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PGCE - General Primary with QTS (5-11 years) - Mathematics specialism

Looking for a career where you can nurture children from the very start of their academic life? With a PGCE General Primary with Mathematics pathway, you can equip children from 5-11 years with the essential maths skills needed in everyday life. This is a highly desirable pathway to choose as alongside our acclaimed General Primary pathway, this gives you a subject area as part of your qualification which will add to your employability profile with schools.

Our well respected PGCE General Primary with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) supports you through your journey from student to Early Career Teacher. The PGCE is an internationally renowned academic qualification, which, studied alongside the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) gives you the very best of evidence-based and informed practice. Our approach therefore provides you with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to navigate the complex and exciting demands of the primary classroom.

It also means you can take up a position as a qualified primary school teacher the minute you graduate.

The University of Warwick provides accreditation for the QTS element of this University of Cumbria programme.

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Accredited by:

OFSTED Rated 'Good' 2023:

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Department for Education

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Course Overview

Grounded in the learning of our acclaimed PGCE General Primary, this Mathematics pathway allows you to hone your pedagogy to lead and teach Maths in a primary school setting. This unique course pathway gives you the opportunity to raise children's achievements in maths and support them to get the best out of their learning.

You’ll learn through a blend of theory and hands-on experience, working within the National Curriculum framework. You'll explore the concepts and key themes of Mathematics alongside general primary pedagogy, confidently devising and delivering engaging lessons to children aged 5-11 years old.

Over half the course will be spent working with children on assessed placement, with school-based enrichment activities alongside your university-based study. You'll take three placements across a variety of schools and settings, building a wealth of experience to help advance your future career.

On this course you will...

  • Develop your personal interest in maths through a specialist pathway.
  • Benefit from high-quality support from our academics and staff on a programme designed around you.
  • Learn from an experienced, highly qualified programme team, working at the forefront of the academic field.
  • Enjoy the intimate feel of our course delivery, with small class sizes and your own personal tutor.
  • Utilise cutting edge research on a newly revalidated and up-to-date course.
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Course Structure

What you will learn

The programme is intentionally designed to scaffold your learning journey in a progressive way from your first day to course completion. This is done through a combination of relevant, detailed and comprehensive contributory modules complemented by qualificatory modules that support the development of effective classroom practice. All modules have been developed to enable you to make strong, meaningful and effective connections between theory, research and practice.

Modules

You gain the academic PGCE qualification via successful completion of three masters’ level modules:

  • Beginning Professional Understanding
  • Developing Professional Enquiry
  • Extending Professional Learning

These thought-provoking modules are designed to provide you with an evidence-based foundation to support your development as a teacher. Drawing upon a range of recent, relevant and cutting-edge research, these modules support your understanding of professional decisions teachers make and therefore support you in becoming an excellent teacher.

To support your professional learning, you will engage with modules designed to help develop your professional practice. These will cover subject and pedagogical knowledge of all primary curriculum areas as well as key professional skills and attributes such as planning, behaviour management and adaptive teaching. You will have the chance to work with subject experts.

Year one

Another way in which the programme supports your understanding of the interplay between theory and practice is through the use of ITAPs (Intensive Training and Practice). These expertly designed and focused units of work, support you in knowledge, analysis, enactment, preparation and reflection in key pedagogic areas. The focus of our ITAPs have been chosen and placed strategically into the programme at key points to best develop your learning. The ITAPs focus on ‘Managing Behaviour’, ‘Assessment for Learning’, ‘Adaptive Teaching’, and ‘Structuring Learning and Curriculum Design’.

The ITAPs will involve a range of learning opportunities, including working with selected schools and expert teachers to contextualise your university-based learning and provide you with opportunities to enact the approaches explored.

  • Being a Teacher
  • Cumbria Teacher of Reading
  • Curriculum and Pathway development
  • Curriculum
  • Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP)
  • Understanding Learning

Attend an Open Day at Cumbria

An Open Day is your opportunity to explore one of 5 campuses, meet your lecturers, and find out how the University of Cumbria could become your new home.

Take the next step towards achieving your dreams.
A student stands in front of a wall splattered with paint.