Our courses fall in line with the Department for Education (DfE) statutory guidance and criteria.  This means that applicants will be required to comply with specific entry criteria as well as taking part in a selection process which has been designed to assess their suitability to train to teach.

The Interview Process

If you are invited to attend an interview for a teacher training course, your interviewers will be looking for you to demonstrate qualities expected of an applicant with the potential to train to teach, including:

• Your passion to become an inclusive, outstanding teacher;
• An enthusiasm for your individual subject area, which you can instil in the young people you teach;
• An ability to communicate effectively with individuals and groups;
• A commitment to ensuring that children are kept safe and achieve their full potential.

Newman University uses several methods to assess these qualities in students being interviewed. Your interview will have already started through scrutiny of your application form ahead of being invited to join us for an interview session. The interview session is made up of the following components:

• Welcome/ Tour of the campus
• Identification checks
• Formal interview
• Micro-teaching
• Written task

Micro-Teaching Session

The task is about your subject knowledge, your communication skills and your ability to engage an audience. The session should last no longer than five minutes and you will be addressing a group of fellow applicants and Tutors.

The interviewers will be looking for you to include:

• a brief introduction;
• a main body, making good use of the time available and engaging the audience;
• and a definitive ending summarising the learning.

All PGCE Secondary applicants (except PGCE Secondary PE) will be required to undertake a five-minute task where you will be asked to ‘teach’ a concept from your specific subject area to a mixed cohort of applicants and Tutors.

Applications for PGCE Secondary PE

If you have applied for a PGCE Secondary PE course, in advance of your interview please send a 5-minute video of you teaching a PE activity to e.plummer@staff.newman.ac.uk