Geography Secondary Education PGCE

Apply now

Share your passion for human geography, physical geography, and the environment. Guide generations of young people. Become a Geography teacher.

Register your interest

Overview

Geography Secondary Education PGCE will qualify you to teach Geography at Secondary level in any state-maintained school in England and Wales.

This one-year course blends theoretical knowledge with carefully supervised teaching experience. You will attend placements in a variety of educational settings, to gain a broad understanding of the realities of Secondary level teaching.

Why us?

  • ‘World-leading’ research in Education, according to the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF)
  • Funding for trainee teachers is better than it’s ever been with tax-free bursaries of up to £15,000 for Geography trainees 
  • The University of Sunderland has a LOTC (Learning Outside the Classroom) quality mark, demonstrating high quality fieldwork experiences
  • You’ll spend at least 120 days on placement in schools or colleges
  • 93.4% of our graduates are in employment, further study or training within six months of graduating, according to DLHE 2016/17 (based on full-time, first degree, home leavers)

Course structure

Placements are an important part of this course. During that time, you will benefit from practical learning and be supported by school-based trainers and University-based tutors.

Your progress will be assessed with written assignments, case studies, and assessments of your teaching practice.

This course is a mixture of University-based learning and in-school training. You will spend at least 120 days on placement in a school or other educational institution.

September – January

  • Full-time teaching practice placement (school or college)
  • Master's Module 1: Development of Learning: A Case Study – you will identify an educational intervention and explore its use, impact and influence upon the learning of one or more pupils
  • Subject Studies related module 

 

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

 

Read more

January – June

  • Full-time teaching practice placement (school or college)
  • Master's Module 2: Negotiated Individual Study in Education – you will undertake a piece of action research into an educational issue
  • Subject Studies related module
Read more

  • You can access free Wi-Fi throughout the University campus, so you can work from anywhere. If you don't want to carry a laptop around, just use one of the University’s PCs or Apple Macs. We have hundreds of computers for you to use in the Murray Library, St Peter's Library, and the David Goldman Informatics Centre. If you ever have any technical problems, just ask the friendly helpdesk team.

    IT provision

  • We’ve got thousands of books and e-books, with many more titles available through the inter-library loan service. We also subscribe to a comprehensive range of print and electronic journals so you can access the most reliable and up-to-date academic and industry articles.

    Library resources which you might find particularly useful include:

    • Professional Development Collection, which features hundreds of education journals and reports
    • EBSCO Professional Development Collection, which is a specialised collection of over 500 education journals
    Library Services - PGCE
  • Map and directions

Facilities

You'll be based at The David Goldman Informatics Centre, situated on the award-winning St Peter's riverside campus. The location benefits from dedicated library services and has superb transport links with the city centre and City Campus.

Entry requirements

Our typical offer is


  • GPA 2.40 from a Canadian bachelor's degree
  • GPA 2.5 from a USA bachelor's degree

in a subject related area.

We also require three passes at GCSE grade C or above, which must include Mathematics and English Language. If you have studied for a new GCSE for which you will be awarded a numerical grade then you will need to achieve a grade 4 or above.

Applicants whose first language is not English must achieve a minimum IELTS band score of 6.5, with no less than 6.5 in writing and 6.0 in any other element.

All successful applicants will be interviewed.

All successful applicants will be required to:

Successfully complete the DfE Professional Skills Tests in literacy and numeracy before starting the course. It would be helpful, but not essential, to take the tests before your interview
Obtain a DBS Enhanced Disclosure
Complete a Medical pro forma

Fees and finance

The annual fee for this course is:

  • £9,250 if you are from the UK or EU
  • £12,000 if you are from outside the EU

If you are not sure whether you qualify as a UK, EU or international student, find out more in our Help and Advice article.

Take a look at the Your Finances section to find out about the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

You could also be eligible for a £28,000 scholarship or a £26,000 bursary. See Department of Education’s Get into Teaching website for more information and Terms and Conditions.

You are viewing entry requirements for visitors from United States. Not from United States? Change your country preferences.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

City Campus by night

Employment

This degree awards Qualified Teacher Status, which means that when you graduate you’ll be qualified to teach in any state-maintained secondary school in England and Wales. Most graduates from this course go on to teach in secondary schools.

Good teachers are always in high demand. The average starting salary for a teacher is £24,373, and experienced teachers can earn up to £62,735 outside London, and £70,540 in London. Head teachers can reach a salary of between £46,457 and £114,060.

 

School placements

The University of Sunderland has partnerships with over 200 schools, in 12 local authorities. You’ll spend at least 120 days on placement. We’ll work with you to find you the perfect placements - schools that can nurture and support your aspirations and interests, and help you become the best secondary teacher you can be.

 

Meet the team

Related courses

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Education and Society.

Page last updated: 07 November 2019

Sign up to receive more information

Sign up to receive emails about your subject area.

Keep me up to date relating to my interest in the University of Sunderland via:

Email

You may unsubscribe at any time.

Oops! You've not opted in to receiving other useful information about the University of Sunderland.

Email

Sign up

Using Your Personal Information
The University of Sunderland is collecting this data in order for you to receive information on your chosen subject(s). Your information will be stored securely in our Customer Relationship Management system which is provided by a 3rd party and used only for the administration and provision of this information. Should you choose to opt in to further communications we will also use your information to facilitate other useful marketing information based on your preferences. Further information on how your data is stored and used can be found in our Privacy notice - marketing.

Close menu

Close

Close menu