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Undergraduate Degree

Applicants are required to hold a good honours degree (2:2 minimum) in an area related to chosen secondary subject.

GCSE qualifications

• Grade C (grade 4 in England) or above in GCSE English Language or Welsh Language or a standard equivalent.
• Grade C (grade 4 in England) or above in GCSE Mathematics or GCSE Numeracy or a standard equivalent.

Student teachers studying to teach in Welsh medium schools will also need a GCSE grade C or above in Welsh (First Language).

A-Levels/Level 3 Vocational Qualifications

If applicants do not hold an undergraduate degree in a curriculum subject, successful study at appropriate higher levels must be evidenced.

Work Experience

You should be aware of the realities of being a teacher and life in a classroom and so we ask for recent and relevant experience in a secondary educational setting. This may be through employment or volunteering in a school and should be for a minimum period of two weeks.

Gaining experience in a school classroom will help to strengthen your application and better critically inform your personal statement. It will also prepare you for our selection process and give you some experience from which you can draw in your interview.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

If accepted into our programme, you will be required as soon as possible to obtain a clearance check via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS, formerly known as CRB, Criminal Records Bureau). Please note there is a fee associated with the service and you should ensure also that you opt for the ‘update’ service to maintain the validity of your clearance check.

For further information please contact PGCE secondary admin: 01792 482111 at  TeacherEd@uwtsd.ac.uk

What we are looking for?

• A positive view of education as a means to transform lives
• Motivation towards becoming an excellent teacher
• An empathetic desire to make a difference to young people’s lives
• Positive attitudes to social justice, inclusion and equity
• Ability to work individually and as part of a team
• Energy, enthusiasm and flexibility
• Resilience and reliability
• Professional attitudes and behaviour
• Willingness to be a life-long learner

How we select our student teachers?

• Quality of personal statement
• Evidence of subject expertise
• Recent and relevant experience in an educational setting
• Quality of individual interview
• Performance in selection tests – e.g. literacy, numeracy and dispositions

Your Professional Teaching Experience (PTE) will take place over 24 weeks in school, with two substantive teaching placements. These will be in an APLP network consisting of a Lead school and a number of partnership schools where experienced mentors and university tutors will support you in achieving QTS.

Each teaching experience is in different settings to give you a range of experiences and the opportunity to engage with a variety of approaches to teaching and learning.

During your school-based experience, you will be supported to integrate theory and practice so that you can develop the reflective skills needed to become a highly successful teacher.

You will have a graduated introduction to teaching to give you time to develop your confidence, knowledge of the curriculum and skills of classroom organisation. This will include working with small groups of learners before moving to being responsible for the whole class.

Seminars hosted in school and delivered by mentors and university staff will give you the opportunity to meet with other students in your network and engage in collaborative discussion. Such shared reflection is a powerful tool in moving your practice forward.

Our partnership of networks offers urban and rural placements as well as placements available in either English or Welsh-medium schools.

University provision

Post-graduate university provision takes place on our new state-of-the-art campus located in the marina quarter in Swansea. Equipped with the latest teaching technology and spacious areas for student study, you will be engaged in creative and innovative sessions that will prepare you for the new curriculum.

Your time in university focuses on learning high-quality pedagogy that makes a positive impact in the classroom. Working with teacher educators who are experts in their field of education, you will become skilled in understanding how children and young people learn and how they can become ambitious and capable learners.  

Our teaching philosophy is one of engaging our student teachers in lively debate and active learning that develops your critical thinking and engagement. This will prepare you to be a research-informed and research-active teacher, ready to make a difference to young people’s lives.

School-based experience

Your Professional Teaching Experience (PTE) will take place over 24 weeks in school, with two substantive teaching placements. These will be in an APLP network consisting of a Lead school and a number of partnership schools where experienced mentors and university tutors will support you in achieving QTS.

Each teaching experience is in different settings to give you a range of experiences and the opportunity to engage with a variety of approaches to teaching and learning.

During your school-based experience, you will be supported to integrate theory and practice so that you can develop the reflective skills needed to become a highly successful teacher.

You will have a graduated introduction to teaching to give you time to develop your confidence, knowledge of the curriculum and skills of classroom organisation. This will include working with small groups of learners before moving to being responsible for the whole class.

Seminars hosted in school and delivered by mentors and university staff will give you the opportunity to meet with other students in your network and engage in collaborative discussion. Such shared reflection is a powerful tool in moving your practice forward.

Our partnership of networks offers urban and rural placements as well as placements available in either English or Welsh-medium schools.

The programme offers 60 credits at Masters level and 60 credits at Graduate Level. These are awarded on successful completion of module assessments which include:

• Case studies
• Portfolios
• Video presentation
• Research Project

All assessments are closely linked to practice and are designed to offer you the opportunity to develop teaching and learning that has a positive impact on children and young people.

Additional Costs

Our students have access to a diverse range of equipment and resources, which in most cases are sufficient to complete their programme of study. However, it is likely that students will incur some unavoidable additional costs over and above the cost of their university tuition. These are as follows:

Mandatory Costs

• Travel to placement schools and University
• Travel to off-site specialist provision (including schools and other training providers)
• Travel to schools for ‘Bridging Days’ and other whole-cohort initiatives as per calendar
• Use of a laptop (MS Office is free to students)
• Art students - trips to London galleries and National Museum of Wales. A3 spiral-bound sketchbook, A1 portfolio

 Necessarily Incurred

• Travel to participate in subject enhancement activities organised by Subject Tutor
• Teaching resources, for example, A Level/ GCSE text books
• Travel to Electives placements

Optional

• Printing costs
• Optional study trips

£15,000 bursaries are available from Welsh Government in high priority subject areas. 

Yr Athrofa has excellent graduate employment rates with 99% of graduates going into employment or further study.

Many schools and college departments, both locally and nationally, are staffed with several of our teachers and many have gone on to forge successful teaching careers at strategic, professional and management levels at home and abroad.

Our PGCE graduates usually remain in close touch with Yr Athrofa as they make their careers in the teaching profession and they often become subject mentors on the programme.  This creates a very strong, sustainable professional network of teachers, which is a rich source of continuing professional development.