PGCE Design and Technology (two year route)
GTTR code WXX1
Full-time
This course is subject to reapproval
Location • City Campus
Subject area • Teacher education
Related subjects • Art and design • Engineering • Education studies • Architecture
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Find out why our teaching placements are unique and highly praised by Ofsted.
Watch videos of trainee teachers and mentors talking about teaching placements.
Helping you to secure a teaching job after your teacher training
Hear what local pupils think about becoming a great teacher.
Is teaching for you? Our free three day taster courses give you all the information you need to find out about teaching.
If you’d like to teach design and technology in secondary schools, but need to brush up on your skills before you start your teacher-training, we can help.
This two year route helps you develop the skills you need to be a successful teacher of pupils of all abilities, strengthening both your design, technology and manufacturing skills as well as developing your teaching skills.
This course is ideal for graduates who have a degree in a related field, but require the time and facilities to develop subject specific knowledge and skills before going into the classroom.
It's a stimulating combination of creative, practical and technical skills that are so useful that some of our most outstanding PGCE graduates are the ones who did this course.
You may be eligible for a tax-free bursary.
An outstanding national reputation
Sheffield Hallam is the UK’s largest provider of design and technology education, which makes it a great place to come for teacher-training. As a result, we enjoy a national reputation for excellence in design and technology.
A remarkable place to learn
One of the exciting things about this course is that it’s not all based in our education department but in our Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences. That means you are based right at the heart of our workshops, studios and stores, surrounded by other students and staff from a range of creative backgrounds and disciplines.
Your route to qualification
The first year of the course is focused on you developing your subject knowledge capability before going into the classroom. Modules include • health and safety • design and communication • manufacturing • systems and control.
You have access to specialist facilities including workshops with a full range of machine tools, CAD/CAM equipment, computer suites, design-teaching studios and specialist technology rooms.
In the second year of the course you focus on developing the skills you need to be a successful teacher.
Teaching placements
In year two you complete two contrasting placements in 11–16 or 11–18. This allows you to experience the full progression from Key Stages 3 to 5. In total you spend around 120 days on placement.
While on placement you benefit from excellent support and mentoring from a university-trained mentor. We have placement links with over 600 schools and other institutions, and some of our students secure teaching jobs in one of their placement schools.
We are the Design and Technology Association’s regional provider of training to qualified teachers in schools — so when a teacher needs training on electronics and systems control or CAD/CAM, we deliver that training. One of our lecturers is also the curriculum advisor to the Design and Technology Association on electronics and systems control.
Find out more about PGCE Design and Technology (two year route)
Full-time – two years
All applications must be made through the Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR). Apply on-line at www.gttr.ac.uk or phone 0871 468 0 469.
2013/14 academic year
Typically £9,000 a year
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees and funding see www.shu.ac.uk/funding
• research projects • individual and group work • presentations and reports • preparing teaching materials and plans • teaching practice • practical design and make exercises
Great teacher training placements
'The most important element of teaching that my pupils have taught me is how to differentiate and make learning accessible to all and on an individual level.'
Laura Scales, trainee teacher
We believe that teaching is all about the learner. That's why we've invested heavily in building a great network of teacher-training placements.
A unique approach to placements
We provide our trainee teachers with two contrasting placements, providing access to a wide range of different learners. This furnishes them with the practical skills and experience they need to manage behaviour and control the classroom; it also provides the opportunity to refine their teaching styles.
Support while on placement
In 2010, Ofsted commented on the 'exceptional quality of senior mentor coordinators' at Sheffield Hallam. We pride ourselves on the outstanding levels of support we offer to our trainee teachers while on placement. The support you receive may differ, depending on your route into teaching, but usually consists of University tutors, trained mentors in each placement context, your course peers and other educational professionals.
Mutually beneficial placements
We work with our placement partners to our mutual advantage
• they provide superb placement opportunities for our trainee teachers
• they help us with the development of our courses, so that they're always up to date and practically relevant
• they enable our students to put into practice the latest research and innovative teaching practices
Watch videos of our students of our students talking about their teaching placements.
Amy Bagnall (2:39)
Hear about the types of support we provide for you on teaching placements.
Laura Scales (2:07)
Hear how our teaching placements help you to put learning into practice.
Beccy Buck (1:21)
One of our mentor co-ordinators talks about what it takes to make a great teacher.
More videos
Amy Bagnall (2:39)
Hear about the types of support we provide for you on teaching placements.
Laura Scales (2:07)
Hear how our teaching placements help you to put learning into practice.
Beccy Buck (1:21)
One of our mentor co-ordinators talks about what it takes to make a great teacher.
Career prospects for trainee teachers
96% of trainee teachers are working or in further study within six months of completing their courses.
At Sheffield Hallam University, we work hard to prepare our trainee teachers for a great job after graduating and for a really rewarding long-term teaching career. Because of the high standard of our training and our great reputation for producing fantastic teachers, our students enjoy excellent prospects on graduation.
Fast-track careers
Our graduate teachers have a strong track record of progressing into more senior positions of responsibility, sometimes within as little as a year of graduating.
Sought-after skills and experience
Our unique approach to teaching practice and placements means that our graduates have superb classroom experience – which makes them very attractive to potential employers. Plus, our students benefit from the highest quality
'Trainees gain the confidence to quickly take on subject leadership, and gain promotion often at the end of their induction year' (Ofsted, 2010).
research and innovative practice, which means they graduate with a high standard of teaching ability.
Careers and employment
We offer a wide range of support services for students both while they're with us to develop their employability and career-management skills and when they're looking for a job after graduation.
Services include
• experienced careers advisers
• a programme of careers-related events including recruitment fairs and employer presentations
• netWORK, which advertises hundreds of graduate vacancies online
• Impact, our career coaching and employer mentoring scheme
• an international students' job club
Here's what a group of year 10 and 11 pupils think about great teaching.
'It's a give and take relationship isn't it? They teach us. The least we can give back is respect them, give them the status as a teacher which gives them confidence and helps everyone progress more really.'
Here's what a group of year 10 and 11 pupils think about great teaching.
'If you can tell that a teacher cares about the subject they're teaching and cares about the students, then the students are more likely to learn and listen to them. They give you respect and we give it back'
Here's what a group of year 10 and 11 pupils think about great teaching.
'Everyone's got different learning styles so teachers have to adapt to how people learn best'
Here's what a group of year 10 and 11 pupils think about great teaching.
'There's different techniques you can use. There's a variety that kids can benefit from. If I was a teacher I'd want to not just stick to one style of teaching. I'd do lots of different methods'
Here's what a group of year 10 and 11 pupils think about great teaching.
'You've got to have that practical element to teaching as well as words. It's a different side of teaching that kids don't expect'
Here's what a group of year 10 and 11 pupils think about great teaching.
'Trainee teachers bring a new style to it. Bringing something new really brightens it up and makes a good change'
Is teaching for you?
If you are interested in pursuing a career in teaching then you may like to register for one of our taster courses. We offer a combination of mini taster sessions which are open to all and a series of more in-depth programmes targeted towards particular groups.
Mini taster sessions
Mini taster sessions are designed to give you a flavour of what teacher training involves, giving you the opportunity to meet with course leaders and have your questions answered.
We are running a series of mini taster sessions in March 2012. Find out more or register for a session.
Train to teach development programme
We offer a series of programmes, session's and one to one support to provide you with a more in-depth view of the teaching profession and advise you on your own personalised journey to initial teacher training. These are
• black, minority and ethnic individuals – one day introductory course on 6 February 2012
• men into primary – three-day course (including one day within a school environment), which runs between 12-14 June (tbc)
• secondary priority courses – for people interested in teaching subjects such as maths, physics and chemistry, with courses running between 5-7 March
We also offer small group sessions and one-to-one's for those who do not fall into one of these categories.
Please contact m.greaves@shu.ac.uk to register your interest.
Hear from taster course participants
'I would most definitely recommend this course to other interested parties. I attended in order to decide whether I still thought teaching was for me, and without having the unique opportunity to spend a day in a school I think I still would have struggled with my decision.
'It didn't seem to matter whether you were on the fence about teaching – as I know one of the attendees later realised teaching wasn't for her,
but having access to valuable information regarding getting into teaching, speaking to those from the teaching profession and spending time in a school, were, for me most useful. Since the course I have been able to research the numerous routes into teaching and I have decided I would like to pursue a PGCE Primary.'
Sharner Lal, taster course attendee
'I really gained a lot from this course. I got first hand information about what it is all about being a teacher in UK. I must acknowledge that the organisers of this course did tremendously well it was really fantastic. I had a whole day experience in a school where I had the opportunity to be in two different class rooms. It was a wonderful experience to see how
teaching goes on, classroom management, the use of ICT facilities, and the role of teaching assistant.
'This actually boosted my enthusiasm to go out there and teach. I got more insight into a practical responsibility of a teacher and the positive relationship a teacher builds with pupils.'
Ebenezer F Pobee, taster course attendee
