Dear Student

Welcome to the PGCE Business course at Sheffield Hallam University, we look forward to supporting you on your journey to become an outstanding “Hallam Teacher” of Business. This course prepares you to teach secondary Business with the inclusion of experience in post 16 and primary education. Secondary Education was recently awarded an Outstanding classification ‘Hallam Teacher’ identity is one that is recognised and understood. The sense of pride that is felt in being part of this institution and sharing this identity came across in all aspects of the inspection. (Ofsted 2024)

You will participate in two school placements where you will be in school 4 days a week and will be fully involved in all aspects of a teacher’s role. Our placements are thoughtfully planned to provide you with the practical experience required and a mentor who will work closely with you. Ofsted (2024) reported that “high-quality mentoring supports the effective development of trainees as expert practitioners, trainees are overwhelmingly positive about their relationships with mentors.”

One day a week you will attend university to receive pedagogical training, this will provide a mixture of specific subject studies and more general professional studies sessions training to meet the Teachers’ Standards and gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) by the end of the programme. Delivered sessions will help develop your planning and delivery of lessons along with reflective and evaluative practice, this will give you the opportunity to discover your own personal qualities and strengths as a teacher of Business. This day is also an invaluable opportunity to build professional relationships with your peers and share experiences of good practice and classroom management.

You will investigate pedagogical approaches that allow students to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of Business, this will ensure that pupils become aware of business environments, able to use relevant examples and develop their ideas accurately. You will help students to develop skills and knowledge required to become active participants in a entrepreneurial world and equipped to pursue the future careers available to them, allowing this to be integrated into the context of the learning.

To enrich your professional practice and develop your expertise you will complete 2 PGCE assignments, which will contribute 60 credits towards a master’s degree. These will be based on your practice and support sessions will be held during university days.

The National Curriculum advocates that Business lessons should be planned to support trainees in gaining a broad understanding of a range of business’, environments and contexts across many topics taught in secondary education, as a PGCE student you can consider the varying and best applications available to your classroom practice. You will learn how to use different approaches, applications and activities in a structured and inclusive curriculum allowing all learners to access and progress their knowledge and application of business-related concepts.

Throughout the programme, you will be supported by experts in both university and schools to ensure that you have opportunities to learn about current classroom practice and develop deep subject knowledge. This is achieved through a range of learning, teaching and assessment strategies. Our programme also encourages you to engage critically with educational issues to ensure you become a reflective practitioner with the ability to evaluate and adapt your practice to meet the diverse needs of pupils.

The Ofsted inspection (2024), highlighted comments by inspectors that SHU Sheffield Institute of Education (SoIE) was “outstanding”, they wrote that both university and placement staff “put the well-being of trainees first. Trainees benefit from highly effective communication and support from the university and placement providers” and that “Course leaders carefully sequence the curriculum so that trainees learn, review and remember important concepts.”

In preparation for joining the PGCE course in September, I would strongly recommend that you start to read up on generic teaching issues. I would suggest a couple of books here, Understanding Learning and Teaching in Secondary Schools by Alison Hramaik and Terry Hudson and Preparing to Teach in Secondary Schools by Ian Abbott, Prue Huddleston and David Middlewood, these are both informative and relevant.

In terms of Subject specific literature, I would recommend that you look at Teaching Business, Economics and Enterprise 14-19 by Helena Knapton and Jamila Gurjee, Learning to Teach Business in the Secondary School: A Companion to School Experience (Learning to Teach Subjects in the Secondary School Series) by Limara Pascall and Teaching Business Education 14-19 by Martin Jephcote. There is a real lack of subject specific literature in terms of published books which deal with specifically teaching Business Education. The latter of my suggestions has been utilised by previous cohorts for both their own learning and assignment support.

You may wish to bolster your ideas by looking at the Department for Education’s and the TES websites, both of which have lots of information about teaching and learning in the secondary area. I would also suggest that you join the EBEA which is the Subject Association for Teachers of Business, Economics and Enterprise. They offer a reduced membership for trainees and have used advice of a vast range of topics to support your development.

Finally remember that you are going to need a break and a rest before starting the course, so have a good summer and I look forward to working with you in September.

Laura Whitham, Course leader, Secondary Business Education