Journalism Training Foundation Syllabus

At the end of the course, delegates sit NCTJ preliminary exams in Shorthand, News Writing Law and Public Affairs. They will have the chance to apply for jobs in the media during the course. Over the past 10 years no one who has successfully completed the course has failed to be offered a job in newspapers.

>> Find out what some of our past trainees thought of the courses

The culture on the Newcastle course

Paul Jones, Head of Foundation Course Training, explains the culture on the Newcastle course.

The training course aims to expose trainees to the real world of newspapers and other media in a professional newsroom environment.

The course equips them with the core skills essential to any trainee journalist: Law, Public Affairs and Shorthand, all of which they are required to pass an examination in within the 16 weeks they are in Newcastle.

Trainees also undergo extensive instruction in skills they will need in the newsroom: writing, interviewing, newsgathering and knowledge of how media work.

They also learn about other aspects of newspapers and website publishing, including marketing, sales and advertising.

The course attracts visiting speakers who are the leaders in their field who pass on their extensive knowledge and expertise.

The course is an intense, practical introduction to what it is like to be a reporter in a regional news business. The Trainees' writing skills are developed by the use of presentations followed by exercises and then copy clinics where their work is analysed in detail.

The centre has a fully equipped newsroom with Internet access, satellite TV and an electronic library. Because the centre is based within a working media business, the trainees are able to play a full part in the operation of the titles by contributing stories, attending news conferences and, at times, working alongside senior reporters.

After five weeks on the course each trainee is assigned a patch of the city, where they will go out and dig up news stories which can be used in the centre's titles. Trainees have an excellent track record of providing splashes, features and news stories of the highest calibre for the Newcastle titles during their time on the course.

The centre maintains excellent links with a number of external organizations in the Tyneside area that contribute to the experience of the trainees while they attend the course.

The Police, Fire Service and Newcastle Airport have granted access to their offices and emergency exercises, which the trainees have reported as if they were real events.

It is the intensely practical emphasis and the link to the publications in Newcastle, which sets the course apart. That, and the fact that Newcastle is one of the liveliest cities in the UK in which to live and work.

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