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

You’ll learn how to teach both English language and literature, covering subjects such as media, drama, and phonics.

You’ll look at a variety of short texts and poetry – perhaps Shelagh Delaney’s play, A Taste of Honey, the poetry of John Agard or prose such as Conan Doyle’s The Sign of the Four – and you’ll focus on how you can turn literature into learning.

During the course, you’ll explore ways to teach literature, to develop oracy and spoken language confidence and proficiency. You’ll also learn how to prepare a novel for teaching and the role literary theories might play in our approach to teaching works of literature. And, you’ll typically have language lessons to help you develop your skills in areas such as grammar.

You may go on a trip to a local art gallery to reflect on art as a stimulus for writing, and have guest lectures from practising English teachers and people working for exam boards. 

The course is taught by our highly experienced subject experts who have been both practising teachers and are researchers in the field.

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).