Our one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) prepares you to teach the secondary school business curriculum for the 14-19 age range. 

At the start of the course, you’ll complete a subject knowledge audit. We’ll find out the topics you know well and those you’d like to learn more about, to make sure your skills are up-to-date. You will continue to monitor and develop your subject knowledge throughout the course.

You’ll explore topics such as operations management, business ethics, economics, enterprise, and leadership theories. You’ll also look at teaching methods you might use in the classroom, such as using technology to develop pupils’ financial data analysis skills. 

On this course, you’ll study with your PGCE Business group. You’ll consider how to plan lessons, reflect on your planning, learn how research can develop your teaching practice, and develop your understanding of pedagogy to help you to improve student learning in your teaching.

You’ll also have guest lectures with examiners from a number of exam boards, to help you learn more about how they mark exams and what they’re looking for in pupils’ work.

You won’t only learn ways to teach your class how to write a marketing plan or how to explain Handy’s model of organisational culture though, you’ll teach in schools too.  

You will spend a minimum of 120 days on school/college placements and will teach the curriculum for Key Stage 4 and 5 in business-related subjects and the Key Stage 3 curriculum in another subject area. At least one of your placements will include a Post-16 teaching experience. Throughout your placements, you’ll gradually increase your involvement to become an expert practitioner.

Most of our graduates go on to work as art and design teachers in secondary schools.

The PGCE programme provides you with 60 masters' level credits when you graduate. You could put these towards a masters degree to help you develop your career in the field of education including our new MTeach masters specifically designed for Early Career Teachers (ECTs).