PGCE recommendations

[PGAccom]

Hi. Can anyone recommend PGCE courses (secondary)? DC will consider countrywide including Oxbridge but may prefer NW England universities.

York is worth a look, lovely uni and they have partner schools which makes it easier to gain a placement. Subjects - Teacher training/PGCE, University of York

It's also worth them looking into schools that might fund the PGCE so they can complete it whilst working if that is of interest to them.

Thanks @xmasdealhunter Really helpful.

No worries. I should have said though that the cost of living and accommodation in York is ridiculously high. Sheffield is also worth a look, again a nice uni but accommodation costs seem slightly more reasonable. They also have partner schools. Postgraduate Certificate in Education PGCE | 2025 | Postgraduate

The cost may be a dealbreaker.

It definitely will be for a lot of students!

If Secondary depends quite a lot on the subject…

History

I heartily recommend living at home and training locally. It's a really hard year, and that extra support can be invaluable.

University of Cumbria do decent PGCE courses. Plenty of student accommodation

Thank you. All very interesting.
I should say DC is doing quite a lot of research on this but it’s useful to hear your views.

I’m hearing it’s brutal!

Ideally wherever she would be planning on applying for jobs.

They are open minded about where they want to live in the future.

Then they need to take into consideration that the PGCE will give them insight into the schools in that area, and they may be offered a job in one of the schools they train in. Applying for teaching jobs in a different area of the country to where you are doing a PGCE is an absolute ballache.

Thank you @noblegiraffe for that insight. We have no experience of teaching so this is very helpful.

It doesn't matter where your PGCE is from.

It is a brutal year so live wherever will make you happiest.

Lots of people are recruited by the schools they do their placements at so train in the area you plan to live in

They are already working in a school and hoping that perhaps an opportunity comes up there at some time in the future. However they are quite flexible and open minded. They’re realising the great thing about teaching is it can take you anywhere from an inner London school to rural Wales.

Have they spoken to the school if they are interested in staying there? Apprenticeships are a good route to QTS as well.

I don’t think there is an opening at the moment. There are others at the school going down the apprenticeship route (I forget what it’s called) but I think dc wants the PGCE route.

If he likes the school, he should talk to the professional tutor re which schemes they take placements from, and apply to them.

Great idea @SweepTheHalls I’m wondering if they want to spread their wings a bit first though? Is that a bit reckless? Are they better trying to get a job first?

They wouldn't be tied on, and may not be placed there. One of the things that causes people to not complete thru training is the stress of not knowing the school they are placed in and not settling. Do this can help. They will still get to visit other sites if they do a SCITT for training and ITAP.

I did a PGCE at the other end of the country. I fully intended on staying for a year and then moving back home to teach. 20’years later I’m still here. I agree about training where you want to live!

also, look at job openings. Secondary history is one of the few subjects that’s over subscribed.

Thanks all.

My daughter decided to do this and enjoyed living at home again after three years away.

She went for a SCITT rather than a traditional PGCE and found that worked really well for her (she was still awarded a PGCE as well as QTS).

She felt a real part of the community in her ‘home’ school (she also had an ‘away’ placement). The head took an interest in all the trainees and offered many of them jobs. He couldn’t offer my daughter one because there were no vacancies, but recommended her to a colleague in a neighbouring school who took her on the basis of an informal chat. She is now in her third year there and very happy.

In contrast friends who went down the traditional PGCE route never seemed to feel part of the school community in the same way. Presumably the schools expected that they would be replaced by a succession of other trainees and took no real interest in them.