnership schools are highly committed to giving you the best possible experience whilst you are on your school placements, giving you the opportunity to put into practice all the knowledge you have acquired from sessions held at the University.
When on placement, you will observe and teach classes under the guidance of an experienced teacher. You will also have a mentor to help you to plan lessons, deal with marking and assessment, and improve your teaching skills.
Peer observations of lessons will enable you to participate actively in your own and your fellow students' development as teachers. You will be provided with a significant amount of responsibility to develop your own teaching style, set targets, take your own initiatives and evaluate your own work in planning, teaching and assessing.
Your remaining time will be spent at the University, for example in lectures and seminars, and in subject-specific groups.
We will support your training to become a secondary school teacher by providing:
- a quality teaching experience in our partner schools and colleges;
- a study of current, challenging educational issues;
- careers planning and early professional development;
- guidance and support from experienced tutors and mentors;
- opportunities for reflective practice and research.
As a guide, you should anticipate that time in university-based learning combined with school-based placements will roughly equate to the time commitment of a full-time job, with additional time required in evenings and weekends for background reading, lesson planning and completing written assignments.
Coursework and assessment
Your school and University experiences are formally assessed. Both your mentors and tutors will help you to record your achievements and set targets from week to week and from placement to placement.
During each placement, a University tutor will observe you teach and discuss your progress with you and your mentor.
At the end of each school experience, you will receive a progress report from your mentor. The report will provide clear feedback and targets in the following areas:
- subject and curriculum knowledge;
- planning and teaching;
- assessment;
- wider professional responsibilities.
These reports, together with your record of achievement and development, facilitate your progression as a teacher.
The written assignments will allow you to gain a maximum of 60 master's-level credits, and guidance and support to complete these assignments will be available from your University tutors.
Course content for year 1
You will:
- develop a critical awareness of lesson and curriculum planning, spending time on each with school-based mentors and University tutors;
- develop skills and knowledge in inclusive Science teaching, considering how to include marginalised narratives in the curriculum;
- develop pedagogy and gain an understanding of a range of different teaching strategies in the Science classroom, and in activities beyond the classroom;
- develop subject and curriculum knowledge for KS3, KS4 and KS5 Science.