Our one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) prepares you to teach the secondary school drama curriculum for the 11-16 age range.

You’ll learn about the theories and practical methods that form the basis of drama education. You’ll look at developments in drama education over the past hundred years. You’ll research the work of key practitioners and explore key issues such as the role of drama in school, drama and culture, drama and democracy the making of theatre through devising and script work.  

You’ll visit a number of secondary schools in order to observe a variety of drama lessons. This will provide you with an opportunity to reflect upon the different approaches to teaching and learning in drama.

We teach most of our sessions through practical demonstration and you’ll study mainly with your PGCE Drama group, however, because drama relies on collaboration there will be opportunities to work with colleagues in other subject areas such as English, history, maths and science.

You’ll experiment with ways in which drama is used as a teaching tool across the whole school curriculum to support literacy and numeracy or to bring history to life. 

You’ll also consider how to plan lessons, reflect on your planning, learn how research can develop your teaching practice, and look at ways to develop your teacher persona. 

You won’t simply learn theory with us on-campus though, you’ll teach classes in schools too. 

You’ll spend a minimum of 120 days on placements in schools, gradually increasing your involvement to become an effective 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).