Education
By Emma Prest
Published: 15 August 2004
What do you come out with? BA or BEd if you're training to be a teacher straight from school; a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education), if you're starting out from university.
Why do it? Because you want to be a teacher, dope. Or you fancy becoming an educational psychologist which means training as a teacher first. Or, hey, you wake up one day and decide your big ambition is to work for a local education authority.
What's it about? At the Institute of Education in London you can do a PGCE in primary, secondary or further education. At the University of East Anglia you can do a primary or secondary PGCE. At Northumbria you can take a three-year BA in Early Primary Education or a PGCE in primary or secondary. The BA covers the core subjects of English, maths, science and ICT (information and communication technology). You will gain experience teaching in a school in these subjects and you'll also cover all the other subjects in the primary curriculum to a lesser extent. At Manchester Metropolitan you can take a BA at the Crewe campus or a BEd at the Didsbury campus. Canterbury Christ Church offers a BA in primary education and PGCEs in primary and secondary. Warwick offers PGCEs in primary and secondary, while Sheffield offers a PGCE in secondary. At Staffordshire you can complete a secondary PGCE in Economics and Business or Business Studies and Information Technology Education. They recently started a PGCE in Design and Technology. Staffordshire's small intake means students receive a lot of personal attention.
How long is a degree? One or two years as a PGCE, three or four years as a BA or BEd.
What are the students like? Enthusiastic, despite teachers' pay and status problems, and flexible. There's barely been a year since the 1980s when teacher education hasn't been changed by the Government. Many courses have a big age range. Most primary courses are female dominated: at Northumbria only 10 per cent on the primary BA are men. However at Staffordshire it's half female, half male. PGCE students have to work very hard and be professional. They can't slope around hairy and unwashed like undergraduates.
How is it packaged? The PGCEs have no exams; all are assessed in one way or another. Northumbria have no exams at all. Students are on a rolling programme of assessed tasks. BEd students at Manchester Met have some exams.
How cool is it? Not. But the Government is trying to rectify this by offering a juicy carrot of £7,000 to PGCE students. Should make teaching more popular, if not positively cool.
What A-levels/degree do you need? At Manchester Met, Leicester, Warwick and Canterbury Christ Church you're expected to have A-levels or a degree in the subjects you want to specialise in. UEA favours graduates with Firsts and 2.1s. Sheffield like you to have experience working with children, as well as have a degree in the subject you wish to teach or to have studied the subject for a substantial part of your degree. Staffordshire require that at least 50% of your degree is relevant to the PGCE course.
What grades? Canterbury Christ Church and Manchester Met like Bs. Northumbria want BBC. For the PGCE most students have a 2.1.
Will you be interviewed? Yes, it is standard procedure for a teacher to be present in the interview.
Will it keep you off the dole? Yes, it's easy-peasy to get a job as a teacher. But not everyone does when they graduate. Some go round the world, some become journalists, and some decide to do supply teaching while they think about what to do. At the Institute of Education, 76 per cent go straight into permanent teaching jobs.
What do students say? Samantha Link, 22, studying for a PGCE at Staffordshire. "I have really enjoyed it. There is lots of support from tutors and mentors. Lectures are very thorough and up-to-date on current issues. Working for my degree was a very positive experience and I am looking forward to starting my job in a secondary school this September."
Sarah Fleming, studying for a BA at Canterbury Christ Church. "Going on the placements is rewarding. I enjoy seeing the kids accomplish something that I taught them. The course involves lots of assignments, but you have to put in the effort to get what you want to achieve. During the second year you become more confident and happier teaching. There is a lot of choice in the second year when you have the chance to start focusing on specific subjects. I have particularly enjoyed one of the courses called Inclusion which I am hoping to carry on next year. Through this we were given the opportunity to go to a London school for the day which was a big contrast for many of the students."
Top 10 for quality: Staffordshire, Oxford, Cambridge, Central School for Speech and Drama, University of East Anglia, Bristol, Warwick, Sheffield, Manchester and Exeter (league table drawn up by Professor Alan Smithers and Dr Pamela Robinson from Teacher Training Agency data).
Where's best for research? London's Institute of Education and King's College scored tip-top 5*; Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, East Anglia, Leeds, Newcastle, Open (educational technology), Oxford and Sheffield scored 5; Cambridge, Durham, Exeter, Goldsmiths', Manchester, Nottingham, Open, Southampton, Surrey, Sussex, Warwick, York, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Queen's Belfast and Ulster scored 4.
Where's the cutting edge? UEA is hot in applied research. Manchester Met specialises in policy and innovation e.g. teacher training partnerships with schools, education action zones, etc; Canterbury Christ Church in early years, leadership management, exclusions, special needs and denominational schools; Warwick is big on early childhood studies; Staffordshire emphasises ICT skills and is hot on economic and business education.
Who are the stars? Professors John Elliott, Ivor Goodson and Barry Macdonald, all at UEA. Professors Colin Biott and Patrick Eason, Northumbria; Professors Ian Stronach, an independent evaluator for Summerhill School, and David Hustler, both of Manchester Met; Professors Tricia David, Carol Aubrey, Carl Parsons and James Arthur at Canterbury Christ Church; Carol Aubrey, Alma Harris and Geoff Lindsay at Warwick.
Related Courses: Canterbury Christ Church has a fourth year on its BA which gives you a diploma in specialist teacher studies. Successful completion gives you credits towards a master's degree. At Warwick you can complete a BA or a foundation degree in Early Childhood Studies. They also offer a course in Early Childhood Studies where you study for two years at a local further education college and then spend two years at the University of Warwick.
