PGCE Secondary: Science specialism

The PGCE Secondary science programmes (Biology with Science, Chemistry with Science and Physics with Science) are designed to enable you to teach, as a minimum, all the science specified in the National Curriculum for science at Key Stage 3, and your chosen science specialism from biology, chemistry or physics, at Key Stage 4. Students join the course with a variety of science degrees and backgrounds. Few, if any, are confident from the start in all aspects of science demanded by the National Curriculum or even by their own subject specialism. Early in the course you will complete a personal audit and begin an action plan to build on your general science and subject specialism knowledge. This is an important thread running through the programme. A similar approach is followed with your understanding and skills in ICT, so that you will be able to make appropriate use of these when teaching.

The programme is the result of close collaboration between school-based mentors and the Roehampton team. It is arranged into three terms. In the first term you begin to learn how pupils develop science understanding and skills while at the same time building enough confidence to plan and teach a science lesson. The second term extends this by using teaching experience to improve lesson performance and revisit and extend issues within science education. The third term addresses science education outside the classroom and broader issues concerning the role of science within the school curriculum. Towards the end of this term, you will develop an action plan to provide a basis for progression and development within your first year of teaching.