Skip Navigation

PGCE Secondary English with QTS (11-16) course preparation

We’re looking forward to welcoming you onto your PGCE Secondary English with QTS degree programme. Studying on this course will equip you with a range of academic, professional and vocational knowledge, understanding, skills and values necessary to become a high quality and skilled teacher of English.

We’ll support you as you develop reflective and analytical skills and gain practical experience in planning effective lessons and learning strategies. You’ll get hands-on classroom experience, and opportunities to further your own subject knowledge. And you’ll be introduced to a wide range of exciting, innovative and interactive methods, including the use of Drama and ICT, to further secondary school students’ understanding and use of English, and their literary knowledge.

Before your studies begin, please read the information below and complete any of the tasks required.


Student Allocation Profile Survey

The survey helps the Partnership Development Team (PDT) find an appropriate professional practice placement (PPP) for you. This is done by taking as many relevant details of your personal situation into account as possible.

If you’ve got strong links to a school where you’d like to undertake a PPP please let us know. You can do this by completing our Professional Practice Allocation Form (PPAF). We’re always happy to consider these schools and have a set process in place to do so.

Suggested reading

You will be given lots of information about which textbooks to read and introduced to the University Library, as well as the many ebooks we have for you to access, when you begin your studies. In the meantime, you might like to begin some academic reading before starting your degree. We don’t recommend rushing out to buy texts before you arrive but if you can pick some up second hand, borrow from a library or access online to read over the summer, here are some suggested texts below:

  • Dix (2017) When the adults change, everything changes: seismic shifts in school behaviour
  • Robinson (2013) Trivium 21c Preparing Young People For The Future With Lessons From The Past
  • Beadle, P. & Murphy, J (2013) Why are you shouting at us? The Do’s and Don’ts of Behaviour Management, Bloomsbury Education
  • Pollard, A. 4rd ed. (2014) Reflective Teaching: Evidence-informed Professional Practice, Continuum
  • Bleiman, B., 2020. What Matters in English Teaching: Collected Blogs and Other Writing.
  • Crystal, D., 2017. Making sense: The glamorous story of English grammar. Oxford University Press. (or any Crystal book on grammar)
  • Smith, E., 2019 This is Shakespeare: How to Read the World’s Greatest Playwright. Penguin UK.

Meet your course leader