Faculty of Education, Arts and Business

Department of Postgraduate programmes and partnership

Programme Handbook

For Post Graduate Certificate in Primary Education (PGCE) with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)

Date 2015-16

This handbook is a guide to the programme you are studying. A concise summary of the programme is contained in the Programme Specification, available on your programme Blackboard site.

This programme is governed by the University’sAcademic Regulations. You should read and familiarise yourself with the Academic Regulations. In the event of any information contained in this handbook conflicting with that in the Academic Regulations, then the Academic Regulations should be taken as the definitive version.

This handbook should be read in conjunction with supporting information available in the Student Handbook available at the Course Information Point (CIP): students are expected to read and familiarise themselves with the content of the Student Handbook.

The University has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this programme handbook and will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver programmes in accordance with the descriptions set out within the handbook. Nevertheless, circumstances outside the University’s reasonable control may arise which limit its ability to deliver the programme as described. Where reasonable and appropriate to do so, the University will make all reasonable endeavours to put in place alternative arrangements to achieve the relevant learning outcomes, and provided the University does so, it will not be responsible to the student for any failure to provide the programme in accordance with the programme handbook.

If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact your Programme Leader in the first instance.

  1. Welcome to your Programme of study

Welcome to your primary School Direct Programme led by Carlisle School Directand the University of Cumbria.

You will become an active member of a wide-ranging school and University Partnership that includes schools throughout the UK. Within this Partnership you will join a community of Education professionals who work together to support your development. We look forward to welcoming you into this community where we hope that you will make your own valuable and very distinctive contribution.

This handbook is a useful reference point for you as it provides and outline of key contacts, underlying principles that shape your course as well as details of assessments that you will undertake.

Your programme is defined by the Programme Specification which you can find on your programme Blackboard site.

  1. Contact details for your Programme

Role / Name / Contact details
Programme Leader / Mike Toyn /
01524384327
Partner Programme Lead (PPL) / Jacqui Percival /
0781 5493067
University Programme Lead (UPL) / Deborah Seward /
01228 616051
CIP Administrator / Julie Dean or Joanne Watson / or
  1. Key features of the School Direct alliance

The Carlisle School Direct primary programme has a distinctive approach to ITT. Working in conjunction with the University of Cumbria it is our aim to provide high quality school based training, personal professional development and academic support for learning. We will provide a range of supportive settings, experienced staff and bespoke opportunities in order to support your journey towards QTS and the PgCE in Primary Education. We have designed a programme which has flexibility alongside structured opportunities for pedagogical learning. The programme will be delivered with school- based teacher educators who have a passion for outstanding teaching and learning. As a result Carlisle School Direct programme and your learning is part of the wider teaching and learning communities found within the participating schools.

It is through this process that we hope to achieve not only greater levels of collaboration, but also a more expansive model of learning and professional development. Potential examples of this type of activity are:

  • lead mentors work with University tutors to design, develop and implement key enactment activities;
  • mentor training takes place with student teachers, mentors and University staff working together.
  • in schools students can collaborate with each other on very focused observations tasks.
  • University staff and school staff will work together on initiatives such as setting up expectations of work-based experiences; training students in how to observe and give feedback; training students in peer coaching.
  • with the requirements for the mini research module that investigates a topic that is of interest to a school, school staff, University staff and other appropriate staff work with students and school staff in clusters, building up a repertoire of basic research techniques;
  • interviewing is undertaken by University and school staff working together;
  • school and University staff work together on the evaluation of the Programme, including research-based inputs, conference presentations and the writing of papers.
  1. Programme Rationale and Philosophy

The philosophy of the programme is that teaching is about facilitating, coaching, guiding, supporting, awakening and inspiring. The design of the programme supports the personal tutor and other staff to do that as well as an overt modelling of that to students

There is also an underpinning belief that you learn in both training and placement settings and learning takes place at the place where those are brought together, thus nullifying the perceived theory/practice divide.

The programme is underpinned by equality and diversity. These are related to part two of Teachers’ Standards (2012), which you must meet to pass the programme. You will engage with these values in the first contributory module and also the pedagogy and practice module.

The programme team’s desires are that we should be educating you to be an independent, creative thinker who reflects on their practice to be the best teacher you can be. We see you as a researcher: using research skills to develop your understanding of practice in general and also your own practice but also engaging with primary research from the academic community to develop you understanding of the profession you are being educated for.

The programme has been informed by recent and relevant research. The Carter Review (Nov 2014) emphasises key areas such as assessment, behaviour management and subject pedagogy and this drives the programme through the pedagogy and practice spine module. Mike Toyn’s research into Technology Enhanced Learning, Adrian Copping’s research into reflective practice, creative approaches to learning and education partnerships have informed the two contributory modules. Jan Ashbridge’sresearch into phonics and early reading have led to the development of the Cumbria Teacher of Reading module. The structure and content of the programme has been designed in consultation with a wide range of partners from schools and School Direct alliances.

The programme also seeks to support your employability skills. Whilst ostensibly preparing you for a career in primary teaching, the programme develops a range of transferable skills for other employment choices. Your entry into the teaching profession will be supported through your Career Entry Development Profile which tracks your professional and personal journey through the course. The programme team works with other university services such as the Careers service as well as school based colleagues to provide appropriate workshops and support at appropriate points during your course.

  1. Programme Aims and Outcomes

To enable you to become effective classroom practitioners who can raise the achievement of all children.

In order to do this, the programme has the following specific aims. To enable you to:

  1. develop as an enthusiastic and committed professional able to respond to complex and unpredictable situations, generate new ideas and to develop your personal philosophy;
  2. become an effective team member and be able to contribute to (and, where appropriate, manage) a variety of groups and disciplines within a diverse, multi-disciplinary environment employing specialist knowledge and drawing on a critical awareness of issues at the forefront of this area of activity;
  3. become a creative and adaptable problem solver who can draw on a critical awareness of thinking at the forefront of educational practice, with an understanding of the need to continue life-long professional learning;
  4. achieve mastery of a comprehensive range of complex and specialised skills for planning, teaching, assessing, recording and class management drawing on a critical awareness of current thinking and issues in this area of study;
  5. become a critically- reflective, effective and flexible practitioner who can analyse complex concepts and professional situations by means of a synthesis of personal and work place present a variety of innovative and challenging learning experiences that allow you to transfer and apply knowledge and skills flexibly to a range of contexts and changing contexts;

We will facilitate this by presenting you with a variety of innovative and challenging learning experiences that allow you to transfer and apply knowledge and skills flexibly in a range of contexts.

The programme provides opportunities for you to develop and demonstrate the following areas of knowledge and understanding

K1 Breadth and depth of curriculum knowledge including phonics and early reading

K2 Thinking at the forefront of developing effective team working

K3 knowledge and understanding of factors that impact upon children’s achievement

K4 knowledge and understanding of what constitutes high quality learning and teaching

K5 Knowledge and understanding of core teaching skills such as planning, teaching, assessment, class management and behaviour management.

K6 Skills necessary to meet all QTS Standards

K7 How to plan and carry out personal enquiry in education settings with the goal of improving their own practice

… and the following skills and attributes

S1 Demonstrate a critically reflective enthusiastic and committed approach to supporting children’s learning

S2 Demonstrate successful team working skills across a variety of groups and disciplines drawing on recent research in this area

S3 Recognise and promote the importance of effective relationships between groups of children drawing on a critically reflective response to current thinking in the area

S4 Demonstrate a critical awareness of and ability to analyse how, when and why effective learning occurs drawing on recent research and explicitly theorised frameworks, and be able to act on this knowledge

S5 Demonstrate mastery of a comprehensive range of complex and specialised skills in planning, teaching, assessment, class and behaviour management employing a critical awareness of the latest thinking

S6 Demonstrate effective, flexible and critically reflective practice informed by consideration of different paradigms of education, recent research and personal enquiry.

S7 Analyse complex concepts and professional situations by means of a synthesis of personal and work place reflection and data drawn from scholarship, research and personal enquiry

S8 Demonstrate a creative problem solving approach in complex and unpredictable situations using a critical awareness of different frameworks for understanding educational practice

S9 Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of life-long professional learning and reflection that engages with the thinking and findings of others

S10 Meet and apply all standards for QTS

S11 Plan and carry out personal enquiry which informs own practice and develops the learning and achievement of children.

  1. Structure of the Programme

Our expectation is that you will gain the full award of Post Graduate Certificate in Primary Education with QTS. This comprises the following modules:

Module Code / Module Title / Credits
MAPP7001 / Raising the Achievement of children1 / 30
MAPP7002 / High Quality Learning and Teaching1 / 30
PGPC9060 / Pedagogy and Practice / N/A
PGPC9120 / Leading and Managing Change in the Primary School / N/A
PGPC9070 / The Cumbria Teacher of Reading (CTR) / N/A
PGPC9080 / Beginning Professional Practice / N/A
PGPC9090 / Developing Professional Practice2 / N/A
PGPC9100 / Extending Professional Practice2 / N/A

1 These are contributory modules and you must pass them in order to qualify for the PGCE

2 These placements must be passed in order to gain QTS

Some students might be directed to transfer to the Professional Graduate Certificate in Primary Education with QTS, which has a lower academic requirement

Module Code / Module Title / Credits
PGPC6060 / Exploring the Raising the Achievement of children1 / 30
PGPC6070 / Exploring the High Quality Learning and Teaching1 / 30
PGPC9060 / Pedagogy and Practice / N/A
PGPC9120 / Leading and Managing Change in the Primary School / N/A
PGPC9070 / The Cumbria Teacher of Reading (CTR) / N/A
PGPC9080 / Beginning Professional Practice / N/A
PGPC9090 / Developing Professional Practice2 / N/A
PGPC9100 / Extending Professional Practice2 / N/A

1 These are contributory modules and you must pass them in order to qualify for the PGCE

2 These placements must be passed in order to gain QTS

It is possible to exit the course with either a Professional Graduate Certificate or a Post Graduate certificate (without QTS). In order to do so, you would need to successfully complete all modules with the exception of the professional practice (placement) modules.

A final exit point is to leave the course with QTS only. In order to do this you would need to successful complete the professional practice (placement) modules and to have gained at least 30 academic credits at either level 6 or level 7. (In other words, you would need to pass at least one of the contributory modules as well as the placement modules)

  1. Programme Teaching and Learning Methods (including learning which is not delivered through face to face lectures)

At every point in the Programme we endeavour to get you to feel, see and hear new concepts and ideas. What is vital is to be able to ‘unpick’ and reflect on experiences so that the meaning is not missed. Having noticed what there is to notice, we then help you to deconstruct and then re-construct teaching episodes. We do this through a planning process requiring the breaking down of classroom learning activities into their constituent part, hence the use of the term ‘deconstruction’. Having broken them down, we then help build them up again and implement them in the classroom. In short, we explore real-life experiences that at the same time are both practical and theoretical, and which will hopefully help you to become very effective teachers.

In terms of the learning process, we hope that all who participate in the Programme, either directly or indirectly (pupils, student teachers, the school and university staff), benefit in terms of their own personal learning and/or professional development. In short, the learning approach promoted by the Programme provides something worthwhile doing in its own right.

We also utilise technology-enhanced learning methods such as VLE and other web-based technologies to engage you in the learning process more effectively

  1. Programme Assessment Strategy

Modelling of effective learning, teaching and assessment strategies is embedded throughout the Programme. The Programme uses a range of assessment approaches with an aim of supporting different learning styles. Formative and summative assessments are mapped carefully across the Programme, thereby avoiding bunching of assessment to allow for formative feedback to be effective.

You have access to Programme information and pre-course tasks, prior to starting the Programme, via Blackboard. These materials are specifically geared towards individual needs, especially in relation to subject knowledge. The Programme maximises opportunities to use distributed learning to support diverse learning needs and has the infrastructure in place to continue this support into the Newly Qualified Teacher year and beyond.

The assessment methods have been chosen to combine professional relevance and positive impact on classroom practice with the development of academic skills necessary to continue the study of education to MA level and beyond. The intention here is to develop their current practice whilst laying down a foundation for continued professional development.

You will be assessed through a range of different types of academic writing, literature reviews, annotated reading lists, written evaluations of practice and also through engagement with the action research process. Formative assessment is crucial and these pieces ensure appropriate feedback and development opportunities

Summative Assessment Summative assessment is the process of evaluating (and grading) the learning of students at a point in time. There is a summative assessment for each of the two contributory modules. The placement modules are also summatively assessed.

Formative Assessment Formative assessment is designed to help learners learn more effectively by giving them feedback on their performance and how it can be improved and sustained. You will undertake formative assessments in each of the two contributory modules, this will help inform your summative assessment.

ReferencingFor more details about referencing, please refer to

To access the interactive electronic edition of ‘Cite them right: the essential referencing guide’ go to Skills@Cumbria on the University’s Blackboard site. This publication primarily covers the Harvard style but also includes overviews and examples of all the referencing styles used at the university. The library subject resources pages also provides advice for the referencing style used for your subject: Malpractice

The majority of students are hard-working and honest and understand the meaning of academic integrity. However, some students do not and sometimes cheat, for many reasons and in varying ways.

The University adopts a firm position on academic malpractice (cheating) of any kind, which can include: cheating in exams; plagiarism (ie use of someone else’s work and trying to pass it off as your own); collusion (eg working with other students inappropriately in the submission of work); fabrication and falsification; and impersonation. Penalties for academic malpractice may affect your reassessment opportunities and can, in some cases, mean that you will be required to leave the University without any award. The malpractice procedures shall operate on two levels in accordance with whether it is deemed that major or minor procedures should apply.

Full detail on the academic malpractice procedures can be found here and at: Malpractice - University of Cumbria

  1. Personal Development & Employability on your programme

In addition to preparing you to enter the teaching profession, your programme will help you to develop a range of employability skills that cover Communication skills, Cognitive and research skills, generic competencies, Workplace skills and Personal attributes.