PGCE Secondary Geography

Develop your teaching skills with the PGCE Secondary Education with Geography, qualify as a Secondary Geography teacher and benefit from our consistently high employment rates on this highly regarded course at the Institute of Education.

This Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Secondary Geography course leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), qualifying you to teach the 11-18 age group in secondary schools in England and Wales.

Your tutors are a diverse and incredibly experienced community of academics. You will be taught by those with national reputations as experts in the field of geography in education.

You will examine a range of pedagogical approaches to geography teaching – physical, human and environmental. You will experience using GIS software and will have opportunities to conduct and reflect upon fieldwork. 

Our course has links with the Geographical Association, the Geological Society, the Ordnance Survey and the Royal Geographical Society, who all provide guest speakers to our sessions, in addition to local Heads of Department, teachers and school mentors.

One focus of the programme is fieldwork and we undertake a residential trip to Nettlecombe Court FSC in Somerset, to allow students to reflect on how to facilitate high quality learning outside of the classroom.

We pride ourselves on cutting-edge geography and ensure that we maintain up-to-date knowledge of technology in teaching, such as ArcGIS and Digimaps. This software is used on the course and is then applied in lessons in schools.

Teaching is through a series of seminars and workshops in a well-resourced campus environment as well as in the field. Interactive and discussion-based techniques will encourage you to engage, reflect and challenge. Your learning may include:

• participating in workshop style sessions with your peers
• attending presentations by subject experts
• working on tasks in groups
• having individual tutorials
• visits to schools or other education settings
• visits to theatres, museums, galleries or sites of educational interest
• writing assignments on aspects of subject teaching and Professional Studies.

These learning activities will help you to develop a toolkit of knowledge and skills, ensuring you are well prepared to tackle challenges and opportunities throughout your training and your career.

Alongside the University tutors, you will be taught and guided by a team of committed and experienced University-trained school mentors.

Climate and sustainability education

• what is happening to our climate, how to help children learn about climate and sustainability in an age-appropriate and accessible way, and how to develop your own positioning as a teacher
• climate justice, the impact of current and future changes to our environment and climate on ourselves and others and implications for teachers
• how to translate knowledge and theory into change and personal action through building climate and sustainability education into your planning, teaching, and children’s learning.

Visit Partnering for the Planet to find out more about the University of Reading’s world-leading work in climate science.

Placements

Placements enable you to develop the skills and knowledge valued and desired by employers - you will build your confidence in the classroom and gain practical teaching experience. Placements also provide you with the opportunity to connect with potential employers and build your professional network.

At Secondary level we have strong relationships with around 90 schools in the local and surrounding area. It is a testament to the strength of these partnerships and the regard with which our graduates are held, that most schools in Berkshire employ at least one graduate of the Institute of Education.

On your Secondary PGCE course, you are required to carry out three placements in two different age groups — ensuring you 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 you to sample teaching in an alternative environment.

We offer our students an unusually flexible and broad range of contexts and educational environments - you will have the opportunity to gain experience in special needs schools, Pupil Referral Units, independent schools, museums and charities.

You will have plenty of opportunities throughout your course to apply your developing skills in real settings. In schools, you will be involved in:

• observation of other teachers
• planning and teaching small groups and whole classes
• planning and teaching elements of lessons and whole lessons
• reflecting on and evaluating your teaching
• receiving feedback on your teaching
• gaining experience of the range of responsibilities of classroom teachers.

Research

98% of our research is of international standing (REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – Education).

School Direct

This subject is also available via School Direct as well as the University-based route. Those students following a School Direct route may be studying for a PGCE or QTS only. However, all students come together as a subject group in University sessions.

Those taking the PGCE will spend more time in the University than those taking the QTS-only course. The PGCE will involve writing assignments that are designed to help trainees to plan their teaching effectively and imaginatively, and to evaluate their developing knowledge and skills, particularly in terms of the quality of learning achieved by pupils. Successful completion will result in 60 master's-level credits.

For more information, please visit the Institute of Education website.