PGCE Mathematics
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University of Sheffield PGCE 2013-2014
We are currently recruiting to places in Mathematics, Science and combinations thereof, and in Modern Foreign Languages and Geography for September 2013 start.
We also have Geography and Mathematics places via School Direct with schools working in partnership with the University of Sheffield. Applications will be via the schools.
If you are interested in PGCE in any of these subject areas please contact us at ite@sheffield.ac.uk for further information.
Tutors: Bryony Black and Jamal Lahmar
Mathematics is an exciting and interesting subject. This course seeks to help you share your enthusiasm with your pupils and to develop teaching strategies and skills, which will empower the pupils to generate their own interest and motivation. At the centre of all of our work is the need to make learning mathematics an enjoyable and a positive experience, which produces confident and competent young people.
Mathematics teaching is constantly developing, and the way you learnt in school may not necessarily be the way you end up choosing to teach. There is a greater infusion of ICT into the mainstream mathematics classroom, with the use of interactive whiteboards now common practice. There is an expectation that mathematics teachers should deal with the issue of literacy, and matters of numeracy should reflect contexts that are real.
Likewise, mathematics education has moved on, and there is now a considerable body of research which points to the problems that children encounter in learning the subject and indicates ways that these might be resolved. The course is designed so that you become aware of the theoretical foundations on which the teaching and learning of school mathematics rests. In order to do so, the Mathematics PGCE course is organised around four themes:
- Teaching and Learning
- Mathematics Subject Knowledge
- ICT in Mathematics
- Issues in Mathematics Education
In the university-based part of the course, seminars and practical workshops form the main teaching approaches. These sessions are arranged so that student teachers are actively involved in their own learning, for example through leading seminars and presenting to their peers. In addition, we work closely with local schools and where possible involve mathematics teachers and departments in supporting our work. We regularly visit schools, and teachers also lead some university-based sessions, in order to ensure that our course is fully up-to-date with current school issues.
Your university tutors will support you in enhancing your own subject knowledge. Additionally, they will help you in developing your skills in using digital Technology in teaching Mathematics. They will also support you in your completion of written assessments, and more generally in terms of coping with the demands of the course.
You will need a degree in mathematics or have at least 50% of your degree in mathematics. If your degree has less than 50% mathematics, we might still accept you, subject to your undertaking of a mathematics enhancement course. As this is an 11-18 course we are also preparing students to teach up to A-level and we will normally take into account the balance of your degree classification and your profile of A-level results.
"One of the outstanding features of the course is the support that you receive from both the staff in the education department and your colleagues on the course. Not once in the entire year did I feel that there was no-one I could go to in order to talk things through."
Valuing Diversity
The School of Education values diversity and promotes the development of a diverse teaching workforce. We are happy to make any appropriate and reasonable adjustments to enable students with a disability to gain Qualified Teacher Status. In order for this to be possible, we invite anyone with a disability to contact the School´s Equality Officer (Professor Dan Goodley) by telephone 0114 2228185 or e-mail. Any information can be disclosed in confidence and will be used in order to consider appropriate adjustments to our provision, including the interview process.
PGCE Enquiries:
T: 0114 2228080
E: ite@sheffield.ac.uk