ONLINE Start dates: Wednesday 10th July, Friday 12th July, Monday 15th July, Wednesday 17th July, and Thursday 18th July - course participants 9-12pm and 1-4pm

Consecutive 5-DAY INTENSIVE PRACTICAL WORK Start dates: Monday 1st July 2024 to Friday 5th July 2024 inclusive (all three sciences of Biology, Chemistry and Physics) LIVERPOOL

This course provides learners with the opportunity to improve their practical skills, to support the delivery of required practical work in the current A-Level Science specifications (AQA OCR, Edexcel and Eduqas). The total number of 80 Guided Learning Hours (GLHs) is broken down into 30 GLHs of directed online learning that is common to all three science, 30 GLHs of intensive laboratory-based learning (subject specific) and 20 GLHs of independent learning; delivered over a maximum of 16 weeks.

Courses are available for the below subjects:

Biology Chemistry Physics

As an award winning education provider BioGrad offer immersive laboratory and clinical training courses at our state-of-the-art facilities in Liverpool.

Learners will become confident in the use of required Apparatus and Techniques (ATs) in their chosen subject area and gain the knowledge and understanding of what is required for the planning, delivery and assessment of current A-level Science Practical Endorsements. They will discuss ways to track individual students’ progress against each of the Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC) success criteria and will also be able to consider different ways of providing feedback to their students, to maximise their progress over time. Assessment and feedback during the course will be ongoing and elements will also be recognised by the AQA Unit award scheme (certification).

The course will also provide much support around careers education to help secure a first job or promotion, the content is fully intended to upskill and move participants forward in their career path.

This course is particularly suitable for:

• PGCE students who have just finished their course and are about to start their first teaching role.
• Newly Qualified Teachers (particularly Early Career Teachers who had a disrupted training year during the pandemic).
• Non-specialist teachers delivering outside their own subject area.
• Technicians who support Level 3 practical science teaching.
• Experienced teachers who want a practical skills refresher.
• Supply teachers who are keen to upskill and who may also be looking for a teaching role.

Students will complete a significant number of practical experiments, linked to the A Level Biology/Chemistry/Physics.

Prior to the consecutive, 5-day intensive laboratory work focus, learners will have a developed understanding of how to work safely in a laboratory setting, including how to complete risk assessments and how COSHH works. They will have access to CLEAPSS for further support with technician notes, recipes and in-depth assistance with everything associated with a laboratory setting. They will then work through the practical experiments with the guidance of the course teacher and laboratory technician, interacting with the CPAC and honing their pedagogy to maximise assessment opportunities of their own students when back in their own work setting.

Once learners have completed their course, they will have the opportunity to retain access to Catherine Witter, Curriculum and Assessment Education Lead, who can be contacted during office hours. They may also have a chance to shadow one of our course lecturers to see the A Level Science assessment in action in one of our laboratories nationally. They will also be able to attend a session with Catherine to assist them to develop those skills required to progress in paid employment, predominantly interview techniques and CV writing.

To ensure you are eligible to participate in one of our fully funded courses please contact us directly by phone or email.

Please go to our website Skills Bootcamps for further information or contact our team using fundedcourses@biograd.co.uk.

"As a new PGCE student preparing to start my first placement in a secondary school, the course was a brilliant opportunity to brush up on the set practicals I can expect to be leading during my future career as a teacher. I am especially grateful for this as I will not have the opportunity to do much of my training in an A-Level classroom environment, so this course has filled in the gaps of my teacher training experiences."

"I would say that this CPAC course (Practical Endorsement Training for Teachers) prepared me well for my next stage in employment. In my case, I am trying to go back to teaching after a gap of 15 years, so it was both a practical skills refresher as well as an upskilling course for me as I am trying to get into supportive teaching roles/ TA. "

"After completing this course, I feel I am better equipped to support student learning in a laboratory within a school; and be able to assess and provide feedback to students in different ways linked to practical experiments. Also the employability skills one to one session with The HR Manager was very helpful to gain an insight into our strengths and weaknesses. We learned how to project ourselves in an interview, tips for CV writing and interview preparation techniques taught to us would help in preparing us to face an interview with confidence and get employed."

"The practical skills taught during the course will definitely come in handy because now I have the knowledge & understanding to plan, deliver and assess student progress in relation to their practical skills. Moreover, I can safely handle apparatus and can carry out experimental techniques more confidently after completing this 2 week course. "

"Filling of blue feedback sheets as a daily ritual was a good activity to check against our understanding of skills and knowledge required for practicals. The tutors made sure that if I had put any request under additional support, they would find time to go over the procedure, steps, calculations, graph work with me to support my learning. Even the pre-course assessment activity sheets were a good feature of the course to see my development against the success criteria."