[We meet four speakers across separate interviews, on campus at Kedleston Road. Julia Trickey, Programme Leader for PGCE Primary, along with three current students, Megan, Matt and Stephanie.]
Julia:
Hi, my name is Julia Trickey. I'm the Programme Lead for the PGCE Primary university based route here at the University of Derby. Our university based route is the ideal route for graduates who are looking to move into teaching but don't yet have a qualification. We welcome graduates who are just out of their undergrad but also perhaps looking for a career change, moving into teaching. Our one-year programme is designed to support you in getting your qualified teacher status.
Megan:
I heard a lot of people talking about how much support that they had been given on the course and that really prompted my decision to come to Derby. And then when I came to the Open Day, I spoke to the staff and they were all really supportive and they had a real passion and a drive to teach and also to help beginning teachers as well.
Matt:
I live in Derby so obviously heard about the University. But when I was looking at training, I knew that it had a great reputation for education. And so, in some ways, it was a no-brainer. I didn't have to look further afield: there was somewhere right on my doorstep that I knew would give me give me the training that I needed for my future career. So, yeah, Derby was the obvious choice.
Stephanie:
I heard about Derby a long time ago because I did my undergraduate here as well. So when I was looking for universities, I was kind of looking around and I saw Derby and thought, "Oh, it looks like a nice place and there's lots going on here."
Julia:
You'll study three modules at level 7, which will cover areas such as understanding behaviour and learning, adaptive pedagogies, and supporting progression through assessment. You'll be assessed on your academic work through a range of skills including presentations, professional discussions and critical reflections, drawing on your research informed practice and linking this to your classroom experiences.
Megan:
So the course has been really helpful in both allowing us to have the background theoretical knowledge of behaviourist theories and pedagogical approaches which we then can take into classroom context so we can apply that learning quite quickly.
Stephanie:
I've been doing 50% teaching. So I've really been getting involved. I've done lots of subjects. I've done English, maths, but then also music side of it as well and D&T. We've been doing all sorts of projects and things like that.
Matt:
It's laying the groundwork for everything that we're going to need going forwards into primary education. It's giving us all those skills that hopefully when we hit the classroom in, well, less than a year's time, we'll be equipped and ready to go and embark on our careers in primary education.
Julia:
Rated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2024, our programme involves a balance of placement experiences as well as research informed campus learning. Over four placements across the year, you will gauge a range of information from either 3 to 7 pathway, which is a key stage one and early years, or key stage two and key stage one for a 5 to 11 pathway. Your experiences will range from small schools into larger inner city schools, and also some time in SEND. So you're getting an idea of mainstream and specialist settings.
Megan:
We have upcoming placements that are shorter and also more subject focused and our longer one slowly scaffolds us up to building towards 80% teaching, which is just perfect in the time to start a proper teaching role. I have taught the majority of the year 3 curriculum, and we've been able to build from the university based knowledge towards helping us do that. And then we have also taken part in the wider school life. So I've done stuff like being in the school discos, helping out with parents evening and like Christmas fairs and stuff like that. So it's been really enjoyable.
Matt:
We are beginning teachers. So we start off observing our mentor teacher, see how they do it, get the chance to go around other classes and have a look at how those different subjects are taught and the different year groups are taught. It's been a brilliant insight into what the classroom's actually like, and what we're going to be like in the classroom as well.
Stephanie:
I've done a lot of observations with the phonics lead down in year 1. So you don't just stay in one class, you can kind of move around and everyone's very friendly. There's lots of things to get involved in and do in the wider community with the school as well.
Matt:
It's been invaluable. It's part of why I chose to do a PGCE rather than sort of other teacher training options that are out there. I wanted to get that theoretical knowledge behind me before I was launched into the classroom. And so it's very much what you're learning here is going to help you when you go into the classroom. And that's proved to be the case so far. So yeah, I really like that interconnectedness of lectures and placement.
Megan:
It's made me want to be a teacher even more than I did previously. And having the background to draw upon in different year groups as well has been really useful because I think that when you go into being teaching, you kind of have one specific year group that you would like to teach. And then by having the range of year groups, you can draw on the knowledge from both reception all the way up to year six. So I can quite easily then see what my favorite year groups to teach are.
Julia:
Our graduates move to work in the classroom as class teachers. Some have moved abroad to do this role as well. They also move into other educational roles such as support, educational publishing, policy making and other things involved in the classroom experience.
Megan:
I am looking forward to being a primary school teacher and I'm looking towards building leadership roles in primary schools and the University really helps you build on those leadership roles as well. They encourage you to take paths into teaching that aren't just focused on just being a classroom teacher. They encourage you towards looking towards wider career goals as well.
Matt:
Well, there's been a big focus on adaptive teaching on trying to make sure that every learner, learns - and that I suppose is the aspiration to help every child I teach to reach their potential.
Julia:
To take the next step of your journey into teaching, come and see us at Open Days. We have plenty of our postgraduate events scheduled across the year. We look forward to meeting you soon.
[We end on University of Derby logo, and a link to our Teaching webpages]
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