PGCE Primary

The Professional Studies module of the PGCE focuses on all aspects of your development as a teacher that are not subject-specific. The module is at the heart of the Primary PGCE course, supporting your development and understanding of all facets of learning and teaching including assessment, planning and reviewing the impact of strategies adopted.  It will provide the scaffold for your learning across all other modules and in your school experience and will help you become an evidence-informed, reflective and resilient practitioner, well-equipped for your ECT induction.

The first part of this module focuses on building your understanding of how children learn by studying seminal theories of learning and the more recent neuroscientific developments that have provided insights into the complex process of learning. From this theoretical foundation, you will develop understanding of how teachers include in their own practice evidence-informed learning and teaching strategies so that you can develop a repertoire of skills and approaches that will support all children’s learning. Crucially, you will also consider important research which considers holistic approaches to promoting achievement and progress, taking into account children’s earliest developmental experiences. You will learn about, practise and refine key teaching practices such as planning and assessment to prepare you effectively for assessed school experiences. 

Securing inclusive practice is a key strand throughout this module and learning includes considering how the needs of all children can be met to secure the best possible outcomes for each one. Groups of pupils vulnerable to underachievement will be looked at in greater depth – pupils with learning differences, SEND or who may be neurodiverse, pupils from Black and Global Majority (BGM) heritage, children working with English as an additional language, disadvantaged pupils – along with the evidence about how teachers can make the biggest difference to these children by adopting highly effective pedagogical strategies.

Throughout the module, you will be encouraged to think critically, in order to become a confident, autonomous professional. Your learning will be informed by the current Department for Education’s (2024) Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) but the module extends beyond the ITTECF in enabling you to develop the attributes set out in Roehampton’s 4Rs: resilience, respectfulness, resourcefulness and the ability to reflect on what you have done.

The module will work in conjunction with the School Experience module to support your development as a teacher.

In the Core Curriculum module, you will focus on the development of subject knowledge and pedagogy in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, DfE, 2025) and national curriculum (DfE, 2013) core subjects and EYFS equivalents: English, mathematics and science. Your learning will link closely with the Professional Studies module and the pedagogical understanding contained therein.  

The teaching and learning strategies adopted in this module aim to reflect, model and exemplify the range of approaches that you will encounter within primary teaching and learning and encourage you to become independent, autonomous learners. You will be encouraged to analyse and evaluate the teaching and learning approaches you encounter within partnership schools. Principles underlying practice will be explored in the light of theory and research. Through this approach, you will be encouraged to generate your own approaches to teaching and learning, informed through experience, critical reflection, discussion, research and reading.  

The module, and the subjects within, will allow you to use key concepts to develop your professional competence, including planning appropriate learning objectives and adopting teaching and assessment strategies. The module will also encourage you to understand the value of the subject within the curriculum and to inspire you to become passionate teachers of English, mathematics and science. 

Embedded within the module is exposure to, and opportunities to reflect on, high-quality practice through effective partnership with local schools including through intensive training and practice (ITaP) experiences, which will focus on systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) and the role of scaffolding in supporting learning.

The course is mapped against the Department for Education’s (2024) Initial Teacher Training Early Career Framework (ITTECF) drawing on literature from this document as well as other seminal research to provide a secure evidence base from which students can develop and evaluate their practice. The module extends beyond this in enabling student teachers to develop the attributes set out in Roehampton’s 4Rs: resilience, respectfulness, resourcefulness and the ability to reflect on their planning, teaching and children’s learning in the three core curriculum subjects. 

This module will work in conjunction with the School Experience module to support your development as a teacher.

The Wider Curriculum module of the PGCE focuses on your development as a teacher of a broad, balanced and engaging curriculum that promotes the talents and interests of every child. It will

build your subject knowledge in preparation for classroom practice so that you can knowledgeably, confidently and enthusiastically teach lessons, and understand how the curriculum can be planned and assessed to support children’s learning in the early years foundation stage (EYFS) and key stages one and two. You will learn about the value of a broad and balanced curriculum to promote children’s understanding, curiosity and enthusiasm for learning so that every pupil can fulfil their potential.

As well as securing foundational subject knowledge and familiarity with the National Curriculum, there will be a focus on active and experience-based learning to help children make secure connections between new knowledge and their understanding of the world. It will encourage you to think about how to use active learning, objects, places and planned experiences to enrich children’s learning, to promote their curiosity and to recognise their contributions to life in school and the wider community.

You will also engage with authoritative literature that underpins each subject, in this way developing your academic confidence and skills. This will allow you analyse, and plan for, effective practice through supported observations of learning and teaching and develop skills in assessing pupils’ learning in these subjects.

You will cover subject knowledge in the wider curriculum subjects: art and design; computing; design and technology; foreign languages; geography; history; music; physical education; PSHE/RSHE; and religious education.

Throughout the module, you will be encouraged to think critically, in order to become a confident, autonomous professional. Your learning will be informed by the current Department for Education’s (2024) Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) but the module extends beyond the ITTECF in enabling you to develop the attributes set out in Roehampton’s 4Rs: resilience, respectfulness, resourcefulness and the ability to reflect on what you have done.

This module is the school-based element of the PGCE course which will facilitate your professional development and progress towards meeting the Teachers Standards (DfE, 2021). You will develop your skills in the five core areas of practice – behaviour management, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and professional behaviours – and apply, in practice, the knowledge, skills and behavious that define great teachers and the high-quality learning they deliver for children. You will implement all you have learnt through your Professional Studies, Core and Wider Curriculum modules so that you become confident teachers ready for your early career induction. You will choose an age-phase preference for placements, focusing either on Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, or Key Stage 1 and 2 for these school experiences.

You will have two, contrasting school experiences (varied by age phase and other school-related factors such as size and the percentages of disadvantaged pupils it serves) and across these placements build up from initially supporting the class teacher to latterly taking the lead in assessment, planning and choosing appropriate learning and teaching activities for children. You will ensure that practice is adapted to support the learning of every child, including those who might be vulnerable to underachievement. You will learn how to interact and engage fully in the life of the school, demonstrating the skills to contribute to children’s learning and development beyond those in your class. You will start to fulfil the wider responsibilities of teachers and learn new skills to help you manage workload and wellbeing when sustaining an 80% teaching timetable for an extended period of time. Throughout, you will be supported by expert mentors working in the school and from a Lead Mentor working with the programme team who will ensure that your placement provides the best opportunities for you to develop your practice. For students on a Lead Partner route or Apprentices, placements are arranged by the Lead Partner or apprentice-employing school.  

In addition to the two placements, you will also secure foundational learning and teaching skills through four intensive training and practice (ITaP) weeks which will focus on behaviour, systematic synthetic phonics, scaffolding and questioning.

Throughout the module, you will be encouraged to think critically, in order to become a confident, autonomous professional. Your learning will be informed by the current Department for Education’s (2024) Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) but the module extends beyond the ITTECF in enabling you to develop the attributes set out in Roehampton’s 4Rs: resilience, respectfulness, resourcefulness and the ability to reflect on what you have done. In all these ways you will be effectively prepared for the process of applying for a teaching post and for your early career teacher (ECT) induction period.