Secondary

Can you inspire young people to love your subject?

Secondary teaching is incredibly rewarding; you will inspire pupils to love your subject and share your experiences continuing their journey as life-long learners and shaping their futures. As a secondary teacher you get to explore your subject every single day. You will also provide excellent pastoral care to students, helping them to build the personal and social skills which will determine how successful and happy they are in later life. The challenge is to make sure every single student has the same opportunities.

Our programme is highly personalised, from your first contact with us to taking up your first post as an Early Carer Teacher, our mentors will invest in you to ensure you fulfil your potential. Join us in a collaborative learning atmosphere where shared knowledge and understanding creates an environment that supports teacher training and development at every stage.

We are currently offering training for the below subjects:

Age range 11-16, unless otherwise stated.

The course lasts for one year. Training with Manchester Nexus gives you the opportunity to learn ‘on the job’ as you work and train in schools. You will benefit from working and learning in a school; working with a Subject Mentor and Professional Mentor to ensure progression in relation to the Teaching Standards and Subject Knowledge Development. You will have an immediate hands-on insight into what teaching involves, whilst training 1 day a week with an experienced facilitator. School-led courses have very high rates of employment and trainee satisfaction as no other training route offers as much school based experience. You learn from current practising teachers, in schools, so you develop skills and knowledge faster. It will also provide you with the opportunity to experience many of the things that you would only be exposed to in your Early Career Teacher (ECT) years, meaning you will find the transition from trainee to ECT much easier.

Trainees graduate with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and a Post Graduate certificate in education (PGCE) with 60 Masters level credits. We work in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University who provide the PGCE sessions. The PGCE consists of two modules (Reflecting on Pedagogical Approaches Exploring Professional Development), four additional training days with Sheffield Hallam (delivered in Oldham/ Tameside) and each module is assessed through a written assignment of 5000 words. QTS is awarded by Manchester Nexus SCITT.

Subject knowledge enhancement

We know many prospective trainee teachers worry about getting their subject knowledge up to scratch. Helping you to do that is of paramount importance to us. Your dedicated subject mentor will support this, and if you are studying to teach the following subjects you may qualify for a free Subject Knowledge Enhancement course:

  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Computing
  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Religious Education
  • Primary with Mathematics

For eligibility and to find out more, click here.

School Placements

Your experience will take place in two schools over three designated placement slots throughout the course. We follow an A/B/A Model which gives trainees access to a contrasting experience for enough time to allow strong relationships to be developed between trainees and their mentors, and trainees and their pupils.

Trainee teachers spend 4 days per week in their school placement setting. Face-to-face training takes place on every Friday (and some Thursdays in the autumn term) of the course. There is some additional asynchronous training.

As part of the course you will also spend time in a primary school to understand academic and pastoral transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, and also spend days on an enrichment activity of your choice. Popular examples include a post 16 placement or spending time with a special educational needs department. 

The Nexus partnership includes more than 20 secondary schools:

View partner schools

Curriculum & Assessment

The curriculum is delivered on Fridays, trainees will benefit from full day sessions in our core curriculum with separate days for subject specific training. Regular central training sessions bring you together as a cohort to ensure you have a strong support network and can learn from each other.

The Nexus curriculum is split into 5 areas:

QTS

Trainees are assessed against the Nexus curriculum at three stages in the course (the placement endpoints) using a range of evidence. This assessment is based on a trainee’s knowledge and implementation of the Nexus taught curriculum. At the final assessment course leaders decide whether a trainee has made sufficient progress against the Nexus curriculum to meet the Teachers’ Standards, and be recommended for QTS. They do this using a range of evidence.

PGCE

We work in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University who will provide the PGCE sessions. The PGCE consists of two modules (Reflecting on Pedagogical Approaches & Exploring Professional Development), four additional training days with Sheffield Hallam (delivered in Oldham/ Tameside) and each module is assessed through a written assignment of 5000 words. Completion of these modules leads to a PGCE with 60 Master’s credits.

How to apply & entry criteria

Visit our how to apply page

Finance information

Visit our finance page
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