News archive 2010

Ofsted grades PGCE course ‘outstanding’

12 May 2010, PR 106/10

Ofsted have graded the King's College London Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) with a Grade 1 'outstanding'. The PGCE programme is an initial teacher education route to becoming a qualified teacher in secondary schools.

Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages.

Jeremy Burke, PGCE Programme Director, Department of Education & Professional Studies, comments on the results from the inspection: ‘There were 9 out of 9 grade 1s and two overall grade 1s - a clean sweep, which grades the provision at King's as outstanding. One of the overall grades is for "capacity to change" which means the ability of a course to adjust to new developments. The inspector's comment was that we were not "adjusting" to change but "causing" change, leading rather than following.’

The key strengths identified in the report include:

• the quality of the trainees and their ability to critically reflect to improve their practice
• the quality of central training in the way it prepares trainees for teaching and ongoing professional development, and the use of the tutors’ research to ensure that this is at the cutting edge
• the constant reinforcement of trainees’ deep understanding of the planning, teaching and assessment cycle
• establishing trainees’ deep understanding of subject pedagogy and what constitutes good teaching in their subject early in the course to provide a secure framework for their professional development
• the high levels of individual support for trainees.

Christopher Winch, Professor of Educational Philosophy and Policy, and Head of the Department of Education & Professional Studies, comments: ‘The department is very pleased with this report but takes particular pride in the mention that is made of the way in which research carried out in the department prepares trainees for their first post and for ongoing professional development.’

Professor Rick Trainor, the Principal of King's, comments, ‘This is truly excellent news and I congratulate all concerned.’
 
The inspection was carried out from the 15 to19 March 2010.

The full report is available www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/download/(id)/119686/(as)/70035_343666.pdf (pdf, 68 kb).

[Image by Alfredo Falvo]

Notes to editors

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
The King's PGCE programme is the initial teacher education route to becoming a qualified teacher in secondary schools. Whether you are about to join the programme, a current student, a school considering partnership, or just curious to learn more about the PGCE at King's, these pages will help to answer your questions. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/sspp/education/courses/pgce

King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,000 students (of whom more than 8,600 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 5,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org.



Further information
Alex Bevis, Public Relations Department,
Public Relations Department, King's College London
Email: alex.bevis@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 3238

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