School of Education
Working in partnership with the Primary PGCE
How to get involved
There are several ways in which you can work in partnership with us.
Hosting PGCE block placements
Your school might choose to host a PGCE student, or students, for one or more of their three school-based teaching placements.
Hosting Focus Days placements
A number of local partnership schools invite student groups (of up to 15) into their classrooms to gain valuable experience of one targeted focus throughout the school. Focus Day topics include classroom management and communication, policy and practice for special educational needs and child protection, English and the school SENCO.
We are always looking to increase the number of schools willing to participate in this method of training, so if you would be interested in taking part in partnership school Focus Days, please contact pgcepartnership@le.ac.uk.
Interviewing PGCE candidates
Each year we ask headteachers from our partner schools to be involved in our recruitment process and attend interviews of potential PGCE students. If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact pgcepartnership@le.ac.uk.
Lead Partners
An increasing number of PGCE students are now recruited via Lead Partners. You might consider 'bidding' for your own allocation of students or working with an existing Lead Partner school to offer placements (contact us at pgcepartnership@le.ac.uk, and we will pass your details on to lead schools working within the partnership).
Join our Partnership Management Group
The Partnership Management Group (PMG) meets three times a year and is composed of primary headteachers, teachers and PGCE senior management. The role of the PMG is to share information about practice in schools in initial teacher education and facilitate the exchange of views and feedback.
The PMG embeds teachers in the strategic planning of the Primary PGCE course and enables them to gain information about practice, initiatives, changes and developments in schools.
Testimonials
Offering placements to PGCE students allows us to reflect on and refine our own current practice in teaching and learning.
PGCE students bring an enthusiastic freshness into school and enhance the learning experience for the children.
Our partnership with the School of Education is a key aspect of our school year. Through the partnership we are able to simultaneously reflect on our own professional work and share our experience with our future colleagues, a symbiosis through which a process of mutual personal and professional development is consolidated.
In the last six months our school, Parkland Primary, has hosted two PGCE students on placement. Hosting these students was a valuable experience for the teachers involved, as it gave them opportunities to reflect on good practice, realise the value of their own skills and also observe and assess their classes from non- teaching viewpoints. They gained important additional insight into the learning and behaviours of the children they teach.
University tutors were always there to offer support, using the great background knowledge that they had gathered through tutorials and everyday contact.
Mentoring is hard work, but very rewarding - both for the individual teacher mentors and for the partner schools who benefit from the sharing of ideas for teaching and the enthusiasm of this new crop of future teachers!