Like all postgraduate courses in Cambridge getting a place is the business of the Faculty (in this case the Faculty of Education), not that of a particular college. So to find out about the PGCE programmes offered by the Faculty of Education, and how to apply for one, please look at their website http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/pgce/.
PGCE trainees do need, however, to become a member of a college while they are in Cambridge. Homerton College has close ties with the Faculty of Education (we share a large site with them) and many of our senior members are also involved with delivering PGCE programmes. This gives us some significant advantages as a college for PGCEs. We are, for instance, fully aware of the shape of the PGCE year: we know it starts earlier in the new academic year than any other course; we know that trainees are out in schools for set periods of the year; we know this can mean some early mornings. In short we are sympathetic to the needs of PGCE trainees.
Unusually among Cambridge Colleges, Homerton has some car parking spaces available for those resident PGCEs who have been granted designated driver status by the Faculty of Education - including the need to use a car to get to more outlying schools for teaching practice, or specific family commitments or special needs. Sharing a site with the Faculty of Education means that when you are working in the university it is no distance at all between the lecture rooms and the buttery or the dining hall. This is probably why the majority of PGCE trainees put Homerton down as their first choice college. We are very happy that this is the case. We are rightly proud of our long history of training teachers, and even though this is now largely devolved to the Faculty we still have a profound commitment to education and to helping make sure that Cambridge continues to produce highly regarded qualified teachers. We are also delighted to continue as the home college for those who wish to take up the part-time Masters course (M.Ed) available to those who have successfully completed their PGCE training.
As a Homerton student, you will automatically be a part of the Homerton Union of Student (and uniquely can choose to to be a part of both the JCR and the MCR. The College also offers regular formal halls, full access to IT and library facilities on a 24 hour basis, a Matriculation dinner to make sure you get to know others on your course and in your cohort, and tutorial help offered at times you can make. We hope that this, as well as the other College facilities, will encourage you to choose Homerton as your college 'home'.
For information about the courses available, and how to apply, please consult the following:
Faculty of Education PGCE webpage
Graduate Teacher Training Registry
Please note: if you have applied for a PGCE course and wish to check your progress, you need to contact the Faculty of Education directly on 01223 767600.
