PGCE Further Education and Lifelong Learning

Building on the learning in Becoming a Teacher 1, this module invites you to explore notions of self and reflexivity in relation to developing and continuing wider professional practice. You will extend academic skills of critical engagement with a wider range of literature around the subject of learning and teaching. You will investigate pragmatic elements such as personal and professional action planning for enhancing practice linked to the Skills England Occupational Standards (2025) which are mapped to this module. This module provides an opportunity to further develop your pedagogic knowledge and practice across all aspects of the teaching, learning and assessment experience within your subject area. Grounded in critical reflection, it supports your development as a confident and ethically responsible practitioner who can evaluate and enhance your own and others’ practice. You will critically engage with factors that influence learning, including embedding inclusivity across your teaching practice, lesson planning and implementation, and interrogate a range of teaching, learning and assessment theories, concepts, and models to inform your practice. Through seminars, blended learning, and work-based activities, you will explore how professional values shape decision-making and practice and consider the implications for inclusive and transformative learning. The module encourages you to take ownership of your professional growth, fostering autonomy, scholarly engagement, and ethical judgment as integral aspects of your identity as an educator. You will develop analytical and critically reflective skills that enable you to apply theory to practice with confidence and plan strategically for sustained professional development. A key element of this module is the Viva – a professional discussion where you will consider how the experiences you have had on the course this year has helped to create and impact your teacher identity.

This is an introductory module to teaching your subject within the further education and lifelong learning sector. It will introduce several key themes that will be explored and developed throughout the course. The Skills England occupational standards will be referenced and discussed throughout the remainder of your PGCE course. The module explores strategies for teaching your subject, supporting students, and engaging with continuing professional practice. It is a pre-placement module and is aimed at supporting your early critical evaluations towards professional development as a teacher. You will explore early subject pedagogic practice in this module by engaging with subject specifications and becoming aware of awarding bodies. You will apply this knowledge by designing and implementing a micro teach and engaging with feedback from your peers. You will also explore and critique a subject related curriculum planning document to further support session planning ahead of starting placement. The module includes a reflective evaluation of the micro teach session and how you promote inclusive learning within your subject teaching. Your micro teach and evaluation will evidence how you plan and implement teaching your subject whilst considering equality, diversity, and inclusion. In this module we consider inclusive approaches to teaching, learning and assessment.

This module provides you with opportunities to engage with the wider landscape around the Further Education and Lifelong Learning sector, ostensibly to policies that determine the ways in which colleges are run and how this may impact on classroom practices for teachers and students. The impact of curriculum/ professional practice policy on post-compulsory education will be explored through a focus on several key themes which are having a significant impact on practice in the sector. These include factors that new teachers will inevitably confront, regardless of their subject specialism. Through the module, you can personalise your mode of enquiry by choosing one theme for investigation. The module encourages critical thinking and safeguarding of the sector by aiming to show how these challenges can become opportunities for the post-compulsory community, but also how opportunities in the post-compulsory sector can be challenging.