A course for early career teachers in higher education to help them gain professional recognition for teaching excellence.
About the course
This course covers elements of delivering HE teaching, focusing on the demands on staff with a level of responsibility for design and monitoring of academic delivery. It focuses on understanding how students learn and applying these insights to understand effective curriculum design, developing teaching practice, principles of assessment and feedback, and how to support equality and diversity through the development of inclusive learning environments.
The course also provides opportunities for participants to draw on expertise from within their own discipline or area of practice via reflections on, e.g., particular teaching issues within a discipline or on disciplinarily specific issues in HE teaching and learning.
The course is designed to take into account the need for staff to manage course participation alongside their other responsibilities. It includes provision for acknowledgement of prior relevant learning.
There are two routes available.
PGCert HE taught route
The taught PGCert HE comprises the following core modules which run over one academic year:
- Fundamentals of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (15 credits) – this module aims to develop the core skills, methodologies and confidence essential for good teaching at university level
- Enhancing Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (45 credits) – this module is delivered through a series of core and optional workshops and explores elements of delivering HE teaching, paying attention to the demands of staff with a level of responsibility for design and monitoring of academic delivery, and focuses throughout on understanding how students learn.
The taught PGCert course commences in September each year. Participants complete the Fundamentals of Teaching and Learning module in Semester 1 and the Enhancing Teaching and Learning in HE module in Semester 2.
PGCertHE Portfolio route
The Portfolio route is available if you have three or more years' teaching experience and do not have to take the course as part of your probation.
Participation is flexible and work-based, while also providing opportunities to network with others and reflect on your developing teaching practice. Participation is also supported by a series of action learning group meetings and Pedagogy + sessions held throughout the year. These provide opportunities to come together with teaching-engaged colleagues for critical discussion around issues relating to higher education teaching and learning.
Action learning sessions run from January to May each year.
There are three submission deadlines in each academic year: September, February and June. Participants have up to two years from commencing the course to complete it. This may be earlier if completion is required as part of a probationary period.
Contact the course team if you would like to discuss the most appropriate route for you.
Who should take this course?
This 60-credit, level 7 course taken part-time over one year is required if you are:
- a lecturer or teaching fellow at Sussex, and
- on a permanent contract at or above 0.4FTE, and
- have less than three years’ consecutive HE teaching experience in a substantive faculty role.
If you have over three consecutive years' HE teaching experience, you can choose to complete the course through a portfolio-only route.
By successfully completing the PGCert you will be awarded a recognised professional qualification and gain Fellowship of Advance HE (FHEA).
Who else can register for the course?
Participation is optional for teaching fellows and lecturers with more than three years' higher education teaching experience. You can also register if you work in another role (e.g., research fellow, Library or careers) on a permanent contract at or above 0.4FTE and would like to support your professional development.
Staff without formally assigned teaching responsibilities must be able to gain some practical experience of HE teaching. This might be providing teaching sessions to colleagues within an HE setting and can include independent sessions or sessions taught together with a more experienced colleague.
How to register
To register for the PGCertHE, please complete the PGCertHE Registration form.
If you are required to complete the first module, Fundamentals of Teaching and Learning, you must register before the start of September.
If you are not required to complete the first module, please register for the taught or portfolio routes before the start of January.
Once you have completed the registration form, we will contact your Head of Department to confirm agreement of your participation on the course and to ask them to assign you a mentor with suitable expertise.
If you have any queries about completing the form, please email PGCertHEadmin@sussex.ac.uk.
Requesting exemption from the Fundamentals of Teaching and Learning module
You may apply for exemption from the Fundamentals module in any of the following circumstances:
- having three or more years’ experience teaching in higher education in any role, including as an Associate Tutor or Graduate Teaching Assistant
- already being an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)
- having already completed a similar course to Fundamentals elsewhere.
If you wish to apply for exemption from the first module, complete the RP(E)L form and return it to us with your registration form along with any supporting evidence and documentation, including a copy of your CV.
The course team is responsible for the final decision on module exemption and will require the relevant documentation (as above) to consider the application.