The School of Education and Social Work has a strong partnership across a diverse range of secondary schools within the West Midlands. Located in the heart of the West Midlands, you will gain practical experience in a range of schools with a rich variety of cultural and linguistic influences, religious beliefs and social diversity.  The Department of Life Sciences, part of the School of Health Sciences, is committed to delivering high-quality, research-informed teaching in a range of biology and life science fields alongside a developing Life Sciences research portfolio.  Staff have expertise in a range of disciplines which will support your scientific development and prepare you for professional practice as a science educator.

The course offers you the chance to gain the professional qualification of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) as well as a degree, helping you walk into your dream job as a secondary school teacher immediately after graduating from university.

You will also benefit from the unique and strong partnership between biology educators and subject specialists who are at the forefront of practice in their fields.

We will support you in the transition to university through a careful induction process, confidence building activities, group work and a carefully planned programme with a range of formative and summative assessments.

Your programme will be interactive, practical, engaging, thought provoking and challenging and is designed to promote independence so that you become a confident, committed and creative teacher ready to join the teaching profession.

On the programme you will experience a variety of learning and teaching approaches that focus on modelling good practice and these will include: workshops, conferences, lectures, seminars, a range of guest speakers, visits to schools/settings and other sites as well as a range of practical teaching experiences.

The content of the programme is research led, innovative and responsive to the educational climate to enable you to develop your subject and pedagogical knowledge and apply it in the classroom.

PLACEMENTS

We have developed a shared vision for educational excellence with the schools in our partnership. You will benefit from working with and learning from outstanding classroom teachers in schools and at University. Working in schools with teachers and pupils is key to you becoming a committed, creative and confident teacher.

School placements increase in length over the three years of your course to ensure you complete the minimum of 120 days required to build your teaching experience and gather evidence that you meet the requirements for QTS. The placement aspect of this course is non-credit bearing.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) Professional Standards for Teachers which lead to recommendation for the award of QTS will be assessed through the school based training modules.