Teaching Qualifications

In partnership with Commando Training Centre Royal Marines, the University of Plymouth has been running a 15-month part-time Post-16 Certificate of Education/Post Graduate Certificate of Education (CertEd/PGCE) course at Lympstone for over two years. Aimed at Centre instructors, the qualification is nationally recognised so successful recipients can teach at post-16 and further education (FE) levels. This model has proved so successful that other military training establishments, and the local police and prison services are committing to the programme.
The Cert Ed/PGCE is a nationally recognised and accredited qualification. It is generally accepted as the minimum qualification needed to teach in FE and adult and community education. These areas can include teaching in FE colleges, teaching adults in community colleges, teaching night-school classes, and teaching in outdoor education.
The course broadens the understanding of education. It looks at educational issues, from the management of the classroom through educational theory and thinking to education within a global context. There are optional modules including educational psychology, tutoring, and mentoring and guidance. A popular option is visits to other countries, including the Czech Republic, China and USA, to conduct comparative studies into education. There are also independent study modules, where students can look at a specific area within an educational context. In the past this has ranged from a critical review of a course or qualification to the effectiveness of a training establishment's learning provision.
The part-time Cert Ed is normally achieved by attending colleges or universities, usually one evening a week, for two years or six terms. This can be very difficult for military personnel, due to Service requirements. In consultation with the University of Plymouth, already delivering the six-term model, an alternative approach was found. The condensed four-term, 15-month model has been developed through taking previous experience and qualities of Royal Marine instructors into account.
Students attend six blocks over a long weekend (Friday to Sunday) every two or three months. Two of these blocks will be optional units and may be taken at other times. At the end of each block there is an assignment that considers the process of learning, teaching and developing curricula. Running parallel to these activities are professional practice portfolios. These assignments enable students to research and examine their own practice, and develop professional skills by examining such areas as professional identity and teaching style, and then putting educational theories into practice.
The course also requires 240 hours of teaching practice, including teaching, lesson preparation, research, syllabus development, quality assurance of teaching delivery and continual professional development. Students are encouraged to keep a reflective diary and use it as a tool to examine their practice.
This may all seem rather daunting to people who have not undertaken academic studies since they left school. It need not be, because full support is given to students. Indeed, Service personnel are often far better equipped, in terms of experience and commitment, than their civilian counterparts on the course. Over 50 personnel at Lympstone will have achieved a qualification by December 2003. The programme has been opened up to accommodate NHS trainers from a local hospital, and family members who are in a teaching environment.
There are other ways to achieve similar qualifications - for instance, the City & Guilds 7407 Stage 1-3. However, this usually requires a sequential approach and is tied in with the academic calendar. It is aimed primarily at FE and adult education, and does not have a direct crossover to a Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme (CATS).
By contrast, the Lympstone four-term model is modular, accredits CATS points and has a flexible approach. So if students miss a module weekend they can do that particular module with another group at a different location. This flexible approach is the key to the success of the course - letting people study around Service commitments. The course can also lead to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
In partnership with other universities, the University of Plymouth is keen to replicate this programme in MoD establishments throughout the UK. Although primarily developed for military personnel, its flexibility allows participation from people in similar uniformed Public Services.
The key benefits of the part-time Cert Ed/PGCE course are:
• flexible approach to studying based in the Devon and Cornwall area
• account taken of existing experience
• modular course allowing people to start anywhere in the programme
• four instead of the normal six terms
• accredited through the FE National Training Organisation
• progression to degree programmes.
For further details contact Russell Shobrook, RMCAT, CTCRM Lympstone, Exmouth, Devon EX8 5AR Tel: 01392 414255 (Service 93785 4255) Navynet: CTCRM-RMCAT-ACC1 E-mail: CTCRM-RMCAT-ACC1@a.dii.mod.uk