Over the course of the year student teachers engage with the Teach with Wonder and York St John spiral curriculum that has been carefully sequenced to allow the content, skills and application of the ITT-ECF to be regularly revisited. By purposefully facilitating opportunities to embed previous learning, student teachers will gradually gain a better understanding of the underlying principles of teaching, enabling them to apply this knowledge more effectively, flexibly and confidently in their teaching practice.

The York St John University and Teach with Wonder School Centred PGCE programme also facilitates four Intensive Training and Practice (ITAPs) experiences. These experiences take a more granular approach to specific areas of the ITT-ECF, combining academic lectures and workshops from York St John University and Teach with Wonder, with a range of school-based tasks and conversations, culminating with a teaching opportunity and developmental feedback.

Teach with Wonder and York St John also appreciate the importance of ensuring that our student teachers receive teacher training that is contextually linked to their subject, phase and domain specific curriculum materials. By having access to expert subject mentors, our student teachers are able to contextualise, apply and integrate their learning into their lesson with efficacy. Teaching is a complex, dynamic and cumulative process; it is therefore essential that all student teachers develop a holistic understanding of the different teaching elements and embrace a culture of continuous improvement. The York St John and the Teach with Wonder curriculum provides plenty of opportunities for them to engage in all the essential fundamentals of teaching and in critical reflective practice, allowing them to develop your own enquiry questions and self-directed actions for your
personal growth and development, as you progress through your course.

In addition to developing student teachers’ pedagogy Teach with Wonder and York St John university offer subject days and plenty of subject specific enrichment opportunities. This year Teach with Wonder has arranged for our student English Teachers to experience the theatrical productions of Macbeth and the Tempest, and they have engaged in online CPD with the English and Media Centre; whilst some of our student PE teachers have gained an introduction to coaching qualification with the Football Association and their Level 3 Outdoor First Aider qualification. Our primary ITE student teachers, in addition to their core subject guidance have received STEM training in Science, Computing and Design Technology, spent two days in a primary school in Sheffield looking at modelling English and vocabulary instruction through the lens of English as an additional language (EAL), received tennis coaching from the Lawn Tennis Association, practiced their fieldwork skills at Elmswell Farm and undertaken their Forest Schools training at Acorn Hollow and much, much more.