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PGCE M/H

In addition to providing QTS certification, Cornwall SCITT is able to offer you a choice of two routes towards achieving your PGCE:

• The ‘traditional’ route (i.e. that which has been known as the PGCE for many years) which is taught and assessed at honours graduate level through the submission of written assignments.  This route leads to the award of the Professional Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE-H) in addition to the Qualified Teacher Status award.
• The ‘new’ route (i.e. that which has been developed since September 2007) is taught and assessed at Masters level.  This route leads to the award of the Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE-M) in addition to the Qualified Teacher Status award.  Successful students gain 60 credits at Masters level which can be used towards the 180 credits needed for a full Masters degree award. 

 The PGCE-M programme is academically more demanding and rigorous than the PGCE-H programme and students can expect to take on approximately 20% of extra work load and time compared to that required for the PGCE-H programme.  Students choosing this programme would need to feel confident about their previous performance with academic work as would we. For this reason, any final decisions on routes will be by negotiation with Cornwall SCITT management.

Both PGCE programmes help students to become more critically aware of the underlying issues and theories in secondary school education and set these in a broader educational context than that of students’ immediate concerns in their training year.  The PGCE-M programme develops the criticality skill further through lectures, readings and peer work and the submission of a set of written assignments and presentations.  Students will be expected to engage with academic study in addition to the pressing concerns of the classroom; a challenge that some, but not all, feel well placed and prepared to make at this stage in their preparation for a career in teaching.