Secondary History

This Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Secondary History course leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), qualifying you to teach the 11-18 age group in secondary schools in England and Wales.

Our history programme is designed to develop practitioners so that they can excel in any teaching context. A love of history is at the heart of what we do and is evident in all aspects of the training year.

We ensure that the right space and guidance is there for trainees who arrive with differing experiences of history and education so that everyone can develop the right subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge.

Sessions include:

• how to teach pupils about causation, change and continuity, similarity and difference, and difficult concepts
• how to develop pupils’ evidential thinking and chronological understanding
• a clear focus on planning, moving from creation of individual activities, to lessons and sequences of lessons designed to support pupils’ effective learning of history
• making big decisions about the curriculum, e.g. which period of history to teach and when to teach it. In order to do this, the history tutors team work closely with mentors in schools, including school visits and training to ensure our high professional standards are maintained.

The tutor team are passionate about what they do, have a vast range of experience and have strong national and international reputations for their work, both as classroom history teachers and teacher educators. During the year we draw on our numerous contacts and their expertise; we have leading history teachers contribute to sessions, and often work with organisations such as the UCL Centre for Holocaust Education and the National Archives. This ensures that your thinking and practice is informed by those at the leading edge of the profession.

Furthermore we organise trips to consider history learning in different contexts, as well as the value of local history and leading effective trips. In recent years we have taken our cohorts to Windsor Castle, to work with the Royal Archives there (including an exclusive tour) and we frequently work with the Museum of English Rural Life.

Our course combines research and practice from the very beginning, developed through a huge amount of classroom-based teaching and subsequent reflection.

You may be eligible for a scholarship or bursary to help pay for your study. Students from the UK may also be eligible for a student loan to help cover these costs. See our fees and funding information for more information on what's available.

The Department for Education (DfE) also offer a range of scholarships and bursaries. To find out if you may be eligible, visit their bursaries and scholarships webpage.