PGCE
After an introductory session at the Chelmsford campus, the course is delivered online. However, trainees will receive the same benefits as ARU students, including access to all three campuses and their libraries, students' union and student services.
The PGCE course involves two assignments: The Reflective Practitioner (3,000 words) and the Professional Evidence-based Enquiry (4,500 words). Upon completion, you will receive 60 credits at Level 7 (Masters level). You can use this credit to put towards a future Masters.
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For both modules, the assignments have been designed to support and reflect the typical practice experiences of trainee teachers while at the same time enable them to build the necessary academic skills commensurate with Level 7 study. Part of the reflection process requires students to gain professional feedback from ‘critical friends’ such as mentors, more senior colleagues and other practitioners.
The following is a brief overview of the assignment tasks and activities.
Patch One – 750 words: A reflection on a Critical Incident
- Students should identify a critical incident from which they have improved practice through reflection.
- They need to demonstrate how reflection enabled their pedagogic practice to improve.
- They should also demonstrate how they have used professional feedback (e.g. observation, professional discussions if applicable) to support the reflective process.
- They need to demonstrate that they have reflected on academic reading relating to reflection and pedagogy.
Patch Two – 750 words: Reflecting on a learning resource used in practice
- Students should either select, adapt or design a learning resource; after using it in practice, should reflect on and evaluate its use for supporting children’s learning.
- The resource could be used with a small group or whole class.
- They should demonstrate understanding of appropriate reflective practice and learning theory to evaluate the resource used.
Patch Three – 750 words: Reflecting on a lesson observation and its feedback
- Students should select an observation from their training for which they have received written feedback and have had opportunity to discuss with the observer.
- They should critically reflect on the areas identified in the observation as strengths and areas for improvement.
- Drawing on appropriate theory and use of reflection, they should detail how they have used reflective practice to improve since the observation.
Patch Four – 750 words: Reflection on becoming an effective reflective practitioner
- This patch is about ‘stitching the patches together’: students should reflect on the process of completing patches 1-3 and how they have started to become reflective practitioners.
- Students should reflect on their own teaching skills, using the appropriate professional standards and professional feedback to evaluate personal strengths and areas for improvement.
- They should identify 2-3 personal professional goals and how they will use reflective practice to achieve these.
- They should draw on academic theory to place their goals in context.
The module is based around an enquiry that students will undertake throughout the trimester. They will need to select a focus for this enquiry based on an issue of professional relevance to them. This could be an area of their own pedagogic practice they would like to improve or an area which is significant within their setting. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Assessment strategies
- Behaviour strategies
- Learning environments
- Children’s wellbeing and mindset, including links to achievement
- Specific teaching strategies (e.g. in Phonics, Maths, creative curriculum, outdoor learning etc.)
- Supporting specific learners (e.g. More Able, SEND, Pupil Premium etc.)
Students will be encouraged to discuss their selection of focus area with a critical report.
Professional Evidence-based Enquiry
The professional enquiry report has been designed to enable students to ‘delve deeper’ into an area of professional interest over time. The skills gained in this module build on those gained from the Reflective Practitioner module and support students to consider areas of their professional practice they would like to focus on or develop further as they progress in their teaching careers.
Section One – Questions and Context - approximately 500 words
- Defining a topic
- Raising enquiry questions
- Placing the enquiry in context
- Brief explanation of how the enquiry will advance students’ professional learning
Section Two – Enquiry Design – approximately 500 words
- Process taken, focused on critical thinking
- Reference to theory (relating to both enquiry-based learning and the enquiry topic)
- Outline of plan for enquiry with explanation of enquiry questions
- Main sources of evidence to draw on (e.g. observations, professional discussions, readings)
Section Three – Key Findings – approximately 2000 words
- Presenting the findings against the enquiry questions
- Generating overall ideas relating to possible enquiry responses (answers)
- Evidence of how the findings have been synthesised against the literature in terms of enquiry-based learning and the enquiry topic)
Section Four – Conclusions and implications for practice – approximately 500 words
- Sum up main findings to deduce an answer to the main question / enquiry questions
- Propose implications for practice – what might change as a result (e.g. in the setting)
Section Five – Deliberating on outcomes – approximately 1000 words
- Reflection on the process of the enquiry
- Considering the wider / general benefits of the enquiry outcomes in terms of the topic/issue
- Reflection on personal learning from the professional enquiry