Citizenship PGCE

where are the other courses?

Reply 2

OP

According to GTTR:

B60 - Bradford College
B78 - University of Bristol
C10 - Canterbury Christ Church University
E84 - University of Exeter
I30 - University of London, Institute of Education
L34 - University of Leicester
L68 - London Metropolitan University
M45 - The Marches Consortium (SCITT)
M80 - Middlesex University
N36 - Newman College of Higher Education
P60 - University of Plymouth
S21 - Sheffield Hallam University
S24 - St Martin's: Lancaster: Ambleside: Carlisle: London

Apparently MMU also does social science with citizenship

Reply 3

i guess bristol, exeter, institute of ed, maybe canterbury would be better institutes - but it depends on where you want to be. if you see previous posts re: pgce youll see descriptions of exeter being top for most things, but bristol is seen as being a bench mark of quality (maximum teaching and research scores - high league table university, but they dont really specialise in certain things. a lot of good publications come from the institute of ed., london - but living in london and living in the rural-historic city of exeter are two very different experiences all together. Where is it that you would like to work? Schools tend to care very little about university league table status (loads in devon come from general teacher training colleges) - i just know the mentioned universities by academic reputation (which doesnt fully translate into pgce reputation since academics and pgce tutors can be very different people who still work for the same department). it may be useful to find the area that you like the looks of, then see what colleges/universities are available. exeter/bristol are very popular (i remember in an interview being told for every 11 applications 1 gets an interview, and for every interview there are only so many places - looooads get turned down) but they are popular for a reason. do you have anywhere in mind?

Reply 4

OP

At the moment I'm thinking I'd like to work in some part of Manchester in the future, but that's by no means certain.

Leicester is my first choice at the moment because its close to Nottingham, where I'll still have friends that year, and I think I meet their "Commitment to Citizenship" part and other requirements quite well, and I just quite like the look of the course/uni.

As for the others, I'm quite interested in Exeter, although it would mean doing Citizenship with History and I'm not sure yet whether I want to do that, plus its ages away from home. I like the look of the IoE, but I'm not that sure about living in London either. Does putting something as 2nd/3rd/4th choice affect your chances of getting a place there? Bristol and MMU also look interesting, but I don't really know to be honest!

Reply 5

nah - doesnt matter if you put an institute 2nd or not. stick with leicester as your first if thats what you like the looks of best. i think citizenship is an emerging pgce so not too many places do it yet (though i could be wrong). bristol is much more akin to notts than exeter, but that matters less for a pgce since a lot of time is spent working and in schools. exeter is more intimate and smaller, 'manaegable' for a 1 year course. but if they are too far than stick with mmu etc. like i said, for a career in teaching, the institute doenst matter too much (hence their being loads of busy teacher training colleges - more than universities no doubt!)

Reply 6

louise28k

1

I was thinking of applying for a citizenship PGCE, but am put off because it is a relatively new area of the curriculum, and so can be taken off just as quickly as it was introduced, thus becoming pretty much redundant?

Reply 7

i dont know if that would happen but i suppose it is a risk -which is why many places offer a second subject specialism as part of a pgce (similar to the PE pgces - PE has to be combined with another subject at some universities).

Reply 8

Peacey

7

Are you doing citizenship to teach citizenship as your first choice? Or are you ideally looking at social science teaching? If the latter is the case Leicester and MMU are really good choices (together with IoE). If you want to work in manchester, MMU are really good at pushing and getting their PGCE students jobs.

Reply 9

OP

I would like to teach both citizenship and politics definitely. That's why I like the fact that Leicester say "all trainees teach A level subjects such as Politics, Sociology and General Studies" That's interesting information about mmu, I'll bear that in mind. thanks :smile:

Reply 10

Peacey

7

As far as I know, Leicester are a bit more sociology focused (they've certainly got lots of big names related to sociology teaching as tutors), where IoE have more of a Politics focus - however, I suspect that these differences in balance may be neglible.

Reply 11

OP

Peacey

As far as I know, Leicester are a bit more sociology focused (they've certainly got lots of big names related to sociology teaching as tutors), where IoE have more of a Politics focus - however, I suspect that these differences in balance may be neglible.

Do you have any idea about MMU?

At the moment, I'm thinking my other three choices will probably be MMU, Bristol and Exeter, although I'm not sure in what order.

Reply 12

Peacey

7

I think MMU has quite a sociology/psychology focus BUT this isn't necessarily a problem (less competition for placements for a start). The social science tutor at MMU is lovely - give her an email and I'm sure she won't mind answering any question.

Manchester is great too.

Reply 13

OP