Teacher Training

Applications are now CLOSED. They will reopen in October 2023.

The Catholic Teaching Alliance (CTA) is a unique programme founded by Our Lady’s High School in Fulwood and in association with the University of Cumbria which allows you to train alongside experienced professionals. You will be spending the vast majority of your time in a school or college setting whilst you train.

Entry criteria

To be eligible for the course, applicants will require:

• A pass (grade C or 4) in GCSE English and Maths
• At least a 2:2 classification in a relevant degree to your teaching subject of choice

You should also be able to show a commitment to teaching, including between 5-10 days of observations in a school or college. You can apply for the CTA before you have completed these observations but should be able to show that you are beginning to organise relevant experience. Discussions about your experience may form part of the interview process.

What makes our PGCE different from others?

During your teacher training, you will complete one placement at Cardinal Newman and one placement at one of our partner high schools, which make up the Catholic Teaching Alliance, (CTA). This allows our trainees to gain teaching practice in both 11-16 and 16-18 settings. Teaching across the whole of the 11-18 age range not only increases your experience but also your employment prospects after completion.

We are also one of the very few providers regionally offering to train Law, Criminology and Sociology (Social Sciences specifically) teachers. This is something we are very passionate about as a college as we see the growing popularity of these courses and hence the teaching provision.

What can I expect?

• Placements – One in a Secondary school and the other at Cardinal Newman College.
• University-led academic Post Graduate course, certified by the University of Cumbria.
• PFL days to support subject-specific teaching that will help you put theory into practice.

Training lasts one full academic year. You will typically spend four days per week on your first placement from September to the end of December, with one day per week spent training with experts at Our Lady’s, Cardinal Newman or the University of Cumbria. On this day, you will be given subject-specific support and training to give you additional support with university assignments and teaching techniques. From January to June, you will spend five days per week on your second placement. One placement will be at Cardinal Newman, the other will be at one of our outstanding partner high schools.

Placements

One of your placements will be at Cardinal Newman College and the other will be at a Secondary school within the Lancashire area.

Support for Trainees

We are fully committed at Cardinal Newman to providing a community of support for all of our students. This includes our trainee teachers, so you can expect to receive a great deal of support if you choose to train with us. Our aim is to ensure that all trainees are prepared for and go on to have successful careers in teaching. We offer a great deal of pre and post-course support enabling you to apply for the right course with us. This will help you to get your career started after completing the programme.

We have a dedicated team of staff who will support you through your teacher training, including:

• Vice Principal: Vicky Bryant
• Programme Leader: Michelle Holland
• A Subject Mentor on all school and college placements
• A Professional Mentor on all placements who oversees the training within their school
• A University Programme Lead (UPL) will help with the academic assignments contributing to the award of the PGCE
• You will also receive pre and post-course support. This will be designed to help you successfully apply for the right course and move to a successful career following your training

Employment

All of our trainees gained employment following the successful completion of their teacher training. Below are just a few examples of where they have gained employment.

• Ben Harvey – Economics – Cardinal Newman College
• Hafsa Patel – Biology – Our Lady’s Catholic High School
• Joseph Livsey – Maths – Carmel College
• Megan Towers – Social Sciences – Blackpool Sixth Form College

Courses

Find a Teacher Training course suitable for you, follow this link to see all teacher training courses offered on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/find-postgraduate-teacher-training-courses

Get into Teaching

Follow this link to find all the information on “Get into Teaching” Find out which qualifications you need, what funding you can get and how to train to teach. Click here

Funding

Before embarking on a PGCE, you may have concerns over how you will fund the programme. There are bursaries, scholarships and loans on offer for Initial Teacher Training courses and you can find the most recent information on the Get Into Teaching website (link below).

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/funding-your-training

Bursary

Bursaries for next academic year 2023-24 are now out. Click here for full details.

Main details are shown below:

For 2023 to 2024, they are offering bursaries of:

• £27,000 in chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics
• £25,000 in geography and languages (including ancient languages)
• £20,000 in biology and design and technology
• £15,000 in English

For more information, contact:

Telephone: 01772 460 181
Email: jmoore@cardinalnewman.ac.uk