Course details

Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning course is a study for professionals supporting learning. The course is an enjoyable and valuable professional development experience. The ideas and experiences that you will encounter on the course will enhance your practice and widen your professional development. You will become a part of a learning community of students coming from a variety of backgrounds and you will learn new things about yourself, experience a ‘rainbow’ of emotions and get professional satisfaction.    

 Aims of the course

The aim of the PGC in Teaching and Learning is to provide a wide range of opportunities for participants professional development. This includes support for immediate teaching practice and related concerns, exchanging advice and guidance and the opportunity to share experiences with peers, engagement with research in education, assistance in planning for learning, teaching and assessment.  More specifically the course aims to:

  • Engage participants with the educational literature and encouraging a scholarly approach to their practice;
  • Provide a means to foster reflection;
  • Enhance the quality of participants’ learning experience through sharing good practice principles and expertise;
  • Promote digital learning opportunities;
  • Encourage professional networking in wider communities of practice;
  • Facilitate a variety of professional development opportunities;
  • Support engagement with pedagogic issues in specific disciplines through curriculum design and assessment;

What will you be expected to achieve?  
On completion of the course you will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
  1. Demonstrate awareness of broad notions, concepts and theories of teaching, learning, assessment and material design; 
  2. Provide an underpinning rationale for your approach to teaching/ supporting learning informed by educational literature and current best practice;
  3. Demonstrate an awareness of the impact of the broader external and institutional context on the student experience and curriculum development;
  4. Have enhanced your professional practice through critical evaluation and reflection. 

Specific skills

  1. Design and develop teaching and assessment strategies;
  2. Promote student learning through assessment and feedback;
  3. Evaluate learning materials and processes with reference to current research and developments in the subject/field;
  4. Support student learning in a variety of contexts using traditional and e-learning tools.

Key transferable skills

  1. Communicate appropriately in the professional context;
  2. Act autonomously taking professional responsibilities employing critical thinking;
  3. Work as part of a team;
  4. Plan on-going professional development;
  5. Utilise e-technologies to support learning and teaching.

Course structure
In order to be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning, a student must pass modules worth 60 credits. Course structure can be subject to change each academic year following feedback from a variety of sources. Modules can be Core -  the ones that must be taken and Option - the ones that relates to specific needs or interests and can be chosen. All the modules massed be passed.

 

Modules
Module  Code Module Title Status UK Credits 
  Supporting Student Learning  Core 20
  Assessment Matters Core 20
 One Option from the list below
  Inquiry-based Professional Learning Option 20
  Curriculum Development and Material Design Option 20
  Supervision for Learning Option 20
  Blended Learning Option 20

Please note: Not all option modules will necessarily be offered in any one year. In addition, timetabling and limited spaces may mean you cannot do your first choice of modules.

How will you learn?
The Learning and Teaching process builds on participants’ current practice that will be discussed and reflected upon to maximise personal development and to share learning across diverse domains. The course draws extensively on models of critical reflection as a means of interrogating and theorising professional practice. This may take the form of learning through inquiry into individual practice, research, reflection, collaborative learning, and the modelling of the student experience as a vehicle for reflection. In all modules there will be opportunities for peer- and tutor- observations. Blended learning tasks will be employed to provide participants a diversity of learning experiences.  
Teaching on the course will be in the form of mentoring, coaching and facilitation through reflective practice and research projects with structured independent learning.
How will you be assessed?
Assessments take a variety of formats that include practice based practical tasks, written coursework, e-assessments and reflective tasks aimed at enhancing professional competence and confidence. There will be rich feedback (e.g. peer review of draft writing, collaborative project work) provided by all modules. Strong emphasis on authentic and complex assessment tasks is made. The tasks will develop participants’ abilities to evaluate their own progress and direct their own learning.
Admissions requirements
Entry requirements for the Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning (PGC TL) have been set in order to select potential students who have proven academic ability to undertake a UK Postgraduate degree course.
The admissions policy aims to attract and recruit motivated applicants across the full range of possible access routes. Students may have a background in any academic discipline. The over-riding principle upon which admission decisions are based is that applicants should be likely to benefit from and succeed on the course.

What our students say

PGCTL course had a significant impact on me both professionally and personally. It evokes a great interest in constant reflection about one's own teaching practice. All hands-on practice sessions are delivered in a professional manner and cater to the needs of novice and experienced teachers.”

Anastasiya Bezborodova, PGCTL graduate.Anastasiya Bezborodova, PGCTL graduate.
MPhil PhD Student in Linguistics at University of Westminster (UK)

Entry Requirements

Formal Higher Education

Applicants should normally hold a first degree from a recognised higher education institution or a recognised educational qualification from a professional body. Applicants without a formal HE qualification can be considered, if the following conditions apply.

  • They are or have been in employment where their employed role is in the area of the course and involves a high level of analysis and critical thinking. If so, such candidates will be required to provide evidence of such employment, its nature and level. This evidence will be considered at Interview and the decision of the panel (see below) will be final.