students with the thoughts board

Student Voice Week

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The School of Education held its first Student Voice Week in December.

The event was designed in consultation with students with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of how School of Education students understand the term ‘student voice’ and their experiences of it during their study-lives.

Throughout the week students could visit our stands to chat with student voice ambassadors, add to the ‘thoughts board’, complete a survey and eat cakes and pastries! Over the course of the week the ambassadors were visited by around 150 students. Read More →

Glowing Ofsted report for our teacher training courses

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The University of Brighton’s established strength in teacher training has been acknowledged in an extremely positive Ofsted report.

Our Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Partnership received ratings of ‘outstanding’ for its Early Years, Primary and Secondary Courses and ‘good’ in Further Education and Training.

This makes the University of Brighton the only university in Sussex and Kent rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for Early Years, Primary and Secondary Initial Teacher Training. Read More →

Students huddled round their laptops in a classroom

PGCE trainee teachers offer their advice to future trainees!

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Students huddled round their laptops in a classroomAt the University of Brighton we value feedback, seeing it as essential to the development of our courses. We spoke to a group of trainees nearing the end of their secondary PGCE programmes and asked them about their year.

The students were asked what advice they’d give themselves if they could turn the clock back to the beginning of their secondary PGCE course – here are some of the things they said:

  • Ask your mentors and other teachers for schemes of work and PowerPoints, then use them! Make sure you are organised – set your own timetable and stick to it.
  • Use the people around you as resources, especially any NQTs as they’ve just been through it. Ask questions and get as much feedback as possible.
  • Stay confident and make sure to keep a healthy work / life balance. Sometimes taking time out to forget about the workload makes it more manageable when you come back to it – have at least a day off when you are focused only on you. It’s a tough year but if managed well you can do it.
  • Keep on top of PebblePad and add good evidence when you get it. It may seem hard to link into placement but it is worth it!
  • Get to know your students as early as possible! (Placements are short).
  • Be prepared for crazy, but enjoy and embrace. Throw yourself into anything and everything. Use the time! Enjoy it!

Read More →

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UCAS Teacher Training fee reduced to £1

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UCAS logoIt now costs just £1 to apply for postgraduate teacher training programmes starting in 2018.

The Department for Education is subsidising the UCAS Teacher Training application fee until the end of July 2018, so apply as soon as possible to benefit from it!

Find out more about postgraduate teacher training options at Brighton.

If you’ve already applied and missed out on the new low price £23 will automatically be refunded to you – you don’t need to do anything and will receive an email when the refund is complete.

Holocaust Educational Trust Workshop for PGCE trainees

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As part of their university-based work, trainee teachers from our (Secondary) English PGCE and (Secondary) Religious Studies PGCE routes recently attended a workshop hosted by guest speaker Tom Jackson from the Holocaust Education Trust. The Trust aims to educate young people from every background about the Holocaust and the important lessons that can be learned for today. Read More →