Dr. Keith Taber is the physics education tutor on the secondary PGCE course. My role includes interviewing candidates, and helping to make recommendations on admissions, acting as Faculty tutor to physics trainees, teaching the physics group during the subject specialist sessions, and supervising and assessing academic assignments.

The Science/PHYSICS route is designed for those who wish to prepare to become qualified teachers (for the English/Welsh system), as
science teachers specialising in physics.

Applicants are normally expected to have a first or upper second class degree and/or a higher degree which is relevant to the science topics taught in the National Currciulum. We welcome those looking to enter training on graduation, and those having relevant professional experience or having taken a break to bring-up a family. Details of the course and applications process are included on the Faculty website. The following comments reflect my own perceptions:

We expect applicants to have recent experience of (at least) obserserving science teaching across the age and ability range in one or more maintained 'comprehensive' schools in England/Wales. Many schools are prepared to arrange such periods of observation: you should ask to see a range of classes, both in terms of age and ability. Many of our applicants also have recent experience of working in schools (e.g. as learning assistants, or during 'outreach' placements whilst during undergradaute or postgraduate courses), or undertaking related work in other contexts (community youth work, teaching overseas etc.) This is not essential, but we do expect canddiatess at interview to be able to at least discuss recent observations of school science.

Relevant subject backgrounds for this route include physics, astronomy, most engineering subjects, many broad science courses, many geoscience courses, many materials science based courses, many environmental science courses, etc. Potential candidates unsure about the suitability of their degree background are invited to contact me informally (kst24@cam.ac.uk)

There are courses sponsored by the TDA to help those with related subject backgrounds wishing to develop subject knowledge to then enter teacher preparation as a physics specialist. We do not offer such a course at Cambridge, but are happy to consider applicants taking such courses elsewhere. (See the TDA website pages on subject knowledge booster courses.)

The PGCE course is an intense experience - involving 24 weeks (equivalent) of school placement (in the East Anglia region) under close superrvision of experienced teachers including a trained mentor, complemented by 12 weeks (equivalent) of Faculty-based study pitched at Master's level. Succesful completion of the course involves being recommended for QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) on the basis of meeting the government's statutory standards and writing a set of academic assignments synthesising theorietical learning with analysis of practice. This includes a substantial minor research project (see below). This work is assessed and examined at Master's level within the University.

Course members are prepared to teach physics to sixth-form level (A level or similar), and to teach across the science curriculum, at least to lower secondary (KS3) level. Teaching across the school subject ('science') is a government requirement, and all trainees must show they are competent and enthusiastic about teaching 'science' to complete the course. As the physics education tutor and Faculty supervisor, I welcome applications from those who who see themselves entering training to become physics teachers (appreciating and able to make links with other science topics), and those who wish to prepare to teach a broader range of sciences in school, with physics as their strongest area. At the present time schools take a wide range of approaches to staffing within science: so on completion of the course it is possible to take up a post as physics teacher, a science teacher teaching mostly physics, or just as a science teacher working across all topic areas. During training, however, it is necessary to negotiate a timetable within the context of the placement school department's preferred approach!

The Cambridge course is deliberately labelled a post-graduate course, i.e. having the characteristics of a masters level qualification. We expect our trainees to take on the role of reflecting professionals who can both evaluate their own work, and are able to undertake small-scale classroom enquiry to collect data to inform pedagogic decison making. We see teaching as a research-based profession. One of the course assignments is an 8000 word account of a small scale research project, usually having the flavour of a case study of teaching and/or learning, or the evaluation of some limited action research intervention to improve teaching/learning in the classroom. (Suggestions for references to begin your reading.)

Themes of previous student projects have included:
A former PGCE Physics trainee initiated the Physics Learning Exchange (PhLeX) community.
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