AL PGCE Update January 2016
With Success Comes Challenge- Without Challenge No Learning
Current Trends
Year 2 students across the group feel supported by the PGCE program and shared their appreciation for different learning opportunities. In Reading we have begun Mindfulness Training with Joe Holloway. A couple of students have recently been hired by AL in Banbury to cover some variable hours. We also just hosted Wroxton College Teaching Interns visiting from the states in Banbury as a bit of an exchange. We have maintained 100% retention of students with over 50% of them pursuing Masters Level work.
Year 1 students also feel supported by the program and have often shared that they are learning new strategies each week to implement in their own teaching practice. They have begun mindfulness training with Allistair Woodstock in Oxford. They have had an 80% success rate on the first assignment with the other 20% needing a referral for a variety of reasons. From our first year rosters we have declined in enrollment: 2 have deferred in Reading; 1 was withdrawn from Oxford; 2 have deferred from Oxford. Reasons for these shifts vary and in all but one case the students expressed that they had been supported and encouraged to stick with the program but felt that their personal hurdles were too much of an obstacle right now.
Year 2 Action Research Topics
- How to teach with Project Based instruction in an exam assessed course?
- What are some effective strategies for teaching multiple levels within a single course?
- If you teach Growth Mindset to struggling students will they themselves improve academically?
- Do students achieve more using Google Classroom for learning and completing homework then paper/pencil homework assignments?..
Oxford University Partnership
Teacher Awards Program
What does highly qualified instructor/teacher mean and how are we supporting our staff to achieve this level?
Opportunities for Support
PGCE Team
- Mara Simmons, Program Manager
- Emily Jenkins, PGCE Lecturer
- Papiha Whitehouse, Program Administrator
Email: mara.simmons@activatelearning.ac.uk
Location: Oxford, Reading, and Banbury
Phone: +44 07949 665 692