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Russian PGCE

Hello!

Anyone know of anywhere where you can do any Russian in your PGCE? Google is no help, which isn't promising :frown:

Thanks!
Original post by tea_please
Hello!

Anyone know of anywhere where you can do any Russian in your PGCE? Google is no help, which isn't promising :frown:

Thanks!


Hi,

Do you have any other languages? The chance of getting on a PGCE (or getting a job) with only Russian is basically zero.

Remember that a PGCE is not about learning your subject, it's about learning how to teach your subject. The pedagogy for teaching Russian will not differ significantly to other languages (although of course you have the added difficulty of the alphabet, which isn't an issue when teaching French/German/Spanish). Once you qualify as a teacher, you are qualified to teach anything, not just the subject your PGCE was officially in.

So if you do have other foreign languages to degree standard, you could apply for an MFL PGCE and having Russian won't do you any harm. At least one student on my PGCE had Russian (in addition to French) and they taught us some Russian in one of our subject sessions. A German teacher when I was at school also ran a lunchtime/after school Russian club.
Uni of Sheffield do a combined PGCE -

French with Russian
Spanish with Russian
German with Russian
Reply 3
Original post by myrtille
Hi,

Do you have any other languages? The chance of getting on a PGCE (or getting a job) with only Russian is basically zero.


Thanks for the advice! French was my other main degree language, although a lot of places stipulate at least 50% of your modules should involve the language, and I definitely couldn't say that about French, or probably even Russian for that matter, we did a lot of literature/linguistics/just learning other random languages. Most places also ask that you have spent a substantial amount of time in the country of your main language, which would only be true of Russian for me, not French. I'm also currently studying in Germany and would much much rather teach German as my main language as I'm much more interested in German culture and my German is more up to date and probably generally better, but I technically only have an A-level in it. So weirdly, I don't actually match the selection criteria for most places, which is kind of silly.

I've contacted Sheffield to ask about the Russian PGCE as I seem to recall they say it 'may be available', but the course director hasn't got back to me.
Original post by tea_please
Thanks for the advice! French was my other main degree language, although a lot of places stipulate at least 50% of your modules should involve the language, and I definitely couldn't say that about French, or probably even Russian for that matter, we did a lot of literature/linguistics/just learning other random languages. Most places also ask that you have spent a substantial amount of time in the country of your main language, which would only be true of Russian for me, not French. I'm also currently studying in Germany and would much much rather teach German as my main language as I'm much more interested in German culture and my German is more up to date and probably generally better, but I technically only have an A-level in it. So weirdly, I don't actually match the selection criteria for most places, which is kind of silly.

I've contacted Sheffield to ask about the Russian PGCE as I seem to recall they say it 'may be available', but the course director hasn't got back to me.


If your degree is partially in French and you have German to A-Level standard, you should have a decent chance of getting on a PGCE. There are lots of places available on courses, it's not all that competitive.

In most schools at the moment, the main languages are French and Spanish (French and German in some schools, but German has been declining for years). So provided you can offer French and one other language your chances are OK.

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