At The Cambridge Partnership (TCP), we work closely with our partnership schools to provide a comprehensive programme – combining the latest research-based theories and in-school experience – for trainees who wish to teach in secondary schools.
Each trainee is placed in two local schools: the main placement is for two terms and a contrasting school for one term*. In both placements, the trainee is supported by a subject mentor who offers support and guidance through both formal and informal meetings.
There is further support from the school’s professional tutor who oversees all trainees and subject mentors as well as organising weekly Professional Studies sessions, where trainees meet and discuss a range of relevant topics, led by in-school experts.
Each trainee is also supported by a Subject Tutor and a Programme Manager from TCP. They work closely with the subject mentors and Professional Tutors to provide bespoke guidance and support for each trainee, from calendared, formal meetings to informal one-to-one chats.
Trainees will spend Monday to Thursday in school, initially observing teachers and gradually building up their own teaching practice. On Fridays, from September through to February, each trainee attends Professional Development days, often led by national experts. After half term, all trainees will be in school 5 days a week, to ensure that they have plenty of practice teaching before being awarded QTS and securing their first teaching post.
In England, you can take a Post Graduate Certificate Education (PGCE) course based in a university or college, or a school-based course run by groups of schools that have formed school-centred initial teacher training (SCITT) consortia. Our PGCE programme** is university validated for the award of a postgraduate teaching qualification together with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). You may be required to attend some lectures at one of our partner universities as part of your school-based course. The Cambridge Partnership PGCE programme takes one academic year to complete.
Trainees can choose between the QTS only route or PGCE with QTS route.
* tuition fee paying trainees only– for salaried trainees, the main school placement is a trainee’s employing school and the contrasting school placement is arranged on consecutive Fridays, when not attending central training days.
** We would not normally recommend the PGCE route to salaried trainees, due to the high workload associated with the salaried route and the additional demands of a PGCE.
