PGCE Secondary Art and Design

This largely placement-based course focuses on developing the practical teaching skills, educational theory and subject-specific knowledge necessary to become an art and design teacher in secondary education. It aims to develop you into an artist-teacher with a comprehensive understanding of the art and design curriculum, enhancing your awareness of professional issues; current educational focuses on sustainability and the role of technology; art, craft and design pedagogy; core approaches to powerful knowledge; art history; critical thinking; and essential teaching aspects such as planning and assessment.There is the option to take this course part time over two years, making it easier to balance study with your other commitments.What will you studyOur Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Secondary Art and Design with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is designed for those passionate about art and eager to inspire creativity in young minds. This intensive, one-year program blends academic study with practical teaching experience, equipping you with the skills and knowledge to become an effective and confident art and design teacher in secondary schools. Studying our PGCE Secondary Art and Design will equip you with in-depth knowledge and skills to teach art and design, at the secondary level. The Curriculum Specialist (Secondary Art and Design) unit comprehensively explores contemporary theories and recent research in art and design education.Course aims: Teaching in the secondary sector is a constantly evolving activity, with ideas about curriculum design, subject knowledge and theories of teaching and learning all being reviewed regularly by teachers, academics and policymakers as part of their professionalism. Teacher professional values are set by the profession and this course inducts you into that notion. This course aims to develop your ability to critique contemporary and traditional ideas about teaching in general as well as subject specific ideas about teaching, alongside a strong sense of the pastoral aspects of education. In completing the course, you will develop: • your understanding of teaching and learning, with a particular emphasis on the subject or cluster of subjects which you are training to teach • your application of subject knowledge and expertise to planning teaching and developing curricula • your skills of critical self-evaluation and curriculum design • your ability to lead, innovate and participate collaboratively in a school environment • your understanding of the wider educational and pastoral issues which teachers need to consider in order to develop a meaningful set of professional values. You will be supported to demonstrate that you have satisfied the professional criteria which determine recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and, most significantly, to be able to explain and justify how you have met those criteria. Underpinning the course design is a commitment to evidence informed teaching. These principles are embedded in all aspects of the course and the teaching and assessment strategies provide continuous development of the knowledge and skills required. The recognition that evidence comes in many forms, and needs to be interrogated in order to help this informing process, is one of the key values of the course.Careers: On graduating you can apply for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) enabling you to work as an art and design teacher in a secondary education setting. Many of our graduates go on to rewarding employment in local schools.As well as Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) completing the course also offers you up to 60 Master's-level credits with opportunities for further study at MAMSc MPhil PhD and EdD levels.