This page may contain additional navigation below.
PGCE Secondary - Religious Education
This programme adopts an open and exploratory approach and has been designed to prepare you to teach RE in a multicultural context.
This means not only studying the variety of religions practised in Britain today, but also gaining insight and understanding through direct involvement with living religious communities.
Course Structure and Content
The University based programme includes an examination of the place of RE in the school curriculum, the legal position of RE, world religions, the theories underpinning the various approaches to RE that you will find in practice in the classroom. You will explore current debates in the teaching of RE and examine various teaching methods and approaches used to deliver RE. This includes the new National Curriculum and the Secondary National Strategy. This strand of the programme also addresses teaching and learning with relation to the ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda for education. Throughout the aim is to bring together theory and practice. Your work in school will both inform and be informed by your work in University. In both areas you will need to reflect upon your learning. Over the course of the year we hope you will develop your own philosophy about both the subject and about how to teach it to enable students in schools to be excited by their learning and thinking about religion.
Citizenship and personal and social education are included to facilitate an exploration of the moral standpoints of a variety of world views, both religious and secular, and generates an understanding of the relationship between views on personal and social issues and cultural perspectives, including your own.
You will also have an opportunity to learn more about the teaching of other Humanities subjects as preparation for working in a Humanities context and also to prepare you for working with a range of subject disciplines to deliver cross-curricular dimensions.
The programme aims to enable you to meet the DCSF Standards in respect of students age 11 -16; the QTS recommendation is for Key Stages 3 and 4. There are opportunities to undertake post-16 enhancement work, with University based sessions on planning, teaching and assessment at post-16.
Teaching Methods and Resources
University-based sessions will blend both practice and theory to provide a firm foundation for the development of your teaching skills. Sessions will include lectures, seminars and workshops, presentations, individual and group work and we hope to encourage you as active participants in your learning.
Visiting speakers and visits to faith communities support the curriculum and are intended to enhance both your subject and pedagogic knowledge and skills. You will have the opportunity of spending a week-end visiting various faith communities in Birmingham.
Entry Requirements
In addition to the General Entry Requirements, you are required to have a degree pass in Religious Studies or Theology (or combination with Philosophy), Anthropology, African Studies, Sociology, Classics or History. We will also consider applications from candidates who have lived, for example, in India and have a strong interest in religions. In addition you are expected to have enthusiasm for RE and for working with children, with recent experience of observing and/or working in schools. GCSE equivalence tests are offered for English language and mathematics.