THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2023/2024

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Moray House School of Education and Sport : Education

Undergraduate Course: PGDE secondary Placement 1 (EDUA10164)

Course Outline
SchoolMoray House School of Education and Sport CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Postgraduate)
Course typePlacement AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis is a placement course during which student teachers complete school experience in a Scottish secondary school.
Course description Throughout each of the placement courses students will develop and consolidate skills and knowledge and demonstrate their ability to meet the GTCS Standards for Provisional Registration (SPR) to a satisfactory standard in relation to the appropriate stage and sector. This will incorporate the following three areas:

Professional Values and Personal Commitment;
Professional Knowledge and Understanding;
Professional Skills and Abilities.

At the heart of learning to teach is the experience of being in a school. In literature this is referred to variously as site-based learning, school or clinical placement, professional practice, the teaching practicum, and teaching placement. In this first school placement course students are introduced to professional practice and the role of the teacher.

Block Placement 1 usually takes place between October and December.

The aims of Placement 1 are:

to give student teachers the opportunity to observe and reflect on teaching by experienced practitioners;

to provide student teachers with an introduction to planning and teaching single lessons in the classroom;

to provide student teachers with the opportunity to develop and teach series of lessons for pupils at all stages in order to develop their classroom skills and confidence and to deepen their understanding of the role of the reflective practitioner;

to give student teachers the opportunity to reflect on school cultures;

to give student the opportunity to reflect on and engage with what are often problemetised areas such as behaviour management, assessment, achievement and attainment;

to learn about, to reflect on and participate in teaching within the national curriculum framework;

to critique the national curriculum from their perspective as a subject specialist, as a teacher within the wider school;

to give student teachers in the secondary sector the opportunity to observe teaching in a cluster primary school;

to give student teachers the opportunity to engage in informed, professional conversation with other teachers on educational matters;

to complete placement tasks set by the university in relation to Professional Studies and Curriculum and Pedagogy courses.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements Students must be enrolled on the PGDE Secondary programme.
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2023/24, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  0
Course Start Flexible
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Placement Study Abroad Hours 196, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 0 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 100% coursework

Students are assessed collaboratively by their mentor teacher and by a university tutor, as part of the partnership arrangements, through observed evidence of practice and written evidence in the school experience file.



The skills observed include application of theory to practice and the ability to plan, manage, organise and assess pupil learning. The national school experience report, based on the GTCS standard for provisional registration, is used to structure and report this assessment.
Feedback Formative feedback will be offered via the following:

As part of the ongoing mentoring relationship students will receive regular verbal formative feedback from their school mentor. There may also be opportunities for formative feedback from other professionals within the school context.

Mid-placement written review of progress identifying strengths and development needs

Students offered Professional Development Consultations with their university tutor

Peer learning activity.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the ways in which concepts of curriculum, pedagogical theories and approaches impact on learning and teaching.
  2. Critically consider and engage in the process of planning for teaching and learning across secondary school education taking account of subject disciplines and local and global educational contexts.
  3. Critically interrogate theories of learning, teaching and assessment within their subject disciplines and in the wider educational, social, cultural and political contexts of the secondary school community.
  4. Examine the values and ideologies explicit and implicit in academic research and policy literature and/or about Scottish education and beyond which relate to central contemporary educational issues such as inclusion, additional support needs, fairness, diversity, social justice and sustainability.
  5. Engage in reflective and reflexive praxis to ensure how, why and what we teach aligns with our individual and collective professional values and actions.
Reading List
Indicative Reading

Brookfield Stephen D (2017) Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass

Capel, S., Leask, M. and Y. Sarah (2019) Learning to teach in the secondary school : a companion to school experience. London ; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group ; [on-line access via discover-ed]

Florian, Lani (2015) Inclusive Pedagogy: A transformative approach to individual differences but can it help reduce educational inequalities?, Scottish Educational Review 47(1), 5-14

Harrison, Jennifer K. & Lee Ruth (2011) Exploring the use of critical incident analysis and the professional learning conversation in an initial teacher education programme, Journal of Education for Teaching, 37:2, 199-217

McCluskey, G, Lloyd, G, Kane, J, Riddell, S, Stead, J & Weedon, E (2008), 'Can restorative practices in schools make a difference?', Educational Review, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 405-417.

Olsen, B. (2016). Teaching for success, developing your teacher identity in today's classroom. New York, N.Y. : Routledge

Pollard, A. (2008) Reflective Teaching Evidence-informed Professional Practice. Continuum.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Transferable skills developed during placement include the following:

1. Working as part of a team.
2. Taking increasing responsibility and acting proactively.
3. Developing organisational skills and management skills.
4. Thinking and acting reflectively in and after practice.
5. Making increasingly well informed decisions, taking into account a range of needs and using a range of sources of information.
KeywordsPlacement secondary initial teacher education
Contacts
Course organiserMr Russell White
Tel: (0131 6)51 6615
Email: Russell.White@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Syyeda Moini
Tel: (01315) 16210
Email: smoini@ed.ac.uk
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