Interview

[Pinkguitar3]

I have an interview for a PGDE (Scotland) soon, and there will be a discussion on educational themes, school contexts, recent curricular and policy developments etc.

I have tried to keep up to date with news and gov. matters relation to education, but am unsure of what other type of thing this will cover, so I can do more research/reading. Any help would be much appreciated!

Primary or secondary?

Secondary - Maths

Some things we are learning about in our PGCE at the mo:

Assessment - is it effective? What types of assessment are effective? How should feedback be given? Is enough time given to students to action the feedback? More topical is Progress 8 and the fact that it encourages schools to focus on a narrower curriculum rather than offering breath of subjects to students. You could also look at the uncertainty with new grades 9-1, what this means for pupils sitting new exams, for teachers trying to predict grades with little to go on and for parents trying to understand them.

Also consider topics such as childrens’ and teachers’ mental health. Growth mindset is often talked about in schools at the moment. Also diversity especially around LGBT+ pupils.

I am secondary Computer Science so can’t directly help with Maths topics. I’d try to find a peer reviewed Maths journal that is classroom facing and have a look though recent copies. There will be some in the university library.

TES is a good place to get an idea of what’s going on at the moment.

I wouldn’t worry too much about choosing the ‘right’ topic. I’d expect them to be judging you on your ability to present yourself and your ideas more than your actual opinions (as long as they were not too way out there!)

Good luck. Almost exactly a year ago I applied for my PGCE and am now loving it. :)

Thanks Bumblebee!

Hi All,

I thought I would just let you know that I started a new PGCE 2018 thread here for everyone's progress updates -
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_staffroom/3124138-pgce-applications-for-september-2018