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Physics with Secondary Education (QTS)

Entry requirements


112 UCAS Tariff points from four A-Levels or equivalent qualifications, including A-level Physics and Mathematics grade grade C or above.

Pass your Access course with 60 credits overall with a minimum of 45 credits at level 3, including relevant Physics and Maths modules

GCSE/National 4/National 5

GCSE English grade C/4 or equivalent GCSE Maths grade C/4 or equivalent

112 UCAS tariff points from your BTEC level 3 National Diploma and two A-levels or equivalent qualifications, including Physics and Mathematics grade C or above.

112 UCAS tariff points from your BTEC level 3 National Extended Certificate and three A-levels or equivalent qualifications, including Physics and Mathematics grade C or above.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DMM

DDM from a BTEC Extended Diploma including relevant Physics and Mathematics modules.

We will consider T Levels for entry to this course, either as stand-alone qualifications or in conjunction with other Level 3 qualifications, in accordance with the specified course tariff points.

UCAS Tariff

112

112 UCAS Tariff points from four A-Levels or equivalent qualifications, including A-level Physics and Mathematics grade grade C or above.

You may also need to…

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About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Physics

This course is ideal for students who want to develop their knowledge of physics as well as gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) which will allow them to teach in a secondary educational environment. Students on this course will be supported to become a confident and competent secondary school teacher who can enable children to learn effectively.

**Why choose this course?**
- The BSC (Hons) Physics with Secondary Education course allows you to explore your chosen subject specialism in depth and gradually moves from an emphasis on the acquisition of subject knowledge and its applications in Year One and Year Two, to an emphasis on the pedagogical and professional knowledge and understanding required by an effective subject specialist teacher in the final year.

- The course design combines the essential elements required to enable you to commence a career in teaching as an Early Career Teacher (ECT).These are: advanced subject knowledge at undergraduate level; knowledge of how children learn and are taught; specialist knowledge required to teach the chosen school subject and experience of being a practitioner in secondary schools.

- Years Two and Three of your study include educational placement elements in order to prepare you for the workplace.

Course accreditation
We are accredited by the UK Government's Department for Education as a provider of initial teacher-training courses. Successful completion of the course leads to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). This means you can be employed as an Early Career Teacher (ECT) in a school to complete your induction year.

Modules

In Year One, you will study the following Physics modules: Classical and Quantum Mechanics; Introduction to Programming in Physics; Properties of Matter; Concepts of Astronomy; Instrumentation and Physics Skills; and Mathematical Techniques.
In Year Two, you will study a number of Physics modules, as well as a year long education module which includes a work-based placement. Core modules include: Fundamental Forces; Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics; Modern Optics and Image Processing; The Quantum World and Learning Physics: Pedagogy, Progression and Practice. Optional modules include: Stars and Galaxies; Anatomy and Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Materials Science.
In the final year of your study, you focus on you developing an in-depth knowledge of the pedagogical skills, assessment requirements and self-reflection required to be a successful Early Career Teacher: Learning to be a teacher; Learning to teach; Learning to teach a subject 1; and Learning to teach a subject 2.

The Uni


Course location:

Clifton Campus

Department:

Nottingham Institute Education

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

90%
Physics

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Physics

Teaching and learning

90%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
87%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
86%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

94%
Library resources
86%
IT resources
86%
Course specific equipment and facilities
84%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

97%
UK students
3%
International students
77%
Male students
23%
Female students
70%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Physics

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,000
low
Average annual salary
98%
high
Employed or in further education
73%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

25%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
19%
Natural and social science professionals
18%
Teaching and educational professionals

Although the subject has seen a bit of resurgence in recent years, the UK is still felt to be short of physics graduates, and in particular physicists training as teachers. If you want a career in physics research — in all sorts of areas, from atmospheric physics to lasers - you'll probably need to take a doctorate, and so have a think about where you would like to do that and how you might fund it (the government funds many physics doctorates, so you might not find it as hard as you think). With that in mind, it's not surprising that just over a fifth of physics graduates go on to take doctorates when they finish their degree, and well over a third of physicists take some kind of postgraduate study in total. Physics is highly regarded and surprisingly versatile, which is why physics graduates who decide not to stay in education are more likely to go into well-paid jobs in the finance industry than they are to go into science. The demand and versatility of physics degrees goes to explain why they're amongst the best-paid science graduates.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Physics

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£24k

£24k

£27k

£27k

£36k

£36k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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