Post Graduate Certificate in Education - Secondary History

Program Description This PGCE Secondary Education with History addresses all aspects of secondary history education, and enables you to benefit from tutors whose research directly informs course content. This Postgraduate Certificate Education (PGCE) Secondary History course leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), qualifying graduates to teach the 11-18 age group in secondary schools in England and Wales.

This history program is designed to develop practitioners so that they can excel in any teaching context. A love of history is at the heart of what we do and is evident in all aspects of the training year. Reading ensures that the right space and guidance is there for trainees who arrive with differing experiences of history and education so that everyone can develop the right subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge.

Sessions include: • how to teach pupils about causation, change and continuity, similarity and difference, and difficult concepts

• how to develop pupils’ evidential thinking and chronological understanding • how to make big decisions about which period of history to teach and when to teach it. In order to do this, the history tutors team work closely with mentors in schools, including school visits and training to ensure our high professional standards are maintained.

In the Secondary PGCE course, students are required to carry out three placements in two different age groups - ensuring they receive a broad range of experiences. Two placements must be undertaken in a school setting but the third can be taken in a different setting - allowing students to sample teaching in an alternative environment.