PGCE Secondary Drama
Foundation
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Birmingham Newman University’s Secondary PGCE programme provides a comprehensive and supportive pathway into teaching.
You’ll receive tailored guidance and placements that match your aspirations, with a focus on inclusion and diverse learning environments. Our experienced tutors and expert networks ensure you gain the knowledge and confidence to excel in the classroom. From early induction to career-focused school placements, we help you develop into a skilled teacher capable of making a real difference in the lives of students. From a thorough induction to career-focused placements, the programme is designed to help you grow into a reflective and impactful educator.
Community-focused mentorship is embedded in our approach, with many of our PGCE graduates becoming mentors themselves, supporting the next generation of teachers and giving back to local communities. This commitment to community and professional development is a hallmark of the programme’s success and the lasting impact of its students.
Why study this course
Birmingham Newman University’s Secondary PGCE programme offers a dynamic, hands-on approach to teacher training. With personalised support, we ensure that each trainee receives the guidance they need to succeed. Our unique placement system connects you with schools that match your career aspirations, including specialist placements in areas like social, emotional, and mental health.
You’ll be trained in inclusive teaching strategies, with a particular emphasis on SEND adaptation, allowing you to cater to diverse student needs effectively. Our strong Ofsted report reflects the quality of the programme, ensuring you’re equipped to make a lasting impact on your students.
The course also offers early online induction, ensuring you feel supported and engaged from the start. With a broad network of subject experts, school partners, and professional organisations, you’ll have opportunities to build meaningful connections within the education sector.
By the end of the programme, you’ll be ready to step confidently into the classroom, having received the knowledge, skills, and practical experience to transform education for future generations.
At its core, drama is about exploring who we are in the world around us. Now more than ever, as pupils are experiencing mental health crises and anxiety about global issues, we need passionate, enthusiastic drama teachers who are able to provide safe, inclusive environments where all pupils are able to explore who they are and how they fit into the world around them.
We will examine the nature and role of drama in schools through practical exploration and collaborative, interactive teaching. Birmingham Newman trained Secondary drama teachers will develop their personal philosophy for the role of drama as an academic subject and its wider role within the school community whilst also exploring and developing their own teacher identity. Critically examining teaching and learning from the perspective of the learner and the teacher will build confidence and knowledge of the most effective classroom methods whilst also enhancing subject knowledge.
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Entry Requirements UK home students Entry requirements, for UK home students, for September 2025: A UK Bachelors Degree (or recognised?equivalent qualification – https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/is-teaching-right-for-me/qualifications-you-need-to-teach) of which 50% content must be related to the named subject, and this will be a condition of any offer where the degree has not already been awarded. GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade 4 (or C) or above (or recognised equivalents). Please be aware that whilst these GCSEs are not mandatory at application point, these qualifications must be obtained by enrolment. See our page on additional?GCSE Equivalency?test information (https://newman.ac.uk/study/how-to-apply/entry-requirements/gcse-equivalent-qualifications/) School experience is not a requirement for entry to the programme.?However, having experience in a school will support your preparation for training as a teacher. At interview you will be asked about any experiences that you have with school aged children and your understanding of teaching within your chosen age range. The quality and variety of your personal statement is an important factor in the decision to call you to interview. You will need to obtain Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance and meet the requirements for?fitness to train to teach?(https://newman.ac.uk/study/routes-into-teaching/ite-offer-information/) prior to starting the course and be assured against a set of fundamental maths and English skills by the end of your PGCE. For more information on your DBS application please visit the?How do I complete my DBS form?advice page (https://newman.ac.uk/study/how-to-apply/disclosure-and-barring-service-dbs/). For further information about the Interview Process see our?PGCE Secondary ITE Interview?page (https://newman.ac.uk/study/routes-into-teaching/pgce-secondary-ite-interviews/). For full entry requirements please see our?admission requirements?page (https://newman.ac.uk/study/how-to-apply/entry-requirements/). Bursaries & Scholarships The Department for Education has announced the financial incentives for ITT courses. You can find out more about this here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-initial-teacher-training-itt
The tuition fee for academic year 2025/26 is: £9,535
Additional costs
The University will review tuition fees and increase fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government, if permitted by law or government policy, in subsequent years of your course. It is anticipated that such increases would be linked to RPI (the Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments).
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Ofsted
The ITE secondary programme is securely based on a vision of ‘changing lives, shaping futures’. The university has designed a course that models and teaches high ambition, inclusive practice and secure subject knowledge.
Course tutors know trainees and placement schools very well. Relationships are valued by all. Partner schools embrace the shared values and professional respect that defines the partnership. This provides an excellent role model for trainees, who quickly demonstrate these same professional behaviours.
Trainees benefit from the carefully and skilfully developed ‘Newman curriculum’. Based on four interconnecting themes, the curriculum is sequenced well to ensure that all trainees develop a rich and deep knowledge of effective teaching. The curriculum is particularly effective at promoting trainees’ professional behaviours and their understanding of adaptive practice. This helps trainees to become inclusive, resilient teachers who want the very best for the pupils that they teach. Subject experts design and deliver the well-considered subject curriculums, ensuring that it fully covers the CCF.
Centre-based staff build very positive relationships with partner schools. These relationships are grounded on a collective ambition to train teachers who have the skills to teach in the local community and beyond. Centre-based training and school placement experiences are explicitly linked so that trainees have every opportunity to apply their learning in classroom practice.
Leaders step in quickly to provide support and guidance to mentors who need it. Leaders ensure there are effective systems to monitor the progress of trainees. Clear weekly targets, based on lesson observations and coverage of the curriculum ‘big questions’ ensure that trainees continue to strengthen their practice.
The pastoral support provided to trainees is a strength of the provision. There is a structured programme of support available for trainees who may need it. This means that trainees are fully supported, whatever their needs. Trainees are highly appreciative of the care and support they receive during and beyond their training.
