The Cambridge Primary PGCE Curriculum
The ITE curriculum offered by the Cambridge course is transformational, ambitious, rewarding, stimulating, challenging, rigorous and research informed.
It is a high-quality, coherent and well-sequenced programme which leads to an understanding of educational research and the links between theory and practice to improve learner outcomes for all children.
It facilitates an accumulation of professional knowledge across a variety of settings, provides beginning teachers with a set of insights, perspectives and skills, through the processes of reflection and practical problem-solving, which they can build on as their career develops.
Curriculum content, structure, and organisation
Curriculum content, structure and organisation are developed, revised and reviewed with the wider Partnership. The curriculum is enacted in Faculty and on placement; each component addresses the aspirations above, whilst accounting for the statutory requirements of the DfE including Teachers’ Standards at the end of the course.
Becoming a teacher is a complex, cumulative process and one which demands a holistic understanding of the different elements.
In order to provide a coherent curriculum with clearly defined and structured components, the Primary PGCE is designed around six curriculum strands, each of which aim to lead to specific outcomes for PGCE trainees whilst feeding into their integrated understanding of what it means to be an excellent Primary practitioner.

The six Strands of the Cambridge Primary PGCE Curriculum
- Professional Values and Dispositions
- Subject Knowledge
- Research Knowledge
- Knowledge of Child Development and Learning
- Professional Knowledge
- Pedagogical Knowledge
Through mastering these six strands of the Cambridge Primary PGCE Curriculum, we are confident that our PGCE students will become highly confident and competent professionals.