Program Overview

About this course

The Secondary Drama PGCE is taught by experienced staff with national and international profiles. Our subject specific sessions are usually taught through practical seminars and workshops and we focus on real challenges faced in the drama classroom by a secondary specialist teacher, including ‘active’ approaches to Shakespeare as a poet-playwright. Texts by this writer are a major element of the secondary school curriculum and the course benefits from a close working relationship with English PGCE colleagues, enabling expert input across both English and Drama. BGU has an excellent record of trainees finding employment as specialist drama teachers and our connection with English is a key element for future employability. We provide access to a variety of school placement settings including Academies, comprehensive schools, state selective grammar schools, some rural, some urban, and where drama is taught as a discrete subject. The course includes enrichment visits to venues such as The Globe Theatre, and West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds as well as inputs from visiting professionals with expertise in theatre design and/or related specialisms. We challenge and support trainees to develop their expertise as specialist drama educators of the future, to be the best they can be and to succeed in this rewarding career. Whilst the PGCE compliments BGU’s long established undergraduate degree pathways in Applied Drama, we welcome applications from well qualified drama graduates who have studied across the UK and beyond.

You will consider the broader aspects of teaching, contexts for learning, the latest government initiatives and contemporary issues in teaching, learning and assessment. You will also work alongside trainee teachers of other subjects to consider cross-curricular aspects of education. These topics will introduce you to your career in the teaching profession.

Throughout your year of study, you will explore all aspects of your subject. This includes those areas that are your strengths, as well as areas you may need to improve upon. You will study how pupils learn in your subject area, how you need to assess them and how to keep abreast of new developments within your subject. You will learn how to plan and deliver topics in ways that include all types of learners in meaningful ways.

You will spend two-thirds of the year in partner schools and other educational settings gaining rich and varied experiences designed to support meeting the minimum requirements for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Working with peers, tutors and school-based colleagues, you will develop your abilities to promote effective learning among 11-16-year-olds. You will also have opportunities to gain experience of the key stages before and after the ones in which you will qualify.

This course is demanding and stimulating. We aim for you to be prepared to take responsibility for your own learning, be open to creative and innovative ideas, and be competent, reflective practitioners both in your training year and beyond. Success on the course means you will have completed a postgraduate (with 60 credits at Master's level) or professional graduate qualification, have met the minimum requirements to be recommended for Qualified Teacher Status and you will be fully prepared to start the next year as an Early Career Teacher.

This Secondary PGCE course is available through both Core and School Direct routes.