Module EDUM042 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
EDUM042: Secondary English Subject Knowledge and Pedagogy
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The principal aims of the module are to:
- enable you to gain a comprehensive understanding of the research, principles and practice relating to current teaching of English in the secondary curriculum;
- introduce you to how students learn in English;
- develop your confidence in using principled practices for teaching English;
- offer you contexts for learning through observation, participation, collaboration and co-operation;
- develop your ability to reflect critically on your own practice;
- encourage you to be an autonomous and independent learner;
- encourage you to teach with imagination, enthusiasm and courage;
- nurture an understanding of, and an enthusiasm for, continuing professional development: a lifelong commitment to developing your literary, linguistic, creative and aesthetic strengths; and
- support you to meet the Standards required for the award of Qualified Teacher Status.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. identify and evaluate educational concepts and issues related to English in education; 2. recognise pupils learning needs in English and interpret these learning needs in order to plan, teach, assess and evaluate lessons and schemes of work; 3. demonstrate confident academic and pedagogic subject knowledge to teach English; 4. demonstrate secure understanding of the National Curriculum for English; |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 5. critically evaluate the relevance of educational theory to practice; 6. synthesise relevant educational literature in support of an argument; 7. use appropriate technologies for data handling and writing in education; 8. present data and findings in a form appropriate for educational contexts; 9. use research data in support of an argument in education; |
| Personal and Key Skills | 10. manage your own learning development; 11. learn effectively and be aware of your own learning strategies; 12. express ideas and opinions, with confidence and clarity, to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes; 13. work productively in different kinds of teams (formal, informal, project based, etc); and 14. think creatively about the main features of a given problem and develop strategies for its resolution. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
The module introduces students to current thinking in the teaching of English and develops students’ pedagogic and academic subject knowledge in the field of English education. Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, the content will cover:
- Best practice in pedagogy for English: how to support students' development in talk, reading and writing
- Understanding of the National Curriculum for English, and how English is assessed
- Key pedagogical concepts, e.g. scaffolding,modelling
- Research-informed approaches to teaching English
key elements of the module will include:
- Seminars: the taught course is realized principally through highly interactive sessions which combine and integrate workshop approaches, practical work, seminar-style discussion and lecture-style direct input;
- Directed Online Study Programme: this covers the theory and practice of English PedagogyPeer and Expert Teaching: each student participates in peer teaching sessions during which they develop skills of teaching and reflection before going into their first placement
- Independent and directed study activities: including developing subject knowledge, directed reading, and other tasks as relevant to the seminar sessions.
- Seminar Days: Five days when students return to the university to share school-based work experiences and develop the links between theoretical and practical aspects of teaching English.
On the Secondary PGCE, you will learn and reflect on the skills and knowledge required by the programme’s credit-bearing and non-credit bearing modules throughout the year. You will need to think about the modules in relation to each other. To facilitate this, the learning and teaching activities and guided independent study described below are scheduled to occur across all three terms both in the context of your university taught course and in the context of your 24 weeks of applied professional experience in schools.
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 92 | 208 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 72 | Seminars and workshops |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 9 | Peer Teaching |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 10 | Seminar Days |
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 1 | Tutorials with academic tutor |
| Guided Independent Study | 20 | Subject knowledge and enhancement tasks |
| Guided Independent Study | 20 | Directed tasks |
| Guided Independent Study | 20 | Directed reading |
| Guided Independent Study | 40 | Independent reading for assignments |
| Guided Independent Study | 108 | Assignment preparation and writing |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
