Biology
“The whole of life is coming to terms with yourself and the natural world. Why are you here? How do you fit in? What’s it all about?”
David Attenborough
Leeds, Bradford, Hull and East Yorkshire Code
Course Information
All secondary trainees receive 2 hours of subject training per week, led by a highly experienced subject leader, who has a strong track-record of outstanding results in schools in the GORSE Academies Trust. This ensures that training is highly tailored to meet the needs of all students. Links are made to KS2 and KS5. The content goes beyond the KS3 and KS4 National Curriculum.
Biology trainees will join trainees from chemistry and physics for the first two terms. This ensures that in any placement school you will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to cover any subject in the science curriculum. This is because all schools will require biology teachers to teach all three disciplines of science. This strengthens your employability.
Moving into Term 3, you will receive biology-specific training. During the biology subject knowledge sessions, trainees will develop their understanding of the biology curriculum. Key topics covered will include cell structure and organisation, cell cycle, infection and response, body systems, bioenergetics, homeostasis, evolution and ecology.
You will have access to high-quality materials that will allow you to develop your own interests and create your own approach to teaching. By working alongside colleagues in our high-performing partnership schools, you will receive the very best opportunity to deepen your confidence and develop your own identity as a highly confident and capable biology teacher.
Meet the Biology Subject Lead
David Hilary
Science is based on curiosity and intrigue. The biology curriculum is designed to be aspirational, enjoyable and engaging. Biologists are scientists who study the natural world and all the living things in it, from the largest mammals down to our own microscopic DNA. It helps us understand the “big picture” and is at the heart of many social, economic and environmental issues.
Biology practitioners have a vitally important role in making this relevant to students’ lives and developing the universally applicable problem solving/critical thinking skills that can be used in later life or for future STEM related careers. Developing the “cultural capital” of students, particularly disadvantaged students, has never been more crucial.
Our promise is to ensure that trainees will become highly confident classroom practitioners with an in depth understanding of the substantive knowledge and disciplinary skills needed to stretch the learning and progress of all students. Woven throughout these sessions are key skills and pedagogy that are needed by classroom practitioners. Research is explored and forms an integral part of the sessions and ensures that trainees are kept abreast of the most up to date pedagogies in science.
Biology trainees will develop the ability to work scientifically and to confidently pass these skills on to their students. Biology offers pupils the opportunity to engage with the diversity of living organisms, and their local and wider environment. It enables pupils to understand their own bodies and the changes they experience, and to apply a range of enquiry approaches to investigating and exploring the living world.
