PGCE Secondary Drama

Overview & facilities

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING NEW APPLICATIONS FOR THIS COURSE FOR SEPTEMBER 2012 ENTRY

The PGCE Secondary Drama course at Middlesex University is designed to prepare you for a career as a specialist teacher of drama working in the secondary education sector. This programme aims to extend your subject knowledge application in drama and enable you to teach across the 11 to 18 age range. Five workshop programmes and a weekly seminar develop your knowledge, skills and understanding of drama and education:

• Practice of drama in education introduces you to a range of models of teaching drama in education
• Content of drama in education 1 and 2 introduces you to potential content for drama lessons
• Defining the process of drama in Education provides and introduction to the origins and development of drama in education
• Technology and drama in education looks at the creative implications of using video and computer resources for drama
• The focus is on developing and consolidating your abilities as a reflective drama practitioner in the secondary classroom.

The aim of the course is to prepare you for the teaching profession. It will:

• Enable you to develop your knowledge and understanding of pupils and their learning
• Equip you with the pedagogic knowledge, understanding and skills to teach effectively across the 11-18 age range of the secondary school
• Enable you to develop your knowledge and understanding of the secondary curriculum for their subject
• Enable you to understand, critically evaluate and respond to the needs of children in multicultural, multilingual and multifaith settings and schools in an international, urban environment
• Train you to be able to meet the teaching standards in the stated age range of the secondary school
• Enable you to demonstrate critical understanding of current research and advanced scholarship in the area of secondary education and to demonstrate expertise in highly specialised professional skills in a context where they will need to exercise initiative and take personal responsibility for decision making in complex and unpredictable situations.

Content & modules

Subject studies: A structured programme of subject teaching methodology and application workshops and seminars.

School-based studies: You are required to spend two-thirds (120 days) of the programme in school. We have developed a partnership scheme with 150 participating secondary schools situated throughout the North London boroughs, Essex and Hertfordshire. In each school you will be assigned a personal mentor who is a subject teacher. You will experience two consecutive secondary school placements. The objective of the school experience is to develop your generic and subject teaching skills to at least the level of competence expected of a newly qualified teacher.

Professional studies: This is a programme of lectures and seminars focusing on contemporary issues in education and professional development. This part of the programme takes place partly at the University and partly at school by lectures, workshops and seminars to mixed subject groups.  

Subject studies are assessed by a portfolio of coursework and a school-based special study (a teaching resource). Progressive developments of teaching skills are recorded using criteria referenced assessment proforma. Professional studies are assessed by a range of written tasks. Observation of the students, teaching and evaluative discussions with course tutors and school based mentors and teachers.

You will find this an intensive 36-week, five-days-a-week programme, during which you will also have directed work to carry out during the Christmas and Easter holiday periods.

After you complete the course, you can gain QTS following a successful probationary period as an employee in a school, combined with the Training and Development Agency (TDA) tests in numeracy, literacy and ICT.

The programme complies fully with the current requirements of the Training and Development Agency.

Modules

Studies in your Specialist Subject (two modules, see individual subject descriptions for details, includes Professional Studies)
You will develop the knowledge and skills required to teach your chosen subject. You will be able to identify and evaluate effective strategies for assessing children's learning in the selected subject, through formative and summative assessment strategies. You will critically evaluate the effectiveness of a wide range of resources and your own lesson plans. You will understand the importance of literacy, numeracy and ICT in delivering an effective curriculum and as transferable skills. You will analyse research data and critically evaluate how research has contributed to the knowledge and understanding of how to teach your subject effectively.

School Experience 1
Through this School Experience, you will apply the knowledge, understanding and skills you have gained through study, to practical situations. Your experience will develop your powers of organisation and methods of control. You will develop your ability to plan, implement and evaluate schemes of work and lesson plans. You will also identify targets to be achieved in the second placement. You will consider the school as an organisation and discern the various roles of the teacher. You will monitor the lessons and activities that school students experience in a school day and work alongside subject specialists in a learning partnership role.

School Experience 2
You will be advised of your second placement at the end of placement 1. You will be assessed by Subject Mentors to determine your readiness and confidence. You will then be introduced to your classes and take a few days for class observation. You will be required to maintain a Trainee’s Progression File. Your Subject Mentor will review this file during their day visit, during which time they will also observe you at work and develop a suitable work timetable. You will do approximately 60% of the contact time of a qualified teacher. Some time will also be reserved for limited observation of teachers of other subjects outside your own specialism.

Entry & applying

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING NEW APPLICATIONS FOR THIS COURSE FOR SEPTEMBER 2012 ENTRY

For PGCE Secondary Drama, you need a first degree in a related subject at 2:1 or above. You are also required to have qualifications in English and mathematics equivalent to GCSE grade C.

We also require you to have completed at least two weeks in a Secondary school setting in the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland prior to applying.

Applications are made through the Graduate Teacher Training Registry.

English language requirements

You must have competence in English language and we normally require Grade C GCSE or an equivalent qualification. The most common English Language requirements for international students are IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL (paper based) 575 or TOEFL (internet based) 90 with specified minimum scores for each component. For details of other equivalent English language requirements that Middlesex accepts see international entry requirements

Fees & funding

The tuition fee for PGCE Drama for the academic year 2012/13 is as follows:

UK/EU Students

Full-time students: £9,000
Part-time students: £75 per taught credit

International Students

Full-time students: £10,600
Part-time students: £93 per taught credit

Careers & placements

Our Careers Service offers you a range of support both while you’re studying with us – and after you’ve graduated.

Placements

Work placements are integral to the PGCE Secondary Drama degree. Our course is well-known for having a strong and committed partnership with local schools, whose mentors and class teachers train with the University. As a student, you will have the opportunity for rich and varied placements in the multilingual, multicultural and multifaith schools.