Primary PGCE Pre-Programme Booklet, 2023-24

1.00 Welcome

1.05 Meet the Core Team

1.10 About Yourselves

1.20 Draft calendar and attendance expectations

1.40 Placements and Key Documents

1.50 Reflective Practice Scrapbook

2.00 Meet PGCE Student Teachers 2022/3

2.50 Welsh on the Programme

3.15 Summer Tasks

On behalf of all staff, I am delighted to welcome you to the School of Social Sciences. We are confident that you will find the School a welcoming and enriching environment where you will thrive as you progress through your studies.

Your primary PGCE programme has been carefully designed to challenge you but also equip you with life-long skills and knowledge that will prepare you for the opportunities that lie ahead in your careers.

You will be joining a vibrant community of social scientists and we very much hope that, whatever your subject discipline, you make lasting friendships and connections that bring home the impact that social sciences can have in and on society.

We are very much looking forward to introducing you to the wonderful academic and Professional Services staff who will support you during your studies.

Professor Debbie Jones - Head of School of Social Sciences.

Helen is a former primary teacher, numeracy consultant for schools, qualified school inspector and author of many publications. She has considerable experience in teacher education and is very research active. Her research interests include metacognition, and the impact of animal-assisted interventions on children’s learning and well-being. She loves dogs.

helen.e.lewis@swansea.ac.uk

Russell is a former primary teacher and has extensive experience in teacher education, school inspection and is the author of many books and articles on primary education. His research interests are in the history of education, primary humanities and entrepreneurial learning. He is a lifelong Swansea City supporter.

g.r.grigg@swansea.ac.uk

Sion is a former primary teacher, teaching through the medium of Welsh. He has been educated through the medium of Welsh throughout his time in education, from primary school to his master's studies. Prior to this, Sion studied Vocal Studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has a great deal of performing experience. He has a keen interest in digital skills, the expressive arts and literacy.

s.c.owen@swansea.ac.uk

Neil is the Director of Schools Partnership for the Swansea University. In this role he works with schools across south Wales and is responsible for the governance of the partnership and the development and delivery of the Initial Teacher Education programme.

n.lucas@swansea.ac.uk

Sharon is a former primary teacher with over thirty years’ experience in the classroom. She has an interest in science and technology and specialises in computing. She has experience of delivering IT training and support to schools and teachers as part of the Education and School Improvement Service. She currently writes computing schemes of work and classroom resources for a leading educational publishing company. With a degree in Zoology, she continues to have an active interest in natural history.

s.c.owen@swansea.ac.uk

You are required to attend all sessions unless your absence is approved by the Primary PGCE director.

DRAFT Primary Programme Timetable

You will be invited to complete a survey to provide information to that will be used to place you in a partnership school. A Forms link to the survey will be emailed to you. Please complete the survey by 1st August 2023.

Reflective practice scrapbook/video diary (RG) 1.50-

Scrapbook

You will be invited to maintain a reflective practice scrapbook through the year. This is an opportunity for you to:

• Collate ideas or points of interest

• Ask questions

• Make sketches and doodles

• Add pictures and other resources

• Express emotions and thought

It represents a safe space for you to feel that it is okay not to know.

It is not meant to be a polished piece of work but complements the mandatory Professional Learning Passport, which is the Education Workforce Council’s online tool to support your career development

The scrapbook and can be arranged as you wish.

If you want to know more about the use of reflective practice scrapbooks, this article might help.

If you feel comfortable about sharing your scrapbooks, or elements within, we would like to look back on these at different points in the year through tutorials or other events.

Video diary

We would also like to gather your thoughts informally on your hopes for the course, how things are progressing, what’s working well and where you would like more support. One way of doing this is through a very short video diary. You can use your smartphone or please ask, and we will provide a camera.

Meet PGCE Student Teachers 2022/3 2.00-

‘My Experience’ presentations by STs. These carousel for approx. 30-45 mins.

Tour Maps

10 mins Grwp 2

3

10 mins Grwp 3 Grwp 1

Led by: Lucy & Holly; Hollie & Lauren Leah, Jake, & Bethan Elinor, Faith, & Dan

The Group will be split into two – each led by a pair of STs (using the following maps).

Welsh on the Programme (SO) 2.45-

Welsh Language Development

Croeso! Welcome!

As a part of gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), you are required to show evidence that you are developing your Welsh language skills:

‘Strand 3 - Professional learning: There is a commitment to incremental development of personal skills in the use of the Welsh language. ’

This can be a daunting prospect at first, but here at Swansea we have the award winning Academi Hywel Teifi to support you throughout your journey. You will receive up to 30 hours of Welsh language development sessions that will be tailored to your ability, whether an absolute beginner or a fluent first language Welsh speaker. This will enable you to feel confident that you can converse with pupils whilst you are on placement, who will also be developing their use of the Welsh language in school.

Would you like a headstart?

If you feel that you would like to get started over the summer, here are some suggestions:

• Duolingo – Cymraeg

• S4C – Dysgu Cymraeg

• Follow Dr Cymraeg on Twitter

Summer Tasks (HL) 3.15

Core Task: Reading for Pleasure

We all know how important it is to support children’s reading. An effective literacy curriculum not only teaches children how to read, but it also motivates and engages them to want to read. As a teacher, you play a role in this, and it is important that you model reading for pleasure. Through your own engagement with children’s books, you can inspire your class to seek out new texts, and to talk about these with others.

For this task there are three parts:

• Part 1: Find three books for children that you enjoy reading (one for younger children, one for older children and one non-fiction book). You do not need to buy these; you can use your local library.

• Part 2: Complete a book review for each of these texts and bring this with you at the start of term. There is some guidance on what to include in a book review here:

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/writing-tips/writing-tipsfor-teens/how-to-write-a-book-review/#!?q=&sortOption=MostRecent&pageNo=1 However, you may like to think of a more creative way to do this review, there are some ideas here:

https://www.weareteachers.com/creative-book-report-ideas/

• Part 3: The Open University has a free, online course that looks at reading for pleasure in more detail:

Please register and complete the course, saving your certificate of participation. We will discuss this course in the first week of term.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/developing-reading-pleasure-engagingyoung-readers/content-section-overview?active-tab=description-tab

Find out more about Reading for Pleasure on the following website https://ourfp.org/

Core Reading

Ahead of the programme start, we would recommend reviewing the following:

• Coe, R., Aloisi, C., Higgins, S., Elliot-Major, L. (2014) What Makes Great Teaching: Review of the underpinning research

• Watkins, C. (2003), A Sense-Maker’s Guide to Learning

• The Welsh Government vision for education in Wales. Check also the updated version (2020).

You will be provided with a copy of the core text: Grigg, R. (2022) Becoming an outstanding primary teacher. Routledge (3rd ed).

This will be paid for by Student Services.

Other useful sources

• The Hwb website is the main repository of resources and ideas for teaching in Wales.

• The Council for Subjects Association website is a gateway to subject-specific websites.

• The primary section of the Literacy Trust website is a good starting point for language and literacy teaching.

• The STEM Learning website is a good starting point for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

• The Education Endowment Foundation website is a useful starting point for evidence-based practices.

Additional Tasks

There are also some other things you can do in preparation for the course, including:

• Visiting a museum, gallery, science centre or other out-of-school location which has education potential– make notes on the potential for primary pupils.

• If you are going on holiday, take photographs of buildings, landmarks, markets, physical features and anything unusual - think about how these might stimulate discussion with pupils.

• You may like to look at other Open University free course, such as Exploring Equality and Equity in Education https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/exploringequality-and-equity-education/content-section-0?active-tab=content-tab

• You can reflect on any of these in your scrapbook and keep the certificate of participation when you complete a course.