Course Overview

Successful completion of this one-year full time course leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status and a PGCE accredited by the University of Cumbria.
The course addresses the varied demands made on the modern primary teacher; recent developments in the curriculum, subject expertise, classroom approaches to teaching and the development of personal and professional standards. The course is essentially "school based" and is designed to make the best use of the strengths of all the schools involved.

The application of focus subjects to teaching and the majority of other curriculum components, will be taught by tutors from the University of Cumbria, Cumbria LA and high quality specialists. They will also give a broad overview of the philosophy and methodology of education. The teachers in schools will allow students the opportunity to put theory into practice through "hands on" experience, with immediate and detailed feedback.

The participating schools cover a broad spectrum of primary practice from wholly infant, junior and primary schools. They also vary in size and location from a small village primary school of less than 60 pupils to a large urban school of 250+. In the smaller schools, classes may span more that one year group or even contain both infant and junior age children. With such a variety of participating schools, you will be placed in a sequence of schools that will provide complementary experiences so that the nature of your training will be broad and balanced. This will help build your confidence and prepare you for your future teaching career. All trainees will receive similar training but there will be an opportunity for you to elect for an infant or junior specialisation.

A major aim of this course is to help you to become a competent teacher, so approximately 50% of course time will be spent in schools. Over the year you will develop your classroom skills gradually with full professional support, until you are able to take over the role of the class teacher during your final placement.

Trainees will meet together for seminars and lectures at the CPTT Centre. The Programme Director will be in close contact with the whole trainee body. Visits will also be made to the University of Cumbira, Ambleside, and Carlisle to utilise facilities for some lectures. The nature of the course will allow trainees to gain greater classroom experience than those training in a centre of Higher Education Institution, and this should be an advantage when applying for a first teaching post. However, the prospects of gaining employment in Cumbria can be limited.

You will be expected to take responsibility for your own learning and professional development. Teachers in schools and tutors will be offering you advice and guidance with your assignments, which are designed to reflect the aspects of teaching and learning being addressed during your training. Both school based and tutor based assessment are intended to show your developing professional competencies as a teacher, rather than your subject knowledge.

Within each term, time will be set aside for a Block Classroom Practice. However, in the remaining weeks some of your time will also be spent in schools, acquiring experience. In the classroom you will be expected to carry out observations and plan and deliver group work. The complexity of the tasks will increase as your confidence grows. At first you will work in pairs, but by the end of the year you will be expected to take on the role of the Class Teacher.

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