PGCE Secondary Modern Languages (Spanish With French)

Course Summary

This course leads to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for the 11-to-16 age range, which qualifies you to be a teacher in secondary schools in England and Wales. Where possible, we also give you the chance to gain experience in the 11-to-18 age range.

It is of the utmost importance that all young people get the chance to learn at least one language to a high standard.

That’s why schools will always need highly-skilled language teachers to help pupils develop valuable, lifelong skills – and why trainee language teachers can benefit from the highest range of training bursaries.

The three most commonly taught languages in east London schools are French, German and Spanish. Others include Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Urdu and Bengali. Your teacher training at UEL will help you discover how to open young people’s eyes and ears up to the beauty of the language by exploring its uses in business, everyday life and culture.

There are three elements to secondary training at the University of East London: subject studies, general professional studies and school-based training. It differs from courses offered by other universities in that it is very much subject-based.

Your Future Career

The Secondary PGCE course at the University of East London was designed in 2001 in conjunction with the local authorities to address the secondary education teacher shortage in east London. The partnership works with input and support from the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Waltham Forest and Redbridge.

It means that our graduates are represented in virtually every secondary school in east London. Some are now deputy heads or in senior management roles in schools that are taking our current trainees for their placements. Across all subjects, from maths to modern languages, our teacher training graduates are acting as mentors to those following in their footsteps.

The partnership means that you have a head start when it comes to securing a teaching post in east London at the end of your training. Both local authorities and individual schools visit our campus regularly to meet our trainees and advertise available vacancies. You may also decide to undertake further study at the University of East London, either at the end of your course or after gaining teaching experience, perhaps specialising in Special Educational Needs or taking our MA Leadership in Education.

Students should have minimum 2.2 Honours degree or above in the subject area applicant plans to teach. All applicants MUST have GCSE English and Maths grade A*-C.