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University axes postgraduate teaching course

Cerys Davies Cerys DaviesCerys Davies
Cerys Davies now doesn't know what she'll do next academic year, as she planned to progress to the PGCE course

A university has announced it is axing its postgraduate teaching course from next year.

Aberystwyth University confirmed its PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education) course was coming to an end.

Students were "shocked" when they were told the news on Friday.

The university has not confirmed whether jobs will be lost as a result of the decision.

Cerys Davies, a third year student at Aberystwyth University, said she was looking forward to doing a secondary teaching practice course in drama.

"I was shocked when I received an email saying that the course will not be held in Aber next year," she told BBC Wales' Cymru Fyw.

She said it was "a difficult time", with her dissertation deadline soon and exams on the horizon.

"It's the last thing I wanted to hear that the course I planned to do next year was not happening.

"It's lucky that I was informed on Friday morning because I was signing for a house in Aberystwyth on Friday afternoon.”

Aberystwyth University
An Estyn inspection of Aberystwyth University in 2023 found it was "too slow to prioritise important areas of its work"

Aberystwyth University said the decision to discontinue the course was "due to the decision by the Education Workforce Council not to re-accredit the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) programme provided by the Aberystwyth Partnership of Initial Teacher Education".

"Our current PGCE students will continue their studies and their qualification will not be affected," it said.

The Education Workforce Council said Aberystwyth Partnership’s PGCE programme, which offered both primary and secondary teaching pathways, "did not fully meet the criteria" for accreditation.

It said the full rationale around the decision was not a public document, but the university had been provided with a copy.

When an Estyn report was carried out in 2023, 30 students were following the university’s primary PGCE route, eight in Welsh medium.

A further 21 students were following the secondary route, five in Welsh medium.

The survey said the Partnership had faced challenges due to Covid but noted "it has been too slow to prioritise important areas of its work that need improvement".