The Student Associate Scheme - Information for
Students at Cardiff University 20010/11
The Student Associates Scheme (SAS) provides an opportunity for undergraduate
and postgraduate students to carry out a 15 day school based taster experience and
earn £600 while doing it.
The Scheme is aiming to recruit students with A-levels in mathematics, chemistry
or physics, particularly those who are studying mathematical, scientific or
engineering courses at university. It is good if you have been studying these subjects
further at university as either your main subject or in an applied subject like
engineering. However, you do not have to have been studying these subjects at
university. For example a student taking a history degree, but who has an A-level in
mathematics would be able to undertake a mathematics placement.
All of the students who join the Scheme will be required to do their placement in the
mathematics or science departments of a secondary school. Although the
placements will normally be in maths and science, any students hoping to teach in
other disciplines will benefit from taking part in the Scheme.
Because of the source of the funding, all the placements must all take place in
schools in England. This is ideal for students who have homes in England and are
likely to return home during the summer vacation. In recent years, students who
have homes in Wales have often arranged to stay with a relative or friend who lives
in England while they did the placement. In fact last year some Welsh students
teamed up with an English friend also doing SAS to make this work, often doing their
placements in the same school. The placements normally take place in late June,
July, during your university vacation. All placements must be completed before the
schools break up for their summer holidays.
As part as the Scheme you must complete a short taught course. This consists of
two seminars, which will be held in your university, and working through a set of
recoded lectures on a CD. The first seminar introduced you to the Scheme and
provides a lot of background information. The second seminar concentrates on
introducing you to ways to make your subject interesting for pupils and includes a
final pre-placement briefing. The preparatory seminars and the online lectures are
linked to the QTS standards that must be met to qualify as a teacher. By doing this
the Scheme helps to prepare you to meet the requirements of a PGCE course at the
end of your degree.
The second seminar will be held in Cardiff on Wednesday 16th February.
At the first seminar we will be completing your Criminal Record Bureau forms.
These have to be done for all people going into schools. In order to do this you will
need to provide certain key pieces of information and bring some identification to the
meeting with you. Please note the list below carefully.
1. Proof of your term time address. This could be a bank statement, utility bill,
credit card bill, phone bill or other document that shows your current address.
If in doubt, bring as many documents with you as possible.
2. National Insurance Number. If possible, bring your NI card or a payslip that
shows your NI number.
3. Passport. If you have a current passport, I will need to know your passport
number. If possible bring it to the seminar with you.
4. Driving Licence. If you have a driving licence, I will need to know your
licence number. If possible bring both parts (paper and plastic) to the seminar
with you.
5. If you do not have all of the documents above, it may be useful if you can
bring your birth certificate to the seminar.
The first seminar will take place on Wednesday 24th November at 1400 in Room
1.64 in the Glamorgan Building.
You can get more information from our website at:
www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/sas
At this website you can complete the online application form. You may wish to wait
until after the first seminar to complete the application form. When you do complete
the form you must indicate that you are applying for the Welsh Universities Online
Course.
You might also like to visit the TDA website. The TDA fund the Scheme and provide
some details about the Scheme and careers in teaching. The website address is:
http://www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit/experienceteaching/jointhestudentassociatesscheme.a
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If you have any questions about the Scheme, please direct them to the coordinator
who is Dr Ted Graham at the University of Plymouth. He can be contacted by email
at egraham@plymouth.ac.uk or by phone on 01752 586873.