TRAINING VENUES
Trainees will be required to travel to LA training centres for the Professional Studies Programme.
Equal Opportunities/Anti-Racist Policy
The active promotion of equal opportunities and race equality is a central consideration of this training course. The Essex Primary Schools Training Group is committed to promoting race equality and equality of opportunity for all in order to eliminate unlawful discrimination and to value and celebrate the diversity of its staff and trainees. The staff team and partner schools are fully committed to implementing Essex LA’s equal opportunity race equality policy in our recruitment, training and assessment procedures.
The course aims to train teachers who will be committed to the following aims:
- to recognise all pupils’ entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum
- to meet the needs of all groups of pupils and have high expectations of what they can achieve
- to prepare pupils for citizenship in a multicultural, multifaith and multilingual society
- to prepare pupils to value the abilities of all
- to promote good relations between people of different racial groups
- to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination.
In meeting these aims trainees will help to develop a curriculum that:
- acknowledges, respects and celebrates diversity
- promotes non-discriminatory behaviour and attitudes and mutual respect between pupils
- promotes inclusive education
- challenges racism, sexism, bullying and all forms of prejudice where they occur within the school context
- creates a safe and positive learning environment for all pupil’s that is free from ridicule and fear.
The course will demonstrate its commitment to this policy through:
- course publicity
- recruitment, selection and training procedures for trainees and staff
- trainee support and guidance
- the core training programme
- staff training to tackle racial discrimination and harassment
- consultation with staff and trainees on the impact of the EPSTG’s race equality and equal opportunities policy.
- monitoring the success of the policy termly by the ESPTG Steering Group including the reporting of any racist incidents.
It is the right of all trainees to receive the best training that the EPSTG can provide. The EPSTG will not tolerate any form of racial harassment which includes racist name calling, racist caricature based on prejudice, the stirring of racial hatred and use of racist materials. Trainees are asked to report incidents where there is suspicion of racisim.
The course has adopted the definition of a racist incident as recommended in the Stephen Lawrence enquiry ie) “Any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person”. Should a racist incident occur the Course Manager will act immediately as follows:
- co-ordinate appropriate action
- report, log and investigate the incident in line with LEA procedures
This course recognises that it has an important part to play in helping to create a fair and just society. It is the responsibility of every member of staff and every trainee to support this Equality of Opportunity/Race Equality Policy.
FAQs: PGCE / QTS (post graduate certificate in Education)
What are pgce and qts?
PGCE is the post graduate certificate in Education. The certificate is offered by HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) either through their own programmes or as additional qualifications for school-based (SCITT) or employment-based (GTP, RTP) routes. QTS is qualified teacher status, which indicates that the teacher has successfully completed a teacher training course that complies with the requirements of the Training & Development Agency.
How is the pgce changing?
2007 is the last year of the current pgce. The certificate is being changed to offer qualification at two levels from September 2007. The first is a professional certificate in Education. This is a new qualification at graduate level, level 3 on the current scale. This qualification does not add credit to your existing degree. The second is a changed post-graduate certificate in Education, working at post-graduate level and contributing credits at Master’s level 4.
Why is the current picture changing?
For some time, HEIs have felt concern that the pgce lacks consistency across providers, lacks rigour in some cases and is not consistent with HE expectations of post-graduate working.
Who will be providing the different levels of course?
The initial interpretation seems to be that HEIs would be principal providers of the new pgce, while the pce could be offered by HEIs and SCITTs and DRBs. All English TDA-funded teacher training courses lead to QTS. Some HEIs have decided not to offer pgce, while some SCITTs are planning to offer pgce in the 2007 - 8 cohort and beyond.
Why is the EPSTG not offering either pgce or pce?
It is still unclear what shape the new pgce will take, and more importantly, what the additional burden of work will be. Initial teacher training to QTS is already very demanding, with trainees focusing closely on learning the craft of teaching and all that is needed to operate as an autonomous teacher. We have decided not to create a ‘guinea-pig’ group in which trainees may not be confident in how they are progressing in a new qualification framework, nor in what the course holds for them, nor in what the final expectation may be. We intend to wait until the new framework is proved before expecting trainees to invest in it.
Our partner headteachers, representative of Essex head teachers in general, do not recognise the new pce and tell us that their first priority is to know that new entrants have come through the SCITT route. They recognise the high quality of the EPSTG training and tell us that QTS through this route is sufficient for full employment opportunities to be available. At present, trainees entering through employment-based routes do not generally qualify other than at QTS.
Will there be any disadvantages to me if I don’t have the pgce?
The TDA requirement is for QTS as the entry qualification and teachers working in England should not find themselves disadvantaged by not offering the pgce to future employers. However, entrants wishing to teach outside England should research requirements for the countries in which they intend to teach before entering training. We are offering an innovative Associate Scheme in the coming year, contributing to enhanced development towards New Professionalism which is a current theme developed by the DfES.
