The readiness is all 
the degree level qualifications and preparedness of initial teacher trainees in English

Abstract

This article is the first of two reporting research concerned with the profile of degree level qualifications of initial teacher trainees who start Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) Secondary English courses. In a context where there is no existing database of such information, the researchers sought to establish the patterns in this profile and collate a summary of-Initial Teacher Education (ITE) tutors’ perceptions about the level of subject knowledge preparedness of students with different degree level qualifications. Following from this, the enquiry was also interested in the ways that PGCE institutions support students with different subject knowledge development needs. The article that follows below treats the issue of degree qualifications and the PGCE selection process in the context of recent changes to subject English. The evidence suggests patterned but divergent practices with an overall trend of preference for prior qualifications in English Literature despite significant alterations in the study of English since 1980. PGCE courses surveyed attract many more applicants than there were places and tutors exercise considerable discretion in admissions practices which are not always made transparent by published policies and rationales, including those made available to prospective applicants. The review of the literature showed little published discourse on this topic to date.

Key words:

• Initial teacher education
• PGCE English
• subject knowledge
• pre‐service education

Notes

1  For more information about this research and its predecessors, see the CLIE website at http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/ec/clietop.htm

2  The enquiry was scoped to focus on full‐time courses based at university education departments in England as distinct from school‐centred initial teacher training courses (SCITT).

3  The ESC recently commissioned a database of statistics for those studying different types of English‐titled degrees but not including Media, Film, Linguistics or specialised theatre studies. In approximate terms this shows that out of the 66,000 students studying forms of English study at Higher English, 42,000 studied some form of combined English Studies, 12,000 studied English Literature, 3,700 English Language, and 4,000 imaginative writing. See Cronberg, A. and Gawthrope, J. (2010).

4  The survey instruments can be seen in the appendices to the full report, available on the CLIE website at the above address.

5  However, it is a degree title with some slipperiness. Both of the researchers have degrees with this title, mostly indicative of having studied Old English rather than more contemporary linguistic concerns likely to be of value in school English.