(Secondary) Religious Studies 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 where you are doing well and where you could 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.

You will be encouraged to approach your teaching strategies creatively, to aid the progress of your students and your own skills as an RE teacher. You will learn and practice a variety of teaching approaches and innovative classroom practices on this programme. Your learning will involve:

• tutor and student-led seminars and presentations
• practical workshops
• group-work
• drama and role play
• media-based activities; tutorials
• sessions by visiting specialist lecturers
• independent directed study
• external national courses
• active learning and a range of RE pedagogies.

You will have access to 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. The Open Learning Centre and Falmer Library on campus contain a wealth of materials used in the teaching of Religious Education. This includes artefacts, music, images, film and text-books that you can draw upon to use in the classroom.

We will support you in the development of your subject knowledge by:

Areas of study

Religious education continues to occupy a lively, distinctive and often controversial place in education and we engage in this debate as part of the healthy growth of the subject. You will be required to work out your own answers and approaches to the exciting challenges in religious education in professional, reflective and practical ways as you take on the role of a religious education teacher.

A number of support systems are put in place before and during the course, to help students develop their subject knowledge in key curriculum areas. The subject knowledge required for Key Stages 3/4 includes the six major world faiths, religious philosophy and ethics, and secular philosophies and other religious traditions. 

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 religious studies and provides you with the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of religious studies in the secondary school context. You will consider the learning and teaching strategies that are relevant to the specialist subject. 

You can earn 40 masters-level credits through the assessment for the subject study/ education 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 university settings, allowing you to develop practical competencies, 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 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 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.

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.

Meet the course leader

Dr Tom Newlands
Senior lecturer and route leader: Religious Studies (Secondary).

Prior to joining the University of Brighton in 2008 as a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies Education, Tom had extensive experience in several secondary schools and a sixth form college as a Head of RE, PSHE and Humanities.

Tom is the subject leader for Religious Studies Education across the university, route leader for PGCE Religious Studies and programme leader for secondary postgraduate courses. He teaches on the BA(Hons) Primary Education with QTS and PGCE Secondary Religious Studies with QTS routes.

Tom has a masters in education and his special interests are experiential RE, pedagogies of RE, spiritual development in RE and philosophy for children. He has also completed a doctorate, researching in the field of Religious Education with a specific  focus on autonomy, decision-making and pedagogy in the RE classroom.

Tom is a co-opted member of the Brighton and Hove Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE), contributes to publications and has led workshops for teachers in the field of Religious Education.

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
You will have opportunities throughout the course to visit a number of local places of worship from a range of faiths to support your subject knowledge development. Previous visits have been made to churches, mosques, synagogues and Buddhist centres.

Guest speakers
You will have the opportunity to expand your personal subject expertise through curriculum workshops led by visiting lectures. Previous trainee teachers have taken part in workshops delivered by an A-level teacher and ex-trainee on active learning in key stage 5 Religious Studies / Philosophy teaching. We also have visits from organisations such as The Holocaust Educational Trust who lead a workshop on teaching The Holocaust in RE. 

Subject knowledge enhancement days
You will attend full day workshops on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism to support your development of the subject knowledge needed for key stage 3 RE and key stage 4 RS teaching. Also, you will attend a half-day workshop on humanism and non-religious world views which have a great part to play in the modern RE curriculum that aims to be inclusive of all faiths and none.

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.

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