Module 1 - Professional Studies

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Module 1 - Professional Studies

Module 2 - Subject Knowledge Enhancement

Module 3 - Subject Pedagogy

Module 4 - School Experience

Course Outline

Module 1 - Professional Studies

Course Description

This course will enable students to reflect critically and in depth on issues considered in the programme as a whole, within the context of developing a broad understanding of the role of the teacher in 11-18 phase education. Students will consider a range of theoretical issues relating to the development of the child as a learner and their application to the classroom context. The different philosophies and ideologies which underpin the secondary school curricula will be critically examined.

The course will cover a range of other professional issues including inclusion, English as an additional language, and behaviour for learning enabling students to become reflective practitioners. These topics will also be developed strongly in the Subject Pedagogy module with a particular subject focus. There will also be a strong focus on constructive, critical examination of policy and government initiatives in education, including school-based and wider community initiatives. The responsibilities of the teacher within the wider children’s workforce will be a key component of study and reflection.

Module Aims

All students take this module, which aims to:

Encourage new teachers to extend their thinking by sharing their subject and school perspectives
Prepare new teachers to develop and model the highest professional standards in their behaviour, attitudes, values and relationships with pupils, colleagues and the wider community
Ensure that new teachers have the pedagogic knowledge, understanding and skills to be able to plan, teach and assess across key stages 3 to 5 and to show understanding of the wider curriculum and progression from key stage 2 to post-16
Enable new teachers to inform their teaching with an understanding of the processes of learning, and of the factors that affect these, including pupils’ social, cultural, linguistic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, gender, and the additional educational needs which they may have
Provide an initial teacher education which builds from both the strengths and the development needs which participants bring to it, by establishing and maintaining a collaborative culture of development in which established expertise is celebrated and the meeting of individual development needs is systematically planned for and supported
Equip new teachers with the developmental strategies of reflective practice, which will enable them to establish themselves as independent practitioners who have the capacity for continuing professional education and development and equip new teachers with the knowledge, skills and understanding to undertake rigorous investigations of matters of professional significance

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module student teachers should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

1. The development of their professional identity and ideology based on a clear theoretical rationale derived through their critical engagement with practice, research and theory, policy and statutory requirements relating to whole school issues

2. Generic aspects of pedagogy, knowledge and skills and how to apply these confidently over a range of 11-18 educational contexts

3. The underlying values and principles relevant to the 11-18 age phase

4. The diversity and complexity of learners and learning with special reference to the 11-18 age phase

5. Reflective practice and how to use this to critically evaluate practice and to inform their short, medium and long term engagement with their pupils and their own on-going professional learning and development

By the end of the module students should be able to:

6. Use the principles, concepts and theories developed during the module to inform their professional relationships with peers and other professionals within and beyond the school in order to enhance pupils’ learning

7. Demonstrate their development as critical, reflective and professional practitioners with respect to whole school issues

8. Undertake a rigorous investigation at level 3 (HE) of suitable aspects of a whole school issue taking account of educational theory and research