Education - Working with Children with Literacy Difficulties
PGCert
Key facts
Department
This course is not available to students classed as International for fees purposes.
Overview
We have designed our PGCert Education – Working with Children with Literacy Difficulties in collaboration with the Oxfordshire Local Authority.
This course is for those who want to lead on work with children with literacy difficulties in primary and secondary schools. It is ideal for experienced teachers and graduate teaching assistants.
You will have the opportunity to:
- network with other practitioners
- access information about local jobs specialising in work in the sector.
Our School of Education combines high quality teaching, significant research and consultancy activity. We teach in collaboration with the Oxfordshire Local Authority. This reflects a long standing, ongoing partnership with the Authority and local practitioners.
The course meets the criteria for the taught elements of Associate Membership to the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA). You can apply for full AMBDA status by completing additional observed and mentored practice with a qualified AMBDA practitioner. You can organise this through the course for an additional fee.

How to apply
Entry requirements
Specific entry requirements
A degree in a relevant subject area and experience of working with children with literacy difficulties. For the associated AMBDA award (Associate Membership of the British Dyslexia Association), Qualified Teacher Status is also needed.
Please contact the Programme Administrator to register your interest.
Please also see the University's general entry requirements.
Pathways courses for EU students
We offer a range of courses to help you meet the entry requirements for your postgraduate course and also familiarise you with university life in the UK.
Take a Pre-Master's course to develop your subject knowledge, study skills and academic language level in preparation for your master's course.
If you need to improve your English language, we offer pre-sessional English language courses to help you meet the English language requirements of your chosen master’s course.
Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.
Application process
Tuition fees
Questions about fees?
Contact Student Finance on:
Tuition fees
Fees quoted are for the first year only. If you are studying a course that lasts longer than one year, your fees will increase each year.
Additional costs
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Optional costs
Additional costs | Amount (£) |
---|---|
It’s your responsibility to cover print / binding costs where coursework submission is required. Please note that a lot of the coursework is now submitted online. |
From £30 |
You may choose to purchase books to support your studies. Many books on our reading lists are available via the Library, or can be purchased secondhand. | £20-60 per book |
Accommodation fees in Brookes Letting (most do not include bills) |
£94-265 per week |
Accommodation fees in university halls (bills included, excluding laundry costs) |
£122-180 per week |
Graduation costs include tickets, gowning and photography. Gowns are not compulsory but typically students do hire robes, starting at £41. |
Typically £0-200 |
Students are responsible for their own travel to and from university for classes. BrookesBus travel is subsidised for full-time undergraduate students that are on a course with a fee of £9,250 or more, or living in an Oxford Brookes hall of residence. There is an administration fee for the production of a BrookesKey. |
From £8 |
Funding your studies
Financial support and scholarships
Featured funding opportunities available for this course.
All financial support and scholarships
Learning and assessment
To gain the Postgraduate Certificate in Education: Literacy Difficulties, you will complete a three modules.

Study modules
Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.
Learning and teaching
Our teaching methods support both the theoretical and practical elements of the course, such as the practical projects in modules 2 and 3. They include:
- lectures
- seminars
- workshops.
For each module, the course contact time is typically:
- one whole day and five evenings (approx. 24 hours contact time)
- two online discussions (approx. six hours of contact time).
Assessment
Assessment methods used on this course
Each module is assessed with a 4000 word essay or report. Assignment schedules are timed to meet your needs as a busy practitioner. Your assignments will be based on the work in your own professional context. For example, case studies of the assessment and intervention of two children.
Research
The School of Education is a thriving centre for educational research and teacher professional development.
Course Leader, Georgina Glenny, currently runs a project investigating the use of text-to-speech software to support reluctant writers in local primary and secondary schools. Students of this course have been involved with this study. Rachael Falkner, co-tutor on the course, is researching children's perspectives on assessment.
We hold two major research conferences each year - the School of Education Research Conference and the EdD Colloquium. All students are invited to attend our annual Research
Seminar Series (which attracts both internal and external speakers).
The School’s six research groups exist to encourage engagement in research, publication, conference presentations, seminars and workshops:
- Inclusion and Wellbeing
- Policy, Partnership and Leadership
- STEAM pedagogy and learning
- Humanistic Perspectives on Education
- Early Years
- Applied Linguistics
After you graduate
Career prospects
The course is organised by Oxford Brookes in partnership with Oxfordshire Local Authority and meets the criteria for the taught elements of Associate Membership to the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA).
The PGCert enables teachers to assess people for exam concessions and the AMBDA qualification is the leading quality standard for specialist work in the field.
Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been
published on the website. For more information, please visit our
changes to programmes page.