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

Postgraduate Course: PGDE Secondary Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDUA11289)

Course Outline
SchoolMoray House School of Education and Sport CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe overall objective of this course is to develop critically informed and confident teachers to meet the needs of our children and young people in the 21st Century professionals. This is achieved through core themes related to: curriculum; learning and teaching; research; equalities; diversity, values, sustainability and teacher identity. As this course is also nuanced by subject discipline so students will learn using a diverse range of pedagogical approaches appropriate to their own subject specialism to further develop their knowledge for their particular professional context.
Course description All students take this course. Students are organised in subject discipline strands and undertake most of their learning through subject specific tutorial groups, although there are opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. The learning outcomes and assessment are intentionally generic to ensure they cut across all subject disciplines.

This course is informed by a core lecture programme. Concepts introduced within the lecture programme are developed further within discipline specific tutorial groups. A range of pedagogical approaches are employed within the tutorial groups including: direct teaching; individual tutorials; task based collaborative group work; learning in the outdoors; student presentations and student led teaching; micro teaching and whole group and small group discussion.

The core aim of this course is to prepares student teachers for placement and professional practice, therefore it engages students in subject teaching in the Scottish secondary school from S1 - S6. This course is structured to encourage all students to explore core contemporary themes through the lecture programme series and to critically and analytically engage with theories of teaching, learning and assessment. Students are expected to apply these theories to practice and critically reflect on the outcomes. In particular and building on that broad academic and theoretically applied basis, the course is designed to provoke students to critically consider their teaching practice as a way to reflect upon their own professional identity and values as a teacher in Scotland today.

Like all Level 11 courses within the School of Education, students are expected to engage extensively with, and make meaningful and purposeful use of a range of literature, some of which they will source for themselves.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs None
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 ( Lecture Hours 36, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 103, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2, Formative Assessment Hours 6, Other Study Hours 31, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 18 )
Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) Directed learning, micro teaching, learning outdoors, interdisciplinary learning.
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) The assessment for this course is summarised below:

1. Formative and feedforward assessment is set by subject discipline tutors and is related to lesson planning and delivery for example through micro teaching.

2. The summative assessment takes the form of a 4000 word assignment submitted in two parts;

Part 1 (2,000 words 50%) is a rationale for lesson planning and

Part 2 (2,000 words 50%) is a discussion of reflective and reflexive praxis.
Feedback Formative assessment

There are many formative assessment elements embedded in this course. These include for example, micro teaching, lesson and unit planning exercises and demonstration and analysis. Feedback comes in written and verbal commentary from the tutor and peers. The focus on lesson planning and justification of strategies which might be chosen in relation to teaching gives students opportunities to practice and to reflect critically on planning to teach. This is embedded progress towards the summative assessment task. Another, important element of formative assessment for the programme as a whole is the weekly online journal kept by students. This journal gives students the opportunity to reflect deeply and critically on elements of their learning, their reading and their placement experiences. Tutors comment on these journals, providing encouragement, information and formative feedback.
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

Below is an indicative list of general reading for the programme. This is supplemented by tutors who direct students to specific reading about the curriculum and pedagogy of their particular subject discipline.

Arshad, R., Wrigley, T., & Pratt, L. (2019) Social Justice Re-Examined: Dilemmas and Solutions for the Classroom Teacher. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books Ltd.

Bryce, T.G.K. et al. (2018) Scottish Education. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Capel, S., Leask, M. and Younie, S. (2019) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School: a companion to school experience. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Higgins, P. & Christie, B. (2018). Learning for Sustainability. In Bryce, T.G., Humes, W.M., Gillies, D. & Kennedy, A. eds. Scottish Education (5th edition.) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

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

Wals A. E. & Corcoran, P. B. (2012) Learning for Sustainability in time of Accelerating Change. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers

Meyer, Oliver, Coyle, Do. (2017) ¿Pluriliteracies Teaching for Learning: Conceptualizing Progression for Deeper Learning in Literacies Development¿, European Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2017, Vol.5(2), pp.199-222.

Scottish Government (2016) Vision 2030+ Concluding report of the Learning for Sustainability National Implementation Group. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/res1-vision-2030.pdf (Accessed 15/06/20).
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 1.This course prepares students to engage critically and analytically with current areas of development in learning and teaching in secondary schools and with broader issues and problematised areas in education.

2.Students on this course work collaboratively to design creative and effective approaches to meet the challenges of working with children and young people in the 21st Century classroom.

3.Students are taught to reflect, using appropriate theoretical models of reflective practice on their own practice and their own situated thinking; and to respond reflexively in order to improve learning and teaching. This often means making in-practice decisions in complex situations

4.Student teachers on this course develop the necessary skills to communicate effectively with a range of audiences from children to their professional colleagues, parents and other adults with professional responsibilities for children and young people, adapting communication appropriately to context and purpose.

5. Students must demonstrate their ability to use research papers which include graphical or numerical data to support their understanding of educational issues and to interpret and uses this data accurately and critically.

6.Student teachers on this course work collaboratively with peers and tutors. They learn to take the initiative, to demonstrate leadership and to take responsibility for their professional development as a teacher. Through a blend of tutorial tasks and their practice experience students develop the ability to think their way critically through complex , diverse perspectives and make ethically sound and well informed decisions which stem from their developing understanding of intra and inter personal skills as well as their sound professional knowledge of learning and teaching. .

Additional Class Delivery Information A flexible approach will be taken as to delivery method depending on safety guidelines at any given point. Workshops will be adapted to be available online with the same content being covered. Although experiential learning will be more limited, students will continue to participate and lead aspects of workshops online.
KeywordsCurriculum pedagogy subject discipline school and classroom learning
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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