SchoolsDirect or PGCE??

[nameimadeupjustnow]

I'm planning to start a post-grad teacher training programme of some sort in Sept 2014. But which path to choose? If anyone has experience or thoughts on this, please let me know! If it makes any difference to your answers, I am based in south London, and tied to south/central London for placement choices. Thank you.

Yes! My school are super supportive - did my first key stage assembly today which I was dreading but the children were so well behaved. Couldn't have picked a better job .

Couldn't agree more! Good for you on your assembly.

I had a student teacher in my class for a year under a similar scheme to SD. A word of warning - check if you will be allocated to the same class or across a variety of classes. My poor student (primary) was a bit weak at the start and the class ate him alive. He was never able to recover and had to go and finish his placement at another school.

Thanks for that link maclover, very useful, as are all the other comments / bits of advice.

Glad your assembly went well OldRoan.

Hope I am not being included in the comment re School Direct PR machine - I would certainly not claim that it is perfect - far from it, but so far, it seems a better option. (We are still attending university lectures, with the trad-PGCE people, have tutors in the uni who are supportive and helpful). The people I have to go to for advice and guidance are :School mentor and school PCM (weekly meeting with each of those); university tutor (weekly meetings, and also email/phone contact for ad-hoc queries etc);university SD co-ordinator (occasional meetings, email contact, very approachable and supportive). So why is School Direct a bad thing...??

SD Hopeful - I'll repeat my earlier comment: 'I'm not claiming that one is better than the other - I think it depends on too many factors than have been discussed here, but I do think that the OP deserves a balanced picture, as far as is possible, if she is to make an informed decision.'

I'm glad that SD is working out for you, but you are claiming that it is a better option and, whilst this might be true for you, this is not always the case, as is reflected in the Select Committee report that I have linked to.
You referred to an earlier comment I made as 'defensive' - I wanted to demonstrate that this was not the case, that there is a bigger picture, rooted in more substantial, expert evidence that is worth referencing. I think the OP deserves to be able to make an informed decision rather than one based on an obviously biased position, which you seem to be adopting.

If it appears biased - apologies - it is not because of any ideological viewpoint, only based on observations of my experience and the trad-PGCEs I meet and have coffee with before and after our joint weekly lectures...