Your Login Name could be your email address or a custom Login Name. Getting an NQT job on my first job interview was a pivotal moment. Starting on a blank every week is a struggle…….. Wow, I’m shocked reading all these comments. Shortly before the start of the summer term I was asked ‘How do you feel about the 80% teaching load?’  A fair question, but I think I coped better than expected. His course finished in July and he still hasn’t got a job, despite having had several interviews and doing quite well in them according to feedback, the job always went to the teachers with years of experience that were also interviewed. I’m now taking books home to mark which means after getting home at 5.30/6pm I need to evaluate my lessons and mark work, spend some time with my 12 year old son and eat .my hissed is very supportive but also works. My head is spinning. I have now reapplied to do Early Years at a different University- but I am nervous that the same thing will happen. Have 15 yes teaching experience but lack of pgce/NQT limiting my school choices. Good luck, and I’d love to hear what you decide to do. I’m waving a warning flag. I also liked the academic focus of being university based and appreciated the gradual immersion into the classroom. Complicating factor is I’ve recently become a single Mum of 5 (all under 9). What is School Direct (salaried) funding. I never have planning time with my teacher and are literally given a plank template and told to plan what I like as long as it covers the learning objectives of the national curriculum. This year, this level of work has failed once again to result in a pay rise commensurate to the workload . In my teaching, was starting to find my own style, and my own voice, experimenting with some more creative ideas of my own: Although forewarned is forearmed and this blog certainly adds value from that perspective. Thanks. Don’t dwell on your workload. I don’t think I should quit because of one or two mentors that have made me feel inadequate. Hope all are currently enjoying jobs, in or outside of teaching. JavaScript for Mobile Safari is currently turned off. I, like you had very little experience and am in the process of wanting to quit the course. It will be better next year. Please can you shed some light, do you think I will get through it and if so and advice? Great post – thank you. Yes Year 9 give me alot of grief (probably more than year 2 would i hope!) I’m 43 and about to apply for art and design School Direct Salaried.I’ve not had a creative career apart from the odd private job even though I have a degree in Textile Design so for me this will be a challenge as it’ll be a very different beast to teach compared to English grammar. Whilst I know you cannot give me an answer on what I should do, I’m glad that there are other people who have felt a similar way to myself. I could do the occasional 70-hour week but I will not do that as a matter of course. Both routes lead to qualified teacher status and are followed by a probation year and cover the same key standards. Hi M, sorry to hear your story. I don’t believe that teaching Early Years will be any easier – although I have heard there is less marking and that your subject knowledge does not need to be so in depth. Teacher Andrew Jones offers his advice to new recruits about postgraduate routes into teaching, Last modified on Tue 20 Jan 2015 10.35 GMT. I’ve just retracted two applications, which would involve further travel. Hi Nick. Reading up, I think it’s widely acknowledged that training providers/ schools vary in their ability to train people effectively. Second School Experience. I got a sense of the possible joys of teaching by bringing my knowledge and experience into a cross-curricular morning of history, maths, ICT and a dash of PSHE. We did binary maths, we broke and made codes. Qualified (and even newly-qualified) teachers will breezily say ‘oh find a nice activity or game’ and the student then spends a whole evening scouring the TES web site for things, none of which quite fit the learning intention you had in mind. She told me that I was teaching the children far too many misconceptions, and as a result terminated my placement. Oh my goodness – I hear you, and you have my sympathies. This level of work is not improving schools, but it is wrecking lives. But reading from the comments and the post it self, i see that there is a requirement for experience in teaching, in which i have none. Well, I could not have applied, I suppose, but the reason I did was that I couldn’t afford to do a PGCE. SD is a tough year and, in my experience, the NQT year a lot tougher. 1) The School Direct Training Programme, which is open to all graduates and funded by tuition fees paid by the trainee, who may receive a bursary from the Teaching Agency (TA). I want my life back…, Thanks Mike – I agree with everything you say. However, low and behold the very same thing happened! School Direct (salaried) Similar to the Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship, you'll have the opportunity to earn a salary and train to become a qualified teacher – learning from experienced teachers. Normally Scratch is only taught – even by the experts – to upper KS2, but my experience of teaching it in Year 3 made me think that it was worth a go in Year 2. Interesting, a lot of people have said that. If yes, please contact me at zoephiland@gmail.com, Hello, How are they coping? However, the reality is more complex than this. I worked full time for 4 years and wanted to be a teacher to make a difference. There may not be enough jobs for all School Direct trainees in your school, but if they like you I think you’d be encouraged to apply for one. Much of the paperwork was adapted (or not) from the GTP, and was insanely repetitive. I’ve got a BA and an MA and have worked as a private tutor for 5 years. Good luck making your choices and I hope everything works out for what’s best for you. Both routes allow you to work in our partnership schools as a member of the school team and learn your skills from … I’m not surprised. Hi Catherine – thank you for taking the trouble to write. So sorry to read your experiences. Hello. Hopefully i will remain as positive at the end of the course as i am in the first week, though i must admit i was a little surprised to be thrown in to a classroom on my own straight away. Thank you for sharing your cautionary tale. Thank you for your reply! 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities were surveyed and asked how many hours of homework they had each night. Once a candidate fulfils all the basic criteria, with School Direct there’s more leeway for schools to appoint a trainee of their choice. I also have loads of uni work to do ( assignments etc). I also get the impression there is lesson plans already made up which the whole department use and a scheme of work that I’ve already be sent – but is this enough to make it do-able? My mentor is supportive but very particular and although I was a school nurse and taught EFL for the last 10 years combined nothing could prepare for this!! You’ll earn a salary while you train towards your Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) recommendation, and won’t need to pay any tuition fees. We work with a number of primary and secondary schools in Greater Manchester to offer our trainees the School Direct route into teaching. I have a young family (2 kids under 2) and an outstanding wife for support. Whichever salaried course you choose, both will help you to develop your skills to become a highly effective qualified teacher. My next challenge is to work out how to make all my lessons fall into the former category. Get your PPA time nailed down. You can apply to up to three different alliances 2. these stories are quite scary!! Many PGCE students have to take out additional student loans, however. You sound like a brilliant teacher – and I admire your tenacity. The sad thing is that I actually enjoy teaching and working with children. Clearly, fixed whole days are likely to be more productive. When I ask children to work independently they struggle and before long the classroom is noisey and most are off task. I’m currently on the SD primary route and very close to throwing in the towel! I suspect this will take the rest of my teaching career, through a process of continuing reflection and learning, striving to improve my subject knowledge and pedagogy. The school is in charge. wishing you all well however. I don’t. After qualifying I was unable to get a job anyway, I could not afford to do supply because I need the security of a regular wage. I broke down after the lesson and cried and cried when my mentor left, wanted to turn it around so badly but it wasn’t working out. Hi Isabella – this sounds shocking. It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever done and I’m late 40′s with more than average resilience in all the things I’ve done in my life. School Direct at Turton is an innovative, school led Initial Teacher-Training programme, based in Bolton, North West England, designed and formed through a strategic partnership between Turton School, Egerton Community Primary School and our alliance partners. Sorry it’s can’t afford to do pgce in my last comment *. I personally love planning computing or English lessons, that seems like fun to me, whereas with other subjects it can seem like a chore. I’m concerned that I will fall short of the classroom experience, especially as it’s already January and my application will need to be sent off in a matter of months! The day to day contact with kids is amazing, and the reason we all want to do this, but when the children go home at 3.30, you literally start your working day again! I have no issue at all with this. will you be planning and working with another teacher? I do wonder if I may have been better suited to secondary teaching. There are elements highlighted in the book which clearly resonate with my personal experience and other areas which I have no experience with at all. Somehow, I did. I think if you can possibly afford to do a PGCE, that will provide you with a solid basis for becoming a teacher. Days before I went my Year 9 class stole memory sticks from me (if you didn’t laugh by this stage you’d have cried) and a Year 10 student said to my mentor “he isn’t in control of the class is he ?”. Behaviour management was also my weak spot, and it’s a tough one to crack – it took time, experience and general gaining of confidence for me. I awoke last night after only 2 hours sleep (and I was so tired) and I had a melt down. This is about broadening horizons, thinking ahead not just to KS2, but to secondary school and beyond, giving children more career choices. If not, still time to think about the options. I’ve been up.past midnight regularly, sometimes as late as 3am trying to produce LPs on my own (my mentor is great but has even less time than I do). Some of the stories I heard from other younger students were shocking and some schools seem to cultivate a culture of fear amongst staff. Mine are 7 and 5 now. I met a tree surgeon. To those who made the primary choice, i do wonder if secondary may have been a better option. For 25 quid therefore I would strongly recommend. You will need it for your standards folder. One teacher said she does a 70-hour week. But some people on my course loved SD. Hi, I had to think carefully about where to position myself (and the children) so I could be heard. ‘Light touch’ management certainly helps, along with teaching a subject you love. Any advice for someone who is feeling the pressure would be much appreciated. Secondary may have been a better choice for me, as I could then have specialised in a subject I love like Computing. Good luck, and let us know what you do. I’m currently on SD primary route (east midlands) as a 43 year old mature student. I just dont know if I will be able to cope with the work load especially as my youngest child will only be 3 years old. For anyone else: yes, but a few things to consider: This is an expanded version of a presentation I gave as part of my final assessment, and in a staff meeting to colleagues. The school keeps coming up with these support plans which have just made everything more stressful. If I didn’t have a young family I’d be there like a shot, but sadly it’s a career that doesn’t seem compatible with family life these days! Although this is reminding me of entering the world of parenting, wondering how hard it could be, despite everybody telling me it was the hardest thing you’ll ever do. How your NQT year goes depends to a huge extent on how much support you get in your school. It’s so frustrating to feel like this as I have been told I’m good at what I do (I’ve not had an observation at less than good overall the entire year) but I can certainly see why the attrition rate is so high. Thank you Mrs W – I know I can’t really advise you what to do, but if I had the chance to return to my old job at an increased salary I would take it! He is now left with the difficulty of completing his NQT year doing supply teaching, which unless he gets blocks of 3 months employment at a time which is highly unlikely it is virtually impossible to do this. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences includes, alongside linguistic, musical, logical, spatial, kinesthetic and so on, one that is often overlooked: naturalist intelligence – this is to do with having an affinity with the natural world, living things and ecosystems. Can anyone please advise? I faced many challenges, but perhaps the greatest was, to mix metaphors, the juggling act required to know which hat I was wearing at any given time: teacher, student and teaching assistant; finding the time for everything I had to do for college as well as starting to plan and teach my own lessons, ensure that my class teacher felt supported and be a parent to three school age children. It’s easier now, but it was only in the summer term I found I could plan a lesson in anything that was much faster than real time. Just a final point. I do wonder how many other trainees are being given false hope and taken on in schools were vacancies simply don’t come up that often. 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