PGCE then Masters??

(i first posted this in general uni discussion, but it was suggested to be more apropriate here, which i didn't think of)

So, i'll shortly be in the 3rd year of my degree. After i finish i want to do both a PGCE and a 1 year masters course. I know that i don't actually need tdo the masters, but i want to. I want to do my PGCE in the same town as my degree however (as i like the uni i want to do it at), and theres no MSc course here, so to me it makes sense to do it in this order:

Finish BSc
Do the PGCE (1year)
Do the MSc (1 Year)
Then go into teaching.

When aplying for a masters would i find it harder to get a place than if i did it before the pgce. will they think i'm really strange/whatever for wanting to do a masters when i've already done a pgce and want to go into teaching?

Any thoughts anyone please??

Reply 1

The Boosh

a pgce is a postgraduate course, so if you pass you will be acknowledged as having proved yourself at postgraduate level, which will go in your favour.

my reaction was to do the msc then the pgce, if you are serious about teaching. i dont know how healthy a gap between the pgce and job applications will be. each year hundreds and hundreds of people graduate with a pgce or teaching degree and apply for jobs. headteachers can be a little strange with their views of your background e.g. you are advised NOT to teach abroad before you teach in the uk etc (wierd advise from NUT, TTA etc).

my route was ba, med, pgce, msc, phd and, having met so many people with masters and pgces, i can honestly say that it doesnt seem to matter academically which order you do it in, but the issue is more to do with finding a teaching post. if your msc is related to your pgce then it might be easier to explain (i.e. "i wanted to extend my subject knowledge before i went into teaching" perhaps).

anyway - that's my drunk advice. the longer you spend without teaching after a pgce, the less the pgce seems to be worth (the tta say this also, and suggest say you should teach within 5 years maximum, and can only supply teach for a very short time).

Reply 2

bryan

why do you want a Masters if you only want to teach at secondary school level?

Reply 3

eden

well its because i originally wanted do a MSc in Statistics, just because i find statistics really interesting, and theres so much more left to learn than what we can cover in my maths degree. But because the uni i'm at don't offer a MSc Statistics, i can't do it there. I know i dont need to do a masters to teach at secondary school, but i just want to do the masters for personal knowledge/gain/whatever.

After doing a placement in a school however i decided i probably want to go into teaching. I work at another uni, in the same town as where i study now, who offer the PGCE course, and i really like that uni. So want to do it there.

Which leaves me with these two options:

1. BSc, move away for MSc, then move back for PGCE, then teach.

or

2. BSc, stay in same town for PGCE, move away for MSc, then teach.

The 2nd one seems more logical to me: stay then move, rather then move away then move back. Easier from an accomodation point of view too. I was just wondering if doing it this way i would find it hard to get on the masters course, or if it would be a better idea to just do option 1 instead.

Sorry if that makes no sense, hard to explain. Eden.

Reply 4

santogold

I can understand your wish to do a masters and a pgce, as I often have similar thoughts. However, I think while it doesn't matter which order you do it in academically, it would probably be better for your teaching career to do the MSc before the PGCE. You can extend your subject knowledge, which may give a different angle for the PGCE.
Maybe you will like the new town too and want to study for the PGCE there then?

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