Secondary Partnership

Information for Schools

Why join the Goldsmiths Partnership?

The Goldsmiths Partnership values close liaison between school and College-based tutors in the planning, development and delivery of PGCE programmes.

Benefits of joining the Partnership Scheme with Goldsmiths include the following:

• A high level of support
  College tutors share the responsibility with teachers for assessing and supervising students in their school-based work, by visiting schools at least twice across each placement
  Teachers have immediate access to Partnership support through the Partnership Administrator, Lynsey Salt (Email: l.salt - Tel: 020 7717 2245)
  Schools receive detailed guidance for organising students’ school-based work in the Handbook, through online and face-to-face mentor training, and at www.community.gold.ac.uk
• Assistance with your recruitment
  Partnership with Goldsmiths provides proven assistance to schools with the recruitment of new teachers. Many of our students get their first teaching post either in their teaching practice school or in one of the other schools in the Partnership
• Enhanced professional and curriculum development for schools
  Students bring fresh ideas and expertise which can often help to move a department forward
  Meetings of subject mentors offer teachers the chance to network across the subject partnership and to share good practice
• Professional development for experienced teachers
  Partnership offers increased opportunities for experienced teachers to develop the skills of mentoring teachers in their professional development
• How the Goldsmiths Partnership can help you with School Improvement
  The Partnership also offers a variety of special projects, including Enrichment Placements, the Illuminate Young Researchers Programme, bespoke Beyond Partnership collaborations, and tailored CPD schemes. Please contact Lynsey Salt in the first instance
• Goldsmiths
  We are part of the University of London, have been educating teachers for over a century and are committed to equipping new teachers with the understanding and skills needed to teach in London’s schools

How does the Partnership work?

• A Professional Coordinating Mentor (usually a Deputy or Assistant Head Teacher) has overall responsibility for the management of the Partnership within the school, including a school-based general professional studies programme
• The Head of Department, or another experienced teacher, is designated as the subject mentor for the students placed in the department
• Students are placed singly or in pairs in a subject department. There may be one subject Partnership between the school and Goldsmiths, or as many as seven or eight
• Standard route students have two School Experience placements (SE1 and SE2) across the year: a twelve week placement starting in October and longer placement beginning in January and finishing in June. Flexible route students may follow a slightly adjusted pathway
• Students come into Goldsmiths periodically for Subject Studies and General Professional Studies
• Payments to schools are usually £400 for each placement. This averages out to provide mentor teachers with teaching cover for the weekly tutorials held in schools with their PGCE students, although some departments choose to use the payments for materials

Roles and responsibilities

The subject mentor in school is expected to:

• Meet with the student for an hour or period a week throughout the PGCE year to teach and mentor them through the school-based elements of the course
• Supervise students’ teaching practice, observe their teaching, and give written and oral feedback
• Assess students’ progress against the QTS Standards using a profiling system and provide written reports
• Make a final summative assessment jointly with the College tutor
• Participate in the design and development of the course in a variety of ways, including through invitations to interview prospective students and to Partnership meetings (see www.community.gold.ac.uk for dates)

The College tutor:

• Has overall responsibility for the design and management of the subject course, for students’ progress and their final assessment
• Teaches the College-based elements of the course
• Makes visits to each of the students in the department to observe their teaching, provide feedback and take part in their profiling and assessment
• Runs Partnership meetings and provides online and face-to-face training for school-based tutors
• Reviews applications to the course, selects suitable candidates and organizes interviews, where possible with school involvement
• Liaises with the College to ensure appropriate provision of college services, eg: library and other information, student support, admissions, records and examinations

The Professional Coordinating Mentor has overall responsibility for:

• The management of the partnership in the school and for students’ school-based work
• Organising a whole-school induction introducing students to school policies, procedures and priorities for development, and a General Professional Studies programme

The Secondary Partnership Team

Subject Tutors