Why Loughborough
Loughborough University is well known for many areas of academic excellence, its close links with industry, and its excellence in teacher training.
Teacher training at Loughborough goes back over 70 years. Thousands of pupils are taught by Loughborough trained teachers. Many Loughborough trained teachers have attained rapid promotion and hold positions including Heads of Department, Directors of Sports Colleges, Headteachers, as well as Advisors, Consultants, Lecturers and Government Inspectors. Loughborough teachers are employed around the world.
These are the advantages to undertaking your PGCE at Loughborough:
Loughborough University has a reputation for excellence in its teacher training and is highly rated by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education), so you can expect to receive relevant, practical and highly professional support from your tutors. In 2011 the PGCE course retained its grade A category which represents 'outstanding' provision.
On the PGCE course, you will spend much of your time in local schools where you will undertake a variety of teaching activities and be mentored by experienced supportive teachers who will help you to rise to the challenges you face. The PGCE course has been planned and is delivered in partnership with schools in the local area and, therefore, our PGCE is firmly grounded in the practicalities of real schools.
The majority of our PGCE trainees have secured teaching posts by the time they complete their training. Schools want our teachers. A Loughborough PGCE gives you excellent career prospects. Our newly qualified teachers have gone on to successful teaching careers in many different schools throughout the UK and overseas.
It is a particular strength of the PGCE programme at Loughborough that you undertake teacher training in the same academic departments that have a high reputation for their undergraduate and graduate programmes. In Design and Technology, you work alongside and use the same facilities as those training to become professional industrial designers. In Physical Education, you use the same excellent facilities as those studying for degrees in Sport and Exercise Sciences. In Science, you are provided with your own specialist facilities.
While undertaking a Loughborough PGCE course, you have the same access as other students to the extensive facilities on campus and partake of the 'Loughborough experience'. Loughborough is a large single site campus surrounded by attractive countryside. It is within easy reach of several large cities and is only 90 minutes by train from London. Loughborough enjoys relatively inexpensive living costs and is a friendly town with good local amenities.
Loughborough is a large campus with excellent facilities for students including one of the biggest Student Unions in the country, some of the best sporting and recreational facilities of any university, and good personal support provided by a well established Student Support Centre.