PGDE (Secondary) Home Economics School Placements

Welcome to the PGDE (Secondary) Home Economics School Placement Resource Area

2022/23 Dates for School Placements are:

Placement 1a – Orientation Period.  Monday 3 October to Friday 7 October 2022

Placement 1b – Monday 31 October to Friday 16 December 2022 (7 weeks)

Placement 2 - Monday 16 January to Friday 31 March 2023 (10 weeks excluding mid-term holidays)

School Experience Resources

Revised Assessment Practices

We are hoping that School Placements will be able to continue uninterrupted this year. Should this situation change then we will update our assessment practices accordingly in line with national SCDES recommendations.

  • Open briefing sessions on a suitable virtual platform such as Microsoft Teams for all School staff involved in supporting our students.
  • A regular virtual meeting space for school-based educators (i.e. SBEs/Mentors) to arrange as necessary to liaise with University staff.
  • Students will be invited to regular group meetings as required with their peers and their University-based Educator (UBE) to discuss progress issues.
  • Students will record all evidence of their progress in their Digital Professional Development Portfolios, known as their PebblePad workbook. University staff will have ongoing access to these and will monitor them closely.
  • Students have been provided with an SPR tracking document called 'My SPR Focus' which sits within PebblePad and which they can use for self-evaluation tracking purposes of their progress against the GTCS Standard.
  • Students will use a Weekly Review Form (a tool for dialogue with their Mentor) to set weekly targets and review progress. These can be shared electronically through the PebblePad App with the supporting teachers and the student will be responsible for uploading these to the Digital PDPs each week.
  • Weekly Reviews will help to inform the Mid-Way Review. The Mid-Way Review will be completed by the Student, with targets agreed with the School Mentor and the student will submit this to the University Drop Box.
  • A joint observation lesson with grades agreed between the School-based Educator (Mentor) and the University-based Educator.
  • Summative Placement Report – this will be completed by the School Mentor, in consultation with the University Lecturer, on the penultimate day of the placement. This will be discussed with the student, signed by all parties and the Student will be responsible for uploading this to the University’s Drop Box.

Guidance on how to complete the Summative Report in line with the GTCS (SPR) is available in the School Experience Resources section.

Partnership between Local Authorities, Schools and University

QMU has established partnerships with the following local authorities Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian, Scottish Borders and Fife.  Educational representatives from these authorities have been closely involved in the design and development of the new Education programmes. From 2019-20 QMU’s partnership with these authorities will form part of the wider Edinburgh Early Phase Partnership along with Napier University and Moray House. 

Whilst each university will retain its distinctive Programme partnership elements, the wider partnership will enable all stakeholders to meet regularly to discuss school experience and partnership related developments including the sharing of good practice with local authority partners.

If you need to contact a member of the team, please note that we can be reached on the emails below:

PGDE Programme Leader; Dr Linda Craig 

Associated Head of PSE; Dr Simon Hoult 

Partnership and Placement Officer; Wendy Kolossy