Durham Secondary Applied SCITT

General Professional Studies (GPS)

The GPS sessions aim to prepare you for your time on placement. The sessions link to the QTS standards and the four themes of Planning for Progression, Success for All, Teaching for Learning and Engagement and Professional Development.

We recognise the importance of fully preparing trainees before going into school. The training is carefully structured to ensure that the SSP and GPS sessions link closely together and time is allocated for consolidation of theory into practice and reflection prior to going into a school.

The trainer for each session has been identified by the SCITT as being an outstanding practitioner and a specialist in this area. As well as a range of teachers, Assistant Head Teachers and Head Teachers we also use a number of external speakers.

One of our external speakers is John Bayley (Teaching with Bayley, Teachers' TV). John runs the sessions on Behaviour Management and Assertive Discipline.

Centrally based training days are from 9am until 4pm. The sessions are as follows:

Subject Specialism Programme (SSP)

The Subject Specialism Programme (SSP) is subject focussed element of course. It has been designed by our subject specialists. This programme is made up of fifteen intensive days spread over the course. Ten out of the fifteen days are in the first term to give the trainees a greater subject input at the beginning of the course.

Subject Specialism sessions ensure that you have the required subject knowledge for teaching by taking the information outlined in the General Professional Studies sessions e.g. lesson planning, assessment, personalisation and relating this to your subject.

There are three assignments and at least five subject specialist tasks.

Applied Science

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Our Applied Science course has been developed by a Science Advanced Skills Teacher. In addition to the subject specialism training outlined above. The training specifically involves:

1. Training at Teesdale School
2. Observing Science teachers
3. A day with the Institute of Physics
4. A day working on misconceptions in Science
5. A visit to a factory
6. A day at the Science Learning Centre in Durham
7. Teaching in the Health Tec (simulated hospital environment)

Applied ICT

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Applied ICT course is jointly run by a specialist from the Local Authority and an Advanced Skills Teacher. The training specifically involves:

1. Training at St John's RC School
2. Stop-frame animation
3. Adobe suite
4. Visit to Glass Factory, Sunderland

Applied Art and Design

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Applied Art and Design is run by a Head of Department from one our local Partner Schools.The training specifically involves:

1. Training at Bishop Barrington School, Bishop Auckland
2. Working with Primary schools on an Art and Design project
3. Working with art specialists on different skills
4. Excellent opportunties with our Partnership Schools e.g. trips to Barcelona and London
5. Teaching in a light manufacturing environment

Leisure and Tourism

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Leisure and Tourism is currently run by a Local Authority Specialist and an External Consultant. The training specifically involves:

1. Training at The Work Place
2. Opportunity to visit local tourist facilities e.g. Beamish, Newcastle's Sage, Baltic and Hancock Museum
3. Organising a trip for a group of students
4. Lesson observations of specialist practitioners

Health and Social Care

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The training specifically involves:

1. Training at The Work Place
2. Opportunity to visit local resource facilities
3. Organising a trip to the Health tec for a group of students
4. A visit to Teesside University
5. A visit to Durham Prison
6. Specific ICT software for Health and Social Care

Mathematics

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This course focuses on Key Stage 3 and 4 (11 - 16 year olds) and is a non applied course. This course has been developed by an Advanced Skills Teacher and Local Authority representative. The training specifically involves:

1. Training at The Work Place and Durham Johnston School
2. Visit to a Primary School
3. A visit to Beamish to organise a Mathematics trail
4. A visit to Durham Cricket Club to investigate opportunities for Mathematics

SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE for TEACHING (SKfT)

As part of the training, all trainees audit their subject knowledge prior to the start of the course. Any significant gaps in knowledge and understanding will need to be addressed prior to the start of the course via private study or Subject Enhancement courses.

We recommend that all trainees become familiar with a range of specifications and the National Curriculum in their main subject or a related subject. Some of the Examination Boards used by County Durham schools are:

AQA: www.aqa.org.uk
Edexcel: www.edexcel.org.uk

Contained within the specifications is the subject content that the trainees will be expected to deliver and a list of resources that could be used.

Classroom Practice Programme

The classroom practice programme is comprised of two school placements. Both placements will be in one of our Partnership Schools. We try to ensure that the placements are within easily commutable distances and that they complement each other so that you gain experience across the age and ability ranges.

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)

The PGCE modules are taught at Masters level. They will be assessed through two pieces of writing, one focussing on Every Child Matters and one an area of your own choice.

The modules will be taught by lecturers from Sunderland University at our base in Newton Aycliffe; if successful the PGCE will be validated by Sunderland University.

Once registered with Sunderland, the trainees will be entitled to use the on-line facilities via Sunspace. This is a virtual learning environment and as such includes access to handbooks, journals, academic papers, online tutorials and a discussion forum. Sunspace login page can be accessed via the following link.

It is important to note that QTS is awarded independently of the PGCE modules. A trainee could therefore fail the PGCE modules, but still be awarded QTS. Where a trainee fails to reach the Standards for QTS, but passes the PGCE modules, the trainee may still use the modules as credits towards an MA programme.