PGCE Secondary Religious Education with QTS (11-16) course preparation
We’re looking forward to welcoming you onto your PGCE Secondary Religious Education with QTS degree programme. Educating young adults and being able to inspire them to share your passion for a particular subject is one of the main reasons why people choose to train as a Secondary teacher. Imagination is crucial, as is the need for patience and the ability to develop and sustain excellent relationships with pupils, communicating clearly with them and breaking down complicated concepts into manageable building blocks for learning.
Studying on this course will equip you with academic, professional and vocational knowledge, understanding, skills and the values necessary to become a high quality and effective teacher of Religious Education. 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:
- Bennett, T. (2020). Running the Room: The Teacher’s Guide to Behaviour, John Catt Educational Ltd.
- Sobel, D and Alston, S (2021) The Inclusive Classroom: A new approach to differentiation, Bloomsbury Education
- Barnes, P (2017) Learning to teach Religious Education in the Secondary school: A companion to school experience, Routledge
- Holt, J. (2022). Religious Education in the Secondary School: An Introduction to Teaching, Learning and the World Religions (2nd ed.). London: Routledge
- Hutton, L and Cox, D (2021) Making Every RE Lesson Count: Six Principles to Support Religious Education Teaching, Crown House Publishing
- DfE, (2020) ITT Core Content Framework [online]
- Hays (2022) A Summary of Ofsted’s RE Research Review for Leaders and Teachers (Religious Education)
Useful websites
Subject knowledge
Now is a good time to develop your knowledge further, focusing on the major world religions, to help prepare you for the specific requirements of your course. Look back over your subject knowledge audit from your interview. A good place to start with this is RE:Online.
The ‘A very short introduction to…’ (e.g., A very short introduction to Hinduism) books are also good starting point and relatively cheap.
GCSE specifications
We recommend familiarising yourself with some of the GCSE specifications for Religious Studies (e.g. Edexcel, AQA) for guidance on the ‘type’ of knowledge you will need.