Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses

What are Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses?

These are full-time Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses for graduates who have been offered a place on a Secondary PGCE or Lead Partner Route course and have a condition on your place that you are required to enhance your current subject knowledge in your specialist subject before the start of the ITT course in September.

What are the benefits?

The aim of these SKE courses is to provide the breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding that you need to teach secondary specialist subjects confidently and competently.

For this academic year we offer SKE courses in

• Maths
• French
• Spanish
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology

Each course will involve between 20 and 25 hours of study per week, including a mixture of tutor lead teaching and directed study. Courses mainly run through online teaching however an element of our languages courses requires face to face teaching.  

The length and start dates of our courses are detailed as follows:

	Maths	French	Spanish	Physics	Chemistry	Biology	Computing
8 weeks	Yes - Start Date: 29/05/2023	Yes - Start Date:  05/06/2023	Yes - Start Date:  05/06/2023	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
12 weeks	Yes - Start Date: 01/05/2023	Yes - Start Date:  08/05/2023	Yes - Start Date: 08/05/2023	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
16weeks	Yes - Start Date: 03/04/2023	N/A	N/A	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
20 weeks	Yes - Start Date:  06/03/2023	N/A	N/A	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

How do I apply for a course?

To be eligible for an SKE course you must already have a confirmed offer from an ITT training provider to start training this September. Once you have your offer please contact ske@chester.ac.uk to request the subject and the length of course you have been asked to undertake.

Please note we reserve the right to cancel any course should we not receive our minimal number of applications to run the course. In this instance you will be supported to find an alternative provider.

What are the entry requirements?

You do not have to apply for our SKE courses, by being interviewed, offered a place and accepting that place on an ITT course, you are deemed to have met the entry requirements for this Subject Knowledge Enhancement course.

How much does it cost?

This SKE course is fully funded by the Department for Education and you will receive a tax-free bursary of up to £175 per week for the duration of the course (subject to confirmation by DfE). 

What do I do now?

Once you have your offer contact us at ske@chester.ac.uk and you will be sent two forms to complete, return these asap and you will be allocated a tutor who will contact you with the arrangements for the sessions. Start your sessions and complete the course. We will inform your ITT provider at the end of the course that you have been successful.