(Secondary) Biology PGCE

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Top reasons to choose this course

• You will train to teach with an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider.
• 2nd in the UK for education courses – Guardian University Guide 2025.
• Placement opportunities with schools in large, small, urban and rural settings.
• Enrichment opportunities to teach ages 16–18.
• Learn in our specialist classrooms that replicate those used in schools and our curriculum centre with its 30,000 resources for student teachers.
• Brighton has an expert team who have their own successful experience as education practitioners.
• Our teaching graduates benefit from excellent employment rates that are consistently above the sector average.

Plus, our student biology teachers benefit from:

• developing the knowledge and skills to also teach chemistry and physics

• field trips to science-related organisations

• workshops delivered by visiting lecturers from organisations such as the Association of Science Educators

• gaining hands-on experience in our science labs.

Course structure

Two-thirds of your year will be spent teaching under supervision in schools. Our tutors and mentors will advise and support you throughout each placement. You will receive comprehensive feedback during this time, enabling you to see what you are doing well and where you might need to improve.

The university works in partnership with schools and colleges to provide a high-quality programme of support, ensuring a sound relationship between theory and practice. You will benefit from undertaking two placements in two schools or colleges, with the opportunity to visit additional schools or colleges as part of the peer observation programme.

The school has excellent multimedia training materials, giving you the opportunity to develop your confidence and competence in the use of information and communications technology (ICT). Our multimedia suites are regularly updated to keep up with technological advancements in classroom teaching provision.

Areas of study

Course content is kept up to date with changes in local and national initiatives and legislation, so you will be confident that your working knowledge is based on current theory and practice.

The areas of study are made up of three strands.

The subject study/subject education strand builds upon your existing expertise in biology and provides you with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of biology in the secondary school context. You will consider the learning and teaching strategies that are relevant to the specialist subject. 

The subject education module is specifically related to teaching the specialist subject in school, while the subject study module enables you to take your subject specialist studies to an increased depth.

The education and professional studies strand will give you a thorough understanding of the learning process itself, including an appreciation of individual differences. The study of the principles and practices of learning and teaching is through both school and the university settings, allowing you to develop your practical competency, supported by analytical skills.

By the end of the course you will:

• refine your understanding of pedagogy, including an appreciation of current and emerging educational theories and debate

• understand how to use and adapt a range of teaching, learning, management and assessment strategies in order to meet the varying needs of learners

• understand how the progress and wellbeing of learners is affected by a range of influences and know how to take account of the principles of equality, inclusion and diversity.

The school placements/professional practice strand is intrinsically linked to all key strands of the course and is designed to enable you to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive as creative, informed and critical professionals.

You will engage in target-setting and action-planning, and reflect upon your learning in order to make improvements as you progress through the emerging, embedding and enhancing phases of trainee teacher development towards meeting the Teachers’ Standards and the award of Qualified Teacher Status at the end of the course.

School-based training

Ofsted identifies our approach to training in schools as a key strength of this course, with an excellent balance between university tuition and school-based training.

You will spend at least 120 days on school-based activities, with training shared between the university and the partner schools. 

Your school-based training will take place in two carefully selected schools and will include observing teachers, working with pupils, team and independent teaching, completing specific subject tasks and learning about school policy and effective practices.

You will also write lesson plans and evaluations for classes, carry out formative and summative assessment of pupils’ learning and performance, and maintain an e-portfolio which will be evaluated as part of your overall assessment.

Key aims:

• develop your professional attributes, skills, knowledge and understanding and help you gain confidence in your teaching ability
• provide a variety of practical and specific experiences that enable you to critically analyse your professional practice and take responsibility for your own professional development
• enable you to work collaboratively with colleagues in order to develop an understanding of the ways in which the attainment, development and wellbeing of all learners can be achieved with a unified support and teaching system
• provide opportunities for you to adopt a creative and constructively critical approach towards your practice, supported by appropriate reading and research

• make valuable contacts which will help when looking for your first teaching role.

Throughout your placements, university tutors and school mentors will support and assess your progress, providing regular feedback to guide your professional development.

You’ll be encouraged to critically review your work, set appropriately challenging targets, and work with your tutors to create an action plan that identifies your strengths, development needs and next steps, ensuring your practice continually evolves.

Organising your school-based training

Your training will be organised by our Partnership Office which sets up over 2,500 placements annually with our 600-plus partnership schools and organisations. These are in a mixture of large, small, urban and rural settings in south-east England, mostly in East and West Sussex.

When you start your course, you will complete a placement information form and we’ll use this information to match you to a suitable placement – we work hard to ensure your placement gives you valuable and varied experiences in the area of you’re interested in. We will consider your previous experience, travelling distance, the age ranges you wish to teach and your current needs.

Once we have matched you with a placement, the Partnership Office team will confirm with the school or organisation as quickly as possible and contact you with the details.

We will ensure you are well prepared before you start and you will have all the support and guidance needed to make the most of these placement opportunities.

Facilities

Our facilities include a curriculum centre which contains more than 30,000 specialist resources for trainee teachers including books, DVDs, games and an online catalogue.

Our Falmer campus also houses specialist classrooms that replicate those used in schools so you’ll feel at home when you go on your school-based training and start your career.

Teaching facilities include:

• science labs
• art classrooms
• kiln room
• dark room
• design and technology workshop
• performance studio.

Meet the course leader

Sarah Poore, senior lecturer and route leader for science

Sarah Poore is the route leader for the Secondary Science PGCE. Since joining the university she has taught at postgraduate level, undergraduate level and held responsibility for subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses.

A qualified science teacher, Sarah has worked for over 20 years in secondary science education. She has enjoyed a range of roles including head of biology, second in department, head of KS3 science and head of year. She was also a school-based mentor for trainee science teachers for a number of years.

Sarah is passionate about inspiring children through science teaching so is keen to encourage teachers to teach in a creative way that will ‘hook in’ children to want to find out why things happen. She is also very interested in helping teachers connect with those children who it’s difficult to form a good working relationship with.

She is working on developing ways for mentors and trainees to gain a shared understanding of feedback conversations.

If you would like to contact Sarah, email: s.j.r.poore@brighton.ac.uk.

Ofsted ‘outstanding’

Graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for primary and secondary in our 2024 Initial Teacher Education inspection.

Ofsted commended us on many aspects of our courses, saying:

• Trainees shine at Brighton’s long-established and highly impressive teacher training programmes.
• The care and dedication shown by staff towards trainees is superb.
• Trainees are at the heart of everything. They are valued and expertly supported throughout the course.
• The curriculum skilfully equips trainees in safeguarding, behaviour management and supporting pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Trainees impress the placement settings they work in because of their professionalism and aptitude to apply what they have learned.

Features

We offer a range of course features to enhance your learning experience.

Field trips

We collaborate with science-related establishments to provide field trip opportunities throughout the year which support development of your knowledge and skills. Previous visits have included:

• Brighton Booth Museum
• Natural History Museum
• SciArt.

Guest speakers

You will have the opportunity to expand your personal subject expertise through curriculum workshops led by visiting lectures. We have previously had guests from the following:

• Institute of Physics
• Association of Science Educators
• Science Partnership.

School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried

School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried are alternative routes to gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). The University of Brighton works with a number of schools to deliver this programme across a range of secondary subjects as well as in the primary phase. 

To train as a teacher through the School Connect PGCE or the School Direct Salaried programme you need to apply directly to a school for a training place. Schools advertise their vacancies on the Department for Education’s ‘Find Postgraduate training courses’ website. 

Find out more about School Connect PGCE and School Direct Salaried.

Course fees

As a postgraduate trainee teacher there is a range of funding available which you could be eligible to receive while you are studying:

• Tax-free bursaries and scholarships – these depend on the subject you are training to teach and your highest relevant academic award. 

On our website you will find information about other funding, including:

• the student finance package from Student Finance England – tuition fee loans and maintenance loans
• Parents’ Learning Allowance
• Childcare Grant
• Care leavers’ bursary
• Disabled Students’ Allowance.

If you are not a UK citizen, you are unlikely to get help funding your training unless you have permission to live permanently in the UK.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

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