Your PGCE Secondary interview

You will receive an email from Admissions to indicate that you are eligible for an interview.

A member from the Secondary Education team will then contact you with regards to organising an interview with you at a date and time that suits you both. Wherever possible, we would like to meet and interview candidates in-person at our campus in Twickenham.

Lead Partner School Alliances

If you are applying to St Mary's via one of our Lead Partner alliances, please could you make sure that you notify your alliance of the date and time of your interview once you have booked it.

In-Person Interviews

These will take place at our campus in Twickenham – the address is St Mary’s University, Waldegrave Road, TW1 4SX.

View our directions to campus 

View our campus maps  

Learn more about parking on campus  

Online Interviews

If you have booked an online interview you will be sent a link to join your interview on Zoom by your interviewer. In some cases, this may not be until the morning of the interview. Please check your email spam and trash/junk folders before contacting us.

If you have not received the Zoom link by the day of your interview, please contact the tutor who has confirmed the interview with you.

If you have completed your qualifications we will need to verify these before any offer can be made following a successful interview outcome.

Please log on to your applicant portal and select the ‘My application’ tab.

If we need documents from you then there will be a button which is labelled ‘Documents – action required’ – please select this button.

There will be a list of documents that we need. If the status is ‘accepted’ it means we have already verified the qualification. If the status is ‘required’ it means we need you to upload the relevant document. You can do this by selecting the button labelled ‘upload’.

Please ensure you: 

• rename the document so that it explains what it is; for example, if the document is a copy of your UK passport please ensure the filename is ‘UK passport’
• only upload one copy of each document.

Please note: If the document you need to upload is made up of multiple pages please send this to the admissions team using WeTransfer instead. Please ensure you quote your student ID. The team will be able to combine your pages into one document which will make it easier for us to review.

If you are still studying towards your bachelor degree then you won't need to upload this now but it will be required once you have graduated and before you can start the course.

At St Mary’s, we want you to be successful at interview. We are not trying to catch anyone out so we supply you with information to help you prepare for the interview and your career choice.

Before coming for interview, please make sure you have:

• Completed and submitted the Subject Knowledge Audit (please see section 'subject knowledge audits')
• Watched the pre-interview videos (please see section 'pre-interview videos')
• Fully considered your financial circumstances and accommodation plans for the duration of your course - please see our bursary details and check the funding pages on the ‘Get Into Teaching’ website
• We recommend that you spend some time observing in a state secondary school, ideally in England, to inform your decision about teacher training. Please check ‘Get Into Teaching’ website to find out how to organise school experience.
• Reflected on why you want to become a teacher
• Given thought to your approach to a variety of subject based questions as your subject knowledge will be assessed as part of the interview process.
• Prepared your three minute presentation (no digital support)(see below for more details)
• Read the UK Government’s Teachers’ Standards
• Read the subject requirements of the English National Curriculum for your subject, perhaps look though the examination syllabus too
• Read our Student Agreement
• Read our DBS and fitness to teach disclosure
• Complete our Secondary Pre-Interview Form (please read the Student Agreement and DBS and Fitness to Teach disclosure first)
• Read our PGCE Secondary webpages (if you haven’t already)

3 minute presentation

Please prepare a short, three minute, talk/presentation (with no electronic/digital support) that highlights the qualities of an effective teacher. Your presentation should:

• draw upon recent experience of being in a school, and/or working with young people;
• explore the pastoral role of a teacher; and
• highlight the importance of subject knowledge.

Your presentation should indicate you are making an informed decision about training to be a teacher. Your presentation should not be read from a script, but we understand that cue cards may reassure you during your presentation. This is the only aspect of the interview process where you can display clear evidence of preparation. You will be assessed for your communication skills in spoken English, your ability to engage an audience, your understanding of your chosen subject and evidence of preparation.

If you are attending an in-person interview on campus you may wish to bring with you a physical prop which will make your presentation more engaging.

A subject knowledge audit is a starting point for subject knowledge (SK) development. Answer honestly; an accurate representation of your subject knowledge is useful to set targets for pre-course preparation. Please do not second guess what you think we may be looking for in your audit.

A PGCE is a professional course during which assessment of your subject knowledge is an important part of the development process. Below are the criteria that you will use to ‘assess’ yourself against for each SK statement.

We acknowledge that many successful applicants will correctly assess themselves as ‘needs attention’ for parts of the audit.

• Strong: could answer A Level question
• Secure: could answer difficult GCSE question
• Needs attention: you have limited understanding of concept

You may wish to look at the National Curriculum (Key Stage 4) before attempting the audits. Please remember this is not a test, but a snapshot of where you are now. 

Completing the audit

Use the links below to access your subject’s SK audit. You only need to complete your own subject’s subject knowledge audit. The audit should take between 10 – 15 minutes (maximum). Once started, an individual subject discipline audit must be completed in one sitting.

For Science specialisms

Ensure you complete all three science subject audits irrespective of your own subject application. Please ensure you complete the audits prior to attending the interview selection day.

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics

Other specialisms

• English
• Geography
• History
• Mathematics
• Modern Foreign Languages
• Physical Education
• Religious Education

Before you attend your interview at St Mary's it's important that you watch all the videos about the PGCE Secondary programme, along with your relevant Subject Information video.

PGCE Secondary Information

• Welcome to Secondary PGCE at St Mary's

Subject Information

Wherever possible, we would like to meet and interview candidates in-person at our campus in Twickenham. If this is not practical, then an online interview will be arranged with the same content and expectations as the in-person interview. The only exception to this is that Secondary Physical Education interview will involve a practical, the online interviews will involve an activity that is similar thought and response but without the movement in a teaching space.

In-person interviews on campus

If you are planning to attend a Secondary Physical Education interview on campus then please report to Sport St Mary’s reception on main campus promptly at 7:45am – you should start in appropriate sportswear for teaching and participating in physical activity.

For all other secondary subjects please report to our main reception promptly at the time indicated in your email. You will be given a campus tour and then taken across to the university’s main teaching block (K Block).

During the interview process you will be expected to: 

• give a 3-min presentation with the title 'What makes an effective teacher ?' This is essentially a monologue on your part with no access to digital support, but you could bring a prop with you to help engage your audience. (see section ‘preparation for interview’ for more details)
• complete an English writing activity – you will not be able to prepare for this but may wish to make yourself familiar with Teachers’ Standard 8 - Fulfil wider professional responsibilities  
• join us for an interview so that we can learn more about you.

At the end there will also be an opportunity for you to ask the interviewer any questions you may have to help you make an informed decision about entering the teaching profession and about studying at St Mary's.. It is unlikely you will be asked questions that will surprise you if you have given this process some thought. We have already seen something in your application which indicates that we think you might make a good teacher. The interviewer will try to further explore your reasons for wanting to become a teacher and the steps that you have taken to inform this decision.

Towards the end of your interview you will be asked to confirm whether there are any health or medical issues and any criminal convictions that may inhibit your work with young people. It is very important that you make a full disclosure of any issues at interview, particularly if you have highlighted a disability on your application form. It is unusual, in our experience, for the nature of the disclosures to stop the individual pursuing a career in teaching. At the end of the interview, we will expect you to declare if you are in the process of considering any other teacher training programme(s). Find out more information about DBS and Fitness to Teach disclosures.

The process should all be completed before lunch.

Online interviews

Our interviews are conducted by zoom. You are most likely to be interviewed by a subject tutor, a specialist in the subject that you are applying for. Your interview will be recorded. At the very start of the interview connection the recording will begin, and you will be asked to confirm that you are happy for the interview to be recorded. The interview will be terminated if you are not prepared to have the interview recorded. Find out more information about consent to record.

Once recording has been confirmed, you will need to show two forms of photo ID.

• give a 3-min presentation with the title 'What makes an effective teacher ?' This is essentially a monologue on your part with no access to digital support, but you could bring a prop with you to help engage your audience. (see section ‘preparation for interview’ for more details)
• complete an English writing activity – you will not be able to prepare for this but may wish to make yourself familiar with Teachers’ Standard 8 - Fulfil wider professional responsibilities
  
• answer subject based questions.

Following your presentation, you will be asked a few questions and at the end there will also be an opportunity for you to ask the interviewer any questions you may have to help you make an informed decision about entering the teaching profession and about studying at St Mary's.. It is unlikely you will be asked questions that will surprise you if you have given this process some thought. We have already seen something in your application which indicates that we think you might make a good teacher. The interviewer will try to further explore your reasons for wanting to become a teacher and the steps that you have taken to inform this decision.

Towards the end of your interview you will be asked to confirm whether there are any health or medical issues and any criminal convictions that may inhibit your work with young people. It is very important that you make a full disclosure of any issues at interview, particularly if you have highlighted a disability on your UCAS application form. It is unusual, in our experience, for the nature of the disclosures to stop the individual pursuing a career in teaching. At the end of the interview, we will expect you to declare if you are in the process of considering any other teacher training programme(s). Find out more information about DBS and Fitness to Teach disclosures.

Candidates will generally be notified of the University's final interview decision on your application within five working days of your interview.

For all candidates, your offer of a place on the course will be subject to conditions. A conditional offer of a place on St Mary’s PGCE course means that you will be set tasks that must be completed before the course begins. These tasks are set to increase the probability of applicants successfully completing the course and some are for compliance. Conditions can include:

• Completion of a Subject Knowledge Enhancement course
• Subject-based tasks that may usefully be completed in a school(s)
• Providing evidence of degree award and GCSE certificates to St Mary’s Admissions office: please note that provisional candidate’s statements of results are not acceptable evidence of final GCSE qualifications awarded. Please contact your exam board(s) for reprints if necessary.

Please ensure to respond to any communication from our Admissions office asking for academic qualifications to be provided for your application.

Overseas police check(s) may also be required depending on your address history for the past five years and, in some cases, certified translations for academic documents and/or police checks not originally in English. We do not have a list of certified translators that you must use, please search for services that you deem good value and service. They must be certified translators able to provide a copy of the translated document, their translation work and usually a cover letter attesting their services committed. Their stamp, date and signature are also usually included in the document.

Find out more about offer conditions