(from the book’s front matter)
‘Virna, would you like to join a new teacher “training” course we offer?’ my manager asked me. I said, ‘Sure, I am all for it’. That was the year 2003. I was working in an FE College in London and I undertook the PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Further and Higher Education, a qualifica-tion that was still relatively new and evolving at that time. For me, it was a pivotal experience, opening my eyes to the world of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), something I hadn’t encountered before. Among others, I vividly remember exploring the works of Sally Brown and Phil Race, whose ideas around assessment deeply influenced my early thinking and practices. The PGCert turned out to be much more than a certificate for me. I found it so transformational that, on completion, I asked my PGCert tutor whether I could be involved in running the course, to which she agreed and that’s how I got involved in teacher education. Fast-forward to today and, having been involved in supporting or leading the PGCert provision in various institutions for roughly two decades, I find myself writing this book about the PGCert, with contributions from those same influential figures. It feels like a full-circle moment, but perhaps it is more like a spiral that continues to evolve. My hope is that this book will keep that spiral going, inspiring the next wave of PGCert leaders, practitioners and participants as they shape the future of staff development and education.
Who this book is for
This book, Designing Impactful PGCert in Higher Education Courses: A Practical Guide, is aimed at anyone involved in the creation, delivery, or evaluation of PGCert courses in higher education and is focused on actionable approaches you can adapt in your context.
The main readership for this book is PGCert leads, teams, practitioners and/or conveners.
It will also be useful to:
- educational developers, academic developers, staff developers, learning developers or other teacher educators
- other practitioners or professionals in the ‘third space’
- Quality and accreditation teams as well as PGCert External Examiners
- researchers or scholars in staff development taught provisions
- teaching and learning deans or directors
This is not a publication aimed at PGCert cohorts (a sort of PGCert text-book), though participants and mentors will find it a useful primer on how these courses are designed and why they matter.
Whether you are new to the PGCert provision or have years or decades of experience, this book has something for everyone, something to think about and hopefully something to try out. It is a resource deliberately oriented to practice which showcases a wide variety of learning design responses from diverse contexts while remaining grounded in commitments to scholarly and inclusive practice.
A note on terminology
Throughout this book, I will use the term ‘PGCert’ to refer to taught Post-graduate Certificate courses designed for Higher Education professionals to develop their educational practices. These cohort-based, staff development (taught) courses typically take one to two years to complete and are offered to in-service staff. They are courses to professionalise and certify practitioners and although they are not a legal requirement, they are usually institutional and sector requirements.
While ‘PGCert’ is a widely used term, variants include PgCAP, PGCLTHE, PGCHE and related titles; for the purposes of this book I treat these as equivalent unless distinctions matter. Where equivalent staff-development certificates exist outside the UK, I use ‘PGCert’ as an umbrella term unless a local distinction is important and explicitly noted. Regardless of the title, these courses share a common purpose: to enhance teaching and learning in higher education through structured, collaborative and reflective development. The principles and practices discussed in this book apply broadly to all such taught courses, regardless of their specific designation. I use ‘course’ to refer to the entire PGCert provision. While some institutions use ‘programme’ (UK) or ‘program’ (US/Aus), I use ‘course’ consistently in this book for clarity.
PGCerts are different from PGCE courses (in the UK) because the latter are for the compulsory education sector (Primary and Secondary schools) for teachers to achieve the compulsory ‘qualified teacher status’ (QTS) to be practitioners in schools.
A PGCert is also not the same as achieving a Fellowship of Advance HE (FHEA) although many PGCerts are aligned to or accredited by Advance HE so that participants can achieve both the qualification and Fellowship concurrently (see Chapter 8 for details).
To keep terminology consistent, I use three role labels throughout: ‘PGCert leads’, ‘PGCert practitioners’ and ‘participants’. PGCert leads typically take overarching responsibility for shaping the curriculum, coordinating the team and ensuring the course aligns with institutional and sector priorities. PGCert practitioners are those who directly facilitate learning, mentor participants and contribute to the day-to-day delivery of the course. I use ‘participants’ rather than ‘students’ to signal the collegial, agentic relationship typical of PGCert cohorts. In smaller institutions, one person may fulfil both lead and practitioner roles; in larger organisations, PGCert staff often sit within a central teaching and learning or staff-development unit and work alongside colleagues who provide related provision. I also use ‘third space’ to refer to hybrid professional roles that span academic and professional functions. While the PGCert is typically an academic development course, its broader scope leads me to primarily use the term educational development throughout this book, with academic development used on occasion.
I will use ‘us’ and ‘we’ to include myself with the main readership of the book: PGCert leads and practitioners.
Language evolves and any missteps in terminology are mine. Please contact me via LinkedIn or by email to suggest improvements.
Citation
Rossi, V. (2026) Designing Impactful PGCert in Higher Education Courses – A Practical Guide for Staff Development. London: Routledge