Teaching placements at Brighton

The University of Brighton’s School of Education arranges over 2,500  placements each year. We work with over 600 schools and colleges in the region and these established partnerships ensure that our trainees receive the best possible education and support.

Ofsted identified our approach to placements as a key strength of our courses – giving trainees an excellent balance between university tuition and school-based training. We ensure that each placement is different so that our students graduate with a range of experiences; one placement could be in a small rural area with another in a large urban school with multiple classes in each year group. We often place trainees in pairs so that they can work collaboratively, develop ideas and discuss their learning with their partner.

Preparation is key to a successful placement experience and our tutors work with trainees to make sure that they are well equipped to make the most of each opportunity. Personalised targets are agreed with tutors prior to each placement and we provide bespoke placement handbooks full of advice and guidance. During each placement a school mentor is allocated to the trainee and will have undertaken mentor training at the University of Brighton. University tutors will also visit each trainee at least twice during their placement.

PGCE trainee Julie Oaks said of one of her placement experiences: “It started off and I was a little bit shaky knowing what I had to do. But there was support from my mentor and the teacher was lovely and really helped me to feel at home and helped me through the first few days.”

Our collaborative school-led approach has helped us to maintain our Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ rating for both primary and secondary initial teacher training courses. Our placements are also consistently rated extremely highly by trainees.

Find out more about placements on the School of Education website.