Have a read of the 'Is citizenship dead' thread, if I were you I wouldn't do a citizenship PGCE, jobs are thin on the ground & signs are pointing towards its end a a subject.

Furthermore, as far as I'm aware, most university PGCE courses in Citizenship have stopped/will stop. I know IOE is stopping theres. So the PGCE Citizenship might not actually be an option, and, if it was, I would still encourage you to not do it!

However, to answer your questions:-

 1) Not sure, most likely other humanities subjects, RE, History, Geography & PSHE at a guess. In my school we teach citizenship, but it's not taught by any citizenship specialists, we have RE, Geography, History, French & English specialists teaching it.

 2) Again, not sure! I don't think Citizenship is a Post 16 subject, but I may be wrong...

From your specialisms, & subject interests, I think you'll find more of your subjects in Post 16 areas. You can work in a college & do a part time 'Cert Ed', which is a post 16 qualification. You won't find many schools teaching Sociology & Politics at GCSE/KS3, especially with the Ebacc situation.

 If you are keen to work in KS3 & KS4 I would suggest an RE PGCE......??

Hope that helps!! 

I have quickly checked the IOE and the GTTR websites and as far as I can see the courses are still running next year ( I could be wrong ). I would e-mail all the Uni's that offer Citizenship to ask them any questions you might have ( and if their course is still running!!!) I did this before my PGCE and found it very useful. 

 

GruffyMax's ignorance is astounding. What's worse is then the assertion of 'fact' on the basis of no real understanding. The PGCE Citizenship programs are alive and well - I lead one of the courses and today was interviewing for admission for next year. I also know for a fact that the IoE course is continuing (though it's not my course). Citizenship is indeed a post 16 subject - there is a well established A level course in Citizenship. Some schools do indeed fail to give adequate attention to the subject, but in other schools it is thriving - one school close to my ITE establishment employs 5 of my Citizenship graduates in an outstanding Citizenship department. Yes Mr Gove has announced a review of the national curriculum (all of it, not just Citizenship) and doubtless there will be changes, but those predicting the demise of the subject are jumping the gun. Employment ... well take my 2010/11 course as an example. Of 12 successful graduates of the course, 10 are now in full time Citizenship teaching jobs (some combining Citizenship with another subject, such as RE, Sociology, History, Law, Politics), 1 has not applied for any jobs (for personal reasons) and 1 has had a number of unsuccessful interviews and is still job searching. In a time when all the doomsayers are suggesting the subject is dead I think that's a pretty good record. The versatility of most Citizenship PGCE graduates means that they can teach pretty much across the range of Humanities/Social Sciences, and their adaptability makes them highly desirable and employable.

Completely agree with Bobdog ;-). I qualified as a Citizenship trainee last year (2010/11), and got a job teaching Citizenship few lessons a week combined with RE and History. The adaptability/versatility of Citizenship trainees is always appealing to empolyers. 

... and that's the voice of one of the 10/12 who have found jobs that I mentioned above.

Apologies for the offence & the, possibly, incorrect information.

I was drawing on my own knowledge & experience of Citizenship in my school, local area, & the nearest ITT provider.

I do find the rather rosy picture you paint of Citizenship in direct contrast to the 'Is Citizenship dead' thread, and the jobs that have been available....... but again, that may only be in my area & the situation may be different nationally..... 

While talk of the immanent death of Citizenship is premature (the curriculum review is still ongoing) it appears inevitable that Citizenship will be removed as a compulsory subjectin KS3 and KS4. It will survive at KS3 as an addition to PSHE or Humanities in many schools, but is already disappearing as a GCSE and a stand alone suject at KS3.

Enroling on a Citizenship PGCE is a big risk. There were very few jobs advertised for this subject alone and schools are tending not to employ Citizenship specialists but use other teachers to 'fill in', usually other Humanities teachers.

Once again assertion based on no evidence.

There is evidence. The number of Citizenship jobs advertised in the TES last Summer has decreased massively not just in real terms but relative to other subjects. The number of ntries for Citizenship Full and short course has peaked and is also in decline. As the Citizenship co-ordinator in my School I'm facing up to the reality of a subject that will face a rapid decline, some of you should face up to this too.

You need to look more imaginatively at jobs in TES, the way they're listed has shortcomings. Many Citizenship jobs last year were advertised as PSHE and Citizenship, History and Citizenship, RE (ability to teach Citizenship an advantage) etc. Many of those jobs did not appear under the 'Citizenship' heading (poor inputting) but they exist - and I know because my students got them, Some of us have been in teaching long enough (30+ years) to know that exam entries are cyclical. I began my career as an Economics teacher in the days when Business Studies didn't exist. Over a long period Economics declined and Business Studies grew so that it became bigger in terms of exam entries. The last 5 years have seen the reversal of those trends. If, as a Citizenship Co-ordinator, you have failed to prevent the decline in Citizenship in your own school - well frankly you've not been doing your job properly. I know many people on your position who have, and continue to grow and develop the subject. Instead of preaching doom and gloom have the courage to stand up for the subject, as so many of us are doing.

You really need to stop taking this so personally and stop being so unpleasant. The number of GCSE entries has reduced by nearly 22% in one year and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that its non-inclusion in the ebac was going is one reason for this. At the end of the day it will probably return to how it was ten yeras ago, as part of PSHE. Its introduction as a compulsory subject was good but a bit odd. Perhaps it should be incorporated better as a cross-curricular subject. Does it really matter where or if it is taught?

Are you just worried about losing your job?

Try teaching RE or something else from Humanities but please no more insulting comments about unprofessionalism after all, this thread was just meant to be a conversaion about the future of our subject not an exercise in curriculum trench warfare.

I'm not sure that I agree with you BRENHELL. I work in a chain of schools and we have been delivering Citizenship Short course to all KS4. With the curriculum review, the chain has decided to adopt full course GCSE Citizenship as part of our core offering for all students because it is a GCSE that all students can access and achieve in. So in my experience it is far from disappearing..

Not at all afraid of losing my job (a) because I know my PGCE course will be running next year (b) because I receive 100 applications for 10 places and have no trouble filling the course and (c) because I'm close to retirement anyway - having spent over 30 years in teaching. I am concerned about misinformation/misunderstanding. Yes the number of entries for GCSE Citizenship (after several years of spectacular growth) fell by 20% or so last year, but let's put that in some perspective. Citizenship GCSE entries are still 30% (22,000) higher than those for Business Studies GCSE ... do you see predictions of doom and gloom on the BS forum (and bear in mind that BS has NEVER been a National Curriculum subject)? Old fogies like me have been around long enough to see the comings and goings of dozens of Education Secretaries with their peculiar whims and fancies, and know that despite their best efforts to screw things up, good, professional teachers manage to go on and actually create excellent curricula and schemes of work in our schools. ("The trouble with education today is that the people in charge of it show no signs of having benefited from it" Mike Arnold). Citizenship is still in its infancy. It will undergo trials and tribulations, ups and downs. It is just about the most radical change to our education system in the last 50 years. It is not unique to the UK. Educationalists in just about every other developed economy in the world are staggered that Citizenship is (apparently) under threat in the UK ... in those economies it is an expanding subject. Some more perspective here. English Literature was introduced (to outrage) in English schools in 1910. English teachers battled all kinds of prejudice ("That's not a proper subject") for many years. Only with the 1944 Education Act did the subject gain any statutory recognition, Is anybody seriously considering scrapping Eng Lit today? Anybody coming into Citizenship Education today (as has been true for the past 10 years) needs to have a pioneering spirit, be a missionary for their subject. On our PGCE courses we only recruit the best. ("The quality of teachers emerging from the newly established PGCE courses in Citizenship Education is second to none" David Bell, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, 2005). It's not an easy ride and you'll have to be exceptionally well qualified to secure a place. But if you are ambitious, dedicated, professional and have that pioneering spirit their are still fantastic opportunities in this subject. If you've doubts, if you're a doom and gloom merchant, fine. Go somewhere else, we don't need you, we have plenty of outstanding candidates to choose from.

 As a politics graduate currently on a citizenship PGCE I would say get on it as soon as you can!  Your experience and education would really help you and to be honest at the end of it you would probally have no bother getting a post in any of the social sciences.

In my second placement I'm going to be teaching citizenship, history, sociology, geography, RE and even some maths.  At the end of the course I will have more varied teaching experience and be able to 'steal' the jobs off the other history and geography PGCE students. The employment rates for the last few years of my course are pretty fantastic and much better that the other humanities courses at my uni.

The biggest problem you will come accross will be people asking 'isn't citizenship just PSHE' which after a few months on the course, will annoy the hell out of you. Make sure you research what citizenship actually is before you get into the interviews and be prepared to really stand up for what the subject is trying to achieve.

Good luck with your application!

 

Dear Bobdog I am considering doing either a PGCE in social science or citizenship which would you recommend to have the most versatility and more employable and desired by prospective employers? Thanks

Either route gives a good way into teaching. I might be more inclined to got for Social Science if I saw my long term future in 16-19 teaching and for Citizenship if I saw it in 11-16. Bear in mind though that there tend to be fewer pure 16-19 vacancies. On either course you should take opportunities (which are likely to be provided) to broaden your repertoire by teaching a little outside your main subject(s).

The teaching of citizenship and the leading of such a department can lead to better things. I was not a citizenship trained student teacher, but I ran a Citizenship and PSHE (then) department (as a historian originally) with 12 teachers drawn from across the spectrum. It taught me the value of negotiation and management.I would not write the subject off at all. Flexibility and a willingness to diversify are always going to be key to professional success. The popularity of debating clubs and Model United Nations in schools is evidence of students wanting to engege with the material on offer.

My thinking was very black and white after hearing a contact from TeachFirst saying that Citizenship's been scrapped. But I've got an interview at the IoE to enrol on the Citizenship PGCE for 2012/13. Fingers crossed! I've got a Politics and Economics background myself, and 3yrs as a campaigner/political think tank person. I can't imagine a more engaging subject to teach. Let's hope there's light at the end of the tunnel for this subject. What do you guys think?

Hey. I also have an interview for Citizenship at IOE. Is your on Monday? how you doing with pre-interview task?