Postgraduate profile: PGCE in secondary IT

Asif Saleh took a secondary PGCE in IT, combining practical experience with lectures.I chose secondary school teaching because the subjects are more specific than primary and I wanted to teach ICT. The age of secondary school students also means that you can help with their personal development into adulthood as well as their professional education. ICT has been a hobby of mine since I blew up my first computer and had to build a new one from scratch. It is a great subject to teach because it has such a huge impact on everything in the world and children are coming into school with more and more knowledge each year.

The PCGE course

My course was organised into three main parts, beginning with lectures and preparation and gradually leading to a 75 per cent teaching timetable. The most useful things I learned were how to teach students with different abilities in creative and dynamic ways: we were sent on a practical two-day course where we teamed up with art and design students to brainstorm ideas about interactive learning. We were also taught about the different projects and topics to cover for the national curriculum. There was a lot of written work but this has certainly prepared me for organising the mass of paperwork you get as a teacher. The schools and university have offered a lot of support over the year and I have been really lucky to have some amazing placements.

Get work experience

Volunteer for experience in a school as this will definitely let you know if teaching is for you. It's also a good idea to research all the key aspects of teaching because this will give you a head start in the first few weeks - study the national curriculum, schemes of work and all the tricky three-letter acronyms used in teaching. I think the PGCE is suitable for most people as support is tailored to your background and commitments.

Asif studied his ITT course in PGCE secondary school education at Edge Hill University.