PGDE Secondary (Business Education)

The PGDE Secondary (Business Education) course will engage you in a critical understanding of contemporary ‘real world’ issues. 

You will learn how to underpin your inclusive teaching practices with key themes of social justice, sustainability and health and wellbeing; and consider critically children’s rights and how to plan for inclusive practices which enable all young people to participate. More generally, you will learn how to engage young persons in ICT for business contexts, in effective communications strategies, and develop their financial awareness and understanding of human relations strategies as well as their knowledge of enterprising life and employability skills all necessary for participation in twenty-first century global citizenship. Researching theories of leadership and organisational learning and change will enable you to engage young persons in the skills of independent learning, research, critical analysis and problem solving.  

You will also learn about the role you can play as a business education teacher to drive forward the discipline within its contemporary social, cultural, and political contexts.

Professional enquiry is an important aspect of the teacher’s role. On our course we will teach you how to conduct research in your classroom to enable you to make evidence-based decisions in support of pupils’ learning.

Structure and exit award

PGDE (120 credits) with the possibility of 80 credits at Masters’ Level 11. You must complete the full PGDE.

Teaching, learning and assessment

The course is structured between 18 weeks of teaching at QMU University (which is a mixture of mostly face-to-face and some blended learning) and 18 weeks split between two secondary school placements.

Teaching consists of independent and collaborative learning in workshops. You will engage in research and produce three written assignments and one Individual presentation all of which will be either assessed at Levels 11 (Master’s degree level) or Level 10. Teaching practice is assessed in schools.

Assessments are designed to:

• optimise accessibility for students with a range of strengths and abilities
• provide variety of opportunity to be challenged and to excel
• engage students in the importance of being literate and communicative in a range of formats and media
• model and demonstrate assessment procedures for student teachers so that they can incorporate this into their own teaching practice.  For example: the importance of assessment; transparency of approaches to assessment, value of providing a range of assessment formats, and ways and means of providing feedback and feed-forward.

The PGDE shares the pedagogic approach of the other courses in QMU’s Division of Psychology, Sociology and Education, foregrounding:

• critical thinking
• student collaboration
• independent learning
• involvement with global real-world issues
• interprofessional, interdisciplinary learning
• practical experience, experiential learning and critical reflection
• practical upskilling in food and textiles
• peer/group work
• enquiry-based learning
• debate and contention
• outdoor learning activities

Placements

Placements are an invaluable way of building on your theoretical learning and by applying this in practice, seeing the evidence of how teaching Business Education can benefit young people.

You will complete an 18-week placement in two different secondary schools in Scotland.

Placements are generated through the GTCS Student Placement System (SPS) and are based on a student’s term time address. Students may be required to travel within a 90 minutes radius to their placement and are responsible for meeting their own travel costs.

Please see the 'Entry requirements and application information' tab for information on costs related to placements. 

Teaching hours and attendance

This is a full-time, demanding course, lasting 36 weeks in total, split into 18 weeks of campus teaching and online learning and 18 weeks on placement.

Class sizes

The expected class size for this PGDE will be  approximately 20 students.

Teaching staff

You can read more about the teaching staff on this course at the bottom of this page. Please note that teaching staff is subject to change.

• Reflective and Critical Practice (Placement modules) (40 credits): This module has a particular focus on professional values and the roles and responsibilities required of a teacher in relation to the 2021 GTCS Standards (SPR). This module is assessed by observation of teaching practice in Schools at SCQF Level 10.
• Business Education in the 21st Century (40 credits): This module aims to equip you with the skills to teach BGE and the senior curriculum within Business Education departments in a secondary school context and to engage critically with research to inform your approaches to transformative learning in schools. Assignments are research based and one is a recorded presentation, with the other being a written submission. Both elements must be passed to achieve this module.
• Education: Theory, Practice & Research (1) (20 credits): This module will develop your critical and reflective skills in the context of classroom-based research and enquiry through building a literature review as a focus for your practice-based research.
• Education: Theory, Practice & Research (2) (20 credits): This module will develop your skills in conducting classroom research.  You will create a research plan for classroom research and present this to a live audience.

NB The modules listed are correct at time of posting (October 2023) but may be subject to change. In the event that modules change, QMU will seek to use reasonable endeavours to ensure that there is no detrimental impact on students.

Scottish students are guaranteed a job for one year in a Scottish school following graduation as part of the GTCS Teacher Induction Scheme. After graduating, candidates register with the GTCS for provisional registration and on successful completion of a probationary teaching year will be awarded full registration.

When a person successfully completes a teacher education programme at a Scottish university they will receive a teaching qualification. By law they must register with the GTCS before they can be employed as a teacher in a Scottish local authority school.

Newly qualified teachers in their probation year currently start on a salary of £32,217 in Scotland. Secondary teachers get an additional £8,000 if they choose to complete their probationary year anywhere in Scotland. Once you are fully registered, this increases incrementally over the first six years from £32,217 to £48,516.

The Teacher Induction Scheme offers a guaranteed one-year training post to every eligible student graduating with a teaching qualification from one of Scotland’s universities. 

Visit In2Teaching's Teacher Induction Scheme webpages for more information.

See the videos on this page to hear about the experience of current Business Education teachers.

Entry requirements

Successful applicants must, as a minimum, meet the requirements as set by the Memorandum on Entry Requirements to Courses of Initial Teacher Education in Scotland produced by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), which specifies general entrance requirements for all applicants and subject-specific requirements for secondary applicants. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview. The minimum entry requirements are:

• A degree validated by a higher education institution in the United Kingdom (UK) or a degree of an equivalent standard from an institution outside the UK

• Applicants must have a minimum of 80 SCQF credit points at SCQF level 7 and above in relevant subject areas (including 40 SCQF credit points at SCQF level 8 or above).

The 80 credit points must come from two of more of the areas listed below:

• Accounting
• Economics
• Business Management

PLUS

• A National Qualification in English at SCQF Level 6, for example:
  - Higher English Grade C or
  - A Level English, Grade D or
  - GCSE English Language AND English Literature, at 4/C IN BOTH or
  - Irish Leaving Certificate Higher English at Grade H4/C2

NB: Higher ESOL is acceptable for entry to PGDE courses only. It is not accepted for entry to BA (Hons) Education Studies (Primary).

AND

• A National Qualification in Mathematics at SCQF Level 5, for example:
  - Standard Grade/Int 2/National 5 Mathematics Grade C or
  - GCSE Mathematics at 4/C or
  - Irish Leaving Certificate Mathematics Ordinary Grade 3/B3

NB: National 5 Lifeskills/Applications Mathematics is accepted in place of National 5 Mathematics.

International: You will be required to provide evidence of English language competence at no less than IELTS 6.5 with no individual component score less than 6.0.

Accreditation of prior learning: You may be granted exemption from studying a module or modules up to a maximum of 60 credit points, provided you can demonstrate successful achievement of all the learning outcomes.

Other requirements

• A satisfactory criminal records check from the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme.
  

Disability/health conditions:

Other costs

• The additional costs associated with placement travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the student.
• The cost of the PVG check is the responsibility of the student. Please see PG 2024 fees page on our website.

Applying for this course

You should apply for this course as part of the UCAS undergraduate scheme before 31 January 2024. Late applications may be accepted if space remains, please contact Admissions to check.

UCAS code: 0002

So that we can fully consider your application, you will need to provide supporting documents to QMU's Admissions team as soon as you have applied. Failure to provide these means we will be unable to assess your application.

Please contact Admissions to provide the following:

• your degree certificate (if already awarded)
  • your academic transcript listing all the modules you have completed
  • evidence of Higher English (or equivalent) if already awarded
  • evidence of National 5 Maths (or equivalent) if already awarded

Application deadline

This course is still open for an August 2024 start.

Terms and Conditions

The delivery of this course is subject to the terms and conditions set out in our 2024/25 Entry - Terms and Conditions (Postgraduate).

For admissions or eligibility enquiries, please contact Admissions. 

Alternatively please contact Linda Craig (Programme Leader)

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