Open University PGCE

[LonelyGoatherd]

Hello, has anyone here qualified through the OU? The main attraction is that it's a PT course. Is it easy to find a school? Any advice/tips welcome...

[SummerHoliDidi]

I haven't done it myself but we've had a couple of students through the OU in my department (maths) in our secondary school.

The biggest thing both of them have said is that you need to be organised, the ou don't do any spoon-feeding for you, you have to be on top of deadlines and timescales which aren't always easy to figure out. Our latest student found that she was having difficulty finding a school to do her second placement with - precisely because she was doing a pt course so needed a pt placement to fit in with her paid pt job, if she'd been able to do the placement ft she would have had a choice of schools happy to have her.

I hope that's a bit helpful.

[LonelyGoatherd]

Finding a school is my main concern, but I can do that part of the course FT. I like the PT structure for the rest of it as the DC are still pre-schoolers, and it seems a slightly less stressful route.

[mumandboys123]

I'm newly qualified and a single parent with young children. I did the PGCE full time last year whilst the youngest was still in nursery. It really wasn't a problem. Although I am older than my peers on the PGCE, I got on well with them as a whole and really valued their support and having the opportunity to stress about things when necessary. If you can manage without the money, you may find that student loans, bursaries (which are currently huge in the shortage areas) etc. are sufficient to cover your childcare, travel etc. You will get priority when it comes to placement (both mine were within 5 miles of my home) and you get valuable time out in university to ask questions, look daft and try out ideas in a safe and friendly way. By contrast, I met a part-timer (not with the OU, however) who hated it, was isolated from her full-time peers at university, and was pretty much left alone academically to get on with things. This was despite a good department and placement school who were more than supportive and wanting her to succeed.

It's not a one size fits all approach but if what's putting you off full-time is the worry of juggling, I didn't find it anywhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. Feel free to message me if I can answer any questions.

[LonelyGoatherd]

Thanks so much - lots to think about!