Secondary Music, Postgraduate Taught - PGCE - 2022/23 entry

If youre passionate about young people and want to introduce them to the exciting world of music and music making in all its forms then were excited to train you to ensure you excel as a teacher.

Youll explore the skills and knowledge that music as an art form offers at secondary education level; and to train to become a confident, dynamic and creative teacher with the ability to make music accessible to all. Youll discover how pupils learn and explore ways in which you can plan musical activities that will ensure they progress and develop their musicality.

Exploring an inclusive and rich approach towards music, youll prioritise active music making to promote musical thinking and learn how to inspire and enthuse your pupils by taking them on an exciting and stimulating musical journey. Techniques used include links many different forms of music and music making.  These can be used to help pupils to become more self-confident, informed and culturally aware.

This course has strong links with local musical organisations such as the largest Music Service in the country run by Services for Education in Birmingham. The course provides the opportunity to experience music education from a variety of perspectives, including organisations that form part of the Birmingham Hub for Music Education like Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) and mac Birmingham.

A key feature of the course is how we promote technology enhanced learning both in terms of developing beginning teachers and also how music technology can support teaching and learning in schools.

Taught modules, assignments and School-Based Training are structured around the development of your Progress Journal which demonstrates your progress against the our ITE Core Curriculum. Our ambitious curriculum incorporates the ITT Core Content Framework (DfE, 2019) and the nationally agreed competences - the Teachers Standards,  which all teachers must meet throughout their career. 

The Progress Journal also maps your development as a subject specialist with reference to identified subject priorities appropriate to the needs of secondary teachers entering the profession. A system of continuous review and assessment of progress within the Progress Journal will support your growing ability to take responsibility for your own professional development and ensure that you approach QTS with a sound understanding of research-informed pedagogies and practices. 

Instrumental route

On the PGCE Secondary Music course there is the option to take the instrumental route. Supported by Birmingham Music Hub, the instrumental route enable you to spend part of the course teaching instrumental lessons supported by specialist instrumental teachers. By following this route, your placements will be split between time spent in a secondary school music department developing your classroom teaching skills and time spent with Birmingham Music Service developing your instrumental teaching skills.

If you are offered a place on the PGCE Secondary Music course, you will have the opportunity to audition for the instrumental route in September. A minimum of grade 8 performing standard is expected for the instrumental route.

Bachelor Degree from a recognised university with a minimum grade of 60% / Good / 2.5 / C+

Even though you may have met the stated requirements, if your first language is not English, we may ask you to take an additional English Language Test when you arrive.

Based on the results of the test, you may be required to attend regular English classes to improve your level of competence. English classes are provided free of charge and are available to all non-UK students who wish to attain greater fluency in English.

Enhanced Employability Skills

Ofsted inspections have confirmed that our trainees “leave their courses with a wide range of knowledge and skills that make them highly employable.

We believe that this is due to the strong sense of belonging to a genuine learning community, which results in the development of professional confidence. This is enhanced with our excellent school partnerships.

This is an 11-16 years course, with post-16 enhancement, which offers a high degree of employability within secondary teaching.

The high demand for our trained teachers and our consistently high employability scores mean that trainees who successfully complete the course to a high standard have very good employment prospects.