Overview
If you're looking for a rewarding career where you can make a positive difference to other people's lives, teaching is a great choice – and on our PGCE courses, you'll gain you the skills and confidence you need to become an outstanding secondary school teacher.
On this 1-year course, you'll be supported by our tutors and school-based mentors as you learn to plan and deliver lessons with strong subject knowledge, confidence and imagination, while reflecting on what it means to teach.
Our teacher training programmes have been given an outstanding review from Ofsted and we've got excellent links with many schools in the region – so when you finish your course, you'll graduate with excellent career prospects, and eligibility for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) too.
Course highlights
- Gain the skills, confidence and expertise to earn Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) - the teaching qualification you'll need to become a secondary school teacher in the UK and overseas
- Develop your teaching skills through work placements in real secondary schools and the study of theories and contemporary issues in secondary education
- Share your experience and learn from other PGCE students through lectures and seminars
- Learn key teaching skills, including lesson planning, classroom management, and special needs and inclusion
- Develop secondary-level knowledge in a subject area of your choice
- Work closely with mentors and other secondary school staff as part of your teacher training
- Study a range of topics including pedagogy and practice based research, lesson planning, behaviour management, assessment, and special education needs and inclusion
Careers and opportunities
After you graduate this PGCE for secondary education, you'll be ready to start your teaching career on a minimum starting salary of £30,000, depending on where you teach in the UK. Over 90 per cent of Portsmouth PGCE graduates go into full-time teaching.
A PGCE, or Postgraduate Certificate in Education, is a teaching qualification recognised all over the world, so you'll also be able to teach overseas too, such as in Australia, Canada and the USA.
Once you're an established secondary teacher, you'll also have opportunities for further career progression in roles including Year Head and Subject Lead.
You could also go on to further study - this secondary PGCE will earn you 60 postgraduate credits you could put towards a full Master's degree (worth 180 credits) in the future, such as our MA Education Studies.
Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
Each of our secondary PGCE degrees is an accredited qualification and once you graduate, you'll be eligible for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
QTS is awarded by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) to identify that a person meets all the Teachers’ Standards and criteria. QTS is required in England to teach in a state school that is under local authority control and in special schools. QTS is also recognised in some countries outside England and Wales.
