International Postgraduate Certificate in Education (iPGCE)

Course description

This course will help you develop a deep understanding of planning, teaching and assessment strategies, along with helping you to get the most out of new technologies.

It will help you to develop links between practice, theory and research through reflection on your own teaching, in order to enhance your professional performance.

Although you don’t need to be a practising teacher to apply for the programme, you’ll need to engage actively with current teaching, including planning, conducting and reflecting on a lesson (module 1). If you don’t currently teach, you should be in a position where you have access to an education environment, for example through volunteering in a classroom setting or as a personal tutor.

Qualified Teaching Status

While the iPGCE does not offer Qualified Teacher Status, many international schools recognise the value of our postgraduate education certificate. Please see our explanation of Qualified Teacher Status for more information.

FAQs

Do I need to be working in a school and is there a minimum number of teaching hours?

No. We ask that you have access to an educational context in which you can take over teaching activities. The first assignment requires you to plan, conduct and evaluate a teaching activity, as well as tie it to relevant pedagogical literature. All assignments and discussions revolve around you reflecting on your learning and your practice. This is possible in a variety of ways, however, and we have had full-time teachers, part-time teachers, self-employed tutors, teaching assistants and people volunteering in a school to gain experience, successfully complete the programme.

Do I need to find a mentor in my educational institution?

No. Although students who have the support from their institution definitely find the programme easier, it is not strictly necessary. Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, some have already taught for more than a decade and might even hold senior positions in their educational contexts. Others are just starting out. We are conscious that this means that you might have different needs. We have a school experience handbook, which suggests a number of lesson observations and teaching tasks, and these can be used to build a professional support-network within the school. This will help you to focus any discussions and to find support in areas you need to improve in. Online discussions will be available to those that use the handbook to share experiences and gain support from university, but the content of this handbook is not assessed – it is an additional support mechanism to help especially you to identify and address professional development.

Does the iPGCE relate to a specific subject or sector?

No. The iPGCE is linked to pedagogy, teaching and learning in general, however, all assignments are phrased in a way that encourages you to specialise and contextualise your work.

For example, if you are interested in learner motivation, you might tailor your assignment to look into secondary school girls' motivation to engage in Physical Education lessons, or you might look into a primary school context that explores motivation in learner-centered learning.

If you are interested in assessment, you might focus on different attitudes towards formative assessment among learners in an international school context or question techniques in the Science classroom. These are just examples.

On the iPGCE, we ask you to contextualise your learning and work with your supervisor and peers to create assignments that are both academically viable and useful to your own development and career progression.

Does the iPGCE offer Qualified Teacher Status?

The answer to this question is complex, so please read the following information carefully. If you have any further queries, please get in touch.

Essentially, teaching qualifications are national, professional qualifications and they are typically government-approved. Therefore Qualified Teaching Status (QTS) in England is, legally, only valid in England. While it may be a shorthand in other contexts, it does not, for example, qualify a teacher to teach in other countries without an appropriate conversion.

Similarly, teachers who trained in other countries may need to convert their qualification, should they want to teach in England. Even in England, however, QTS is currently needed to teach in state schools, but not, legally, in academies or private schools, which describes a large proportion of schools in England.

QTS is a specifically England-relevant qualification, so it is very difficult to obtain abroad, apart from in a very small number of accredited schools. International schools are typically aware of this, but if you have concerns do discuss them with the relevant school or us.

Most of our students are already involved in the international school sector, as teachers, teaching assistants or in other roles. Each cohort of students so far has included the following:

• students who make the jump from teaching assistant to teacher in the international school sector, on the basis of the iPGCE
• students who have gained a teaching position on the condition that they complete the iPGCE in their first year of teaching
• students who have been teaching for several years, and are using the iPGCE as a stepping stone for higher-level (Masters) study to advance their careers
• students who use the iPGCE as proof of a post-graduate educational qualification from a highly regarded institution.

While ‘Qualified Teaching Status’ or being a ‘qualified teacher’ might be a shorthand used in job descriptions or in general talk, it is often used with two very different meanings. On the one hand, it is a legal term, related to a very specific professionally accredited qualification for a very specific context.

We want you to trust that you are getting a highly valuable degree from a prestigious university, so we need to explain to you that, with this definition, the iPGCE is not for you – however, if you are looking to move to and teach in England in future, there is an assessment-only route to qualified teaching status, for which the iPGCE will stand you in very good stead as preparation.

The other meaning schools might use to refer to a qualified teacher is by using the term as shorthand for a teacher who has pedagogically sound training, is able to plan, teach and evaluate lessons, understand their local and professional context – and be able to add to it through practitioner-led research – and engage reflectively in their own practice.

With that, we can help – and we can prove it. Schools are sending us multiple students across different cohorts and schools are making offers to unqualified applicants, on the condition that they undertake our iPGCE.

Overall, we find that schools are very much aware of difficulties of obtaining English QTS whilst working abroad and our students tell us that their schools are happy to accept the iPGCE as a postgraduate education certificate from a university with a very long-standing background in teacher training.

So, while we obviously cannot guarantee that all schools will accept the iPGCE, we hope this information is helpful to you in making your decision.

What wording is shown on the certificate students receive upon completion of the course?

The certificate states the full title and that you are awarded the International Postgraduate Certificate in Education.

Modules

Duration

1 year part-time (online)

Assessment

You'll be assessed on:

• a learning and teaching portfolio, which consists of a lesson plan, a teaching reflection, a pedagogical essay and a blog post, totalling 4,500 words (module 1)
• a report on a small-scale research project, equivalent to 4,500 words (module 2).

Your career

The iPGCE provides excellent opportunities for developing a wide range of careers in teaching and learning and educational leadership, from the early years sector through to higher education.

Past students have gone on to study for the professional doctorate in Education (EdD).

Student profiles

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate honours degree in any subject.

We may also consider your application if you do not meet the standard academic requirements but you have equivalent professional qualifications and/or professional experience. In such cases, you would need to provide us with evidence of how you meet these requirements and and you may be asked to complete an entry assessment.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 (with 6 in each component) or University equivalent