(Secondary) Biology PGCE

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. There are two placements in two schools or colleges with the opportunity to visit further schools or colleges as part of the Peer Observation programme.

The School of Education is excellently equipped with multimedia training materials, giving you the opportunity to develop your confidence and competence in the use of ICT. Our multimedia suites are regularly updated to keep up with technological advancements in classroom teaching provision.

Areas of study

There are four strands to this course: subject study/subject education, education and professional studies, school placements and professional practice.

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 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. You can earn 20 masters-level credits through the assessment for the subject study module.

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.

Placements

Ofsted identify 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 a minimum of 120 days on school-based activities, with your training shared between the university and the partner school. 

Your school-based training will include observing teachers, working with individual pupils and groups of pupils, team teaching and independent teaching. Your training will also entail completing specific subject tasks and developing your knowledge of school policy and effective practices.

You will maintain a professional training portfolio and be supported to review your work critically and analytically as well as to set appropriately challenging targets. We will also develop an action plan with you to identify strengths, development needs and actions, so that your practice is continually developing.

Key aims of the school-based training:

• advance the development of your professional attributes, skills, knowledge and understanding
• 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 well-being of all learners can be achieved with a unified support and teaching system
• provide opportunities that enable you to adopt a creative and constructively critical approach towards your practice, supported by appropriate reading and research.

During your school-based training, university tutors, school mentors and teachers will support you and take shared responsibility for your professional development.

Your progress will be observed and assessed throughout your placement by university and school staff, followed by feedback sessions to discuss your development. Your e-portfolio will also be evaluated as part of the overall assessment.

Organising your school-based training

Our Partnership Office will organise the school-based training for you. Each year we organise over 2,500 placements for our students. We work hard to ensure that you have placement opportunities that will give you valuable and varied experiences in the area of education in which you are interested.

How it works

We will ask you to complete a placement information form when you start your course, and will use this information to match you to a suitable placement. 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 team in the Partnership Office will confirm the placement as quickly as possible with the school or organisation. They will then contact you with the placement details. Almost all of our placements will be with partner schools or organisations in south-east England, most of them in East and West Sussex.

Meet the course leader

Sarah Poore, Senior Lecturer and Route Leader for Science

Sarah Poore is the Route Leader for Secondary Science PGCE and School Direct Training courses. 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 to connect with the children that are often 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

In our most recent Initial Teacher Education inspection report, the University of Brighton was graded 'outstanding'.

Ofsted identified some of our key strengths as:

• the very high attainment of the majority of trainees
• the expertly designed and diverse range of programmes that respond to trainees' backgrounds, needs and interests as well as to national priorities
• the outstanding progress made by trainees as a result of training, which enables them to fulfil their potential
• inspirational teaching, tutoring and mentoring that model the best teaching and give trainees the ambition to reach the highest standards
• highly reflective trainees who demonstrate good subject knowledge and a breadth of understanding of how to teach
• an excellent range of training experiences that effectively prepare trainees to teach in a diverse society
• the excellent resources available to trainees
• leadership that is dynamic in its approach to anticipating change and solving problems
• a visionary approach to innovation and change.

School Direct 

School Direct is an alternative route to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and the University of Brighton is working 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 Direct programme you need to apply directly to a school for a School Direct training place, with schools advertising their vacancies on the UCAS Teacher Training website. The University of Brighton supports School Direct through providing training and assessment opportunities at the request of participating schools.

Find out more about School Direct and view vacancies.

 Study here 

Why choose teaching at the University of Brighton?

• We were rated Outstanding by Ofsted in our 2018 inspection
• Our graduates benefit from excellent employment rates that are consistently above the sector average
• We have 600 partner schools and colleges, offering varied placement opportunities to our students
• We work closely with local authorities, schools, colleges and educational organisations ensuring that our students are kept up to date with the changing world of education
• Our tutors are experts in their area of research and have published numerous academic publications
• We offer several routes into teaching with the opportunity to engage in professional development after graduating
• We have a dedicated team to help you after you qualify, through our Early Teacher Career support programme
• We’re one of the UKs largest teacher training universities, educating teachers and leaders for over 100 years

Features

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

Field trips

The School of Education collaborates with science-related establishments providing 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 had guests previously from the following:

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

International requirements and visas

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

Visas and immigration advice

Course fees

As a postgraduate trainee teacher there is a range of funding available which you could be eligible to receive whilst 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 leaver’s bursary
• Disabled Students’ Allowance.

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

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2023–24.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton