You don’t need it, but it helps: Why Teacher Training applicants find work experience helpful

Throughout my time in ITE (Initial Teacher Education) one aspect of the interview process has remained the same – that moment when the candidates smile from their eyes as they speak fondly of a teacher who made a difference in their life. These teachers inspired them to study a particular subject or bolstered their confidence and made the student sat before me feel seen and valued. It is always a wonderful moment. A genuine reflection of the value teachers add to individuals and to our whole society. While this will not be the experience of all prospective beginning teachers, it is often a key motivator for applicants seeking to enter the profession. There is so much to celebrate in this, but it is important we recognise how much it shapes the understanding of prospective teachers about schools and the teacher’s role.

Teacher Tapp recently established that 24% of teachers surveyed had not completed any work experience before beginning their ITT (Initial Teacher Training) course. This correlates with the experience of colleagues involved in interviews for ITT who, in recent years, have seen a marked increase in the number of candidates at ITT interviews who understand schools exclusively through the lens of their own experience as pupils.

Does it matter if beginning teachers have not gained work experience in a school before beginning their ITT year?

The DfE have removed the requirement for work experience (p.14), and there are some benefits to that. For example, we know that potential applicants from certain demographics are less likely to pursue work experience – quite simply they may not be in a position to undertake it. Career changers with family commitments or those from less economically affluent backgrounds without personal connections to schools, find it harder to undertake unpaid work experience. And of course we mustn’t forget the unintentional teacher who decides to make a speculative application but then goes on to find their perfect job. 

In many respects, a lack of work experience is not a problem. A few weeks’ work experience is not going to magically transform an ITT applicant into a ready-made teacher. I have worked with beginning teachers with no prior experience at all who went on to successfully navigate their training year. Equally, I have also worked with beginning teachers who have gained fairly extensive experience in school, for example as Teaching Assistant or Cover Supervisor, who soon realise that the teacher’s role was not what they thought.

However, my experience is that beginning teachers usually benefit from having spent some time in school supporting pupils (Skinner, 2022). Critically, this experience is most beneficial if gained after the point where they themselves were a school-student. Work experience in a school is helpful for prospective applicants for many reasons, including:

• Working out if the job is right for them.
• Establishing if they enjoy working with children (not in a sentimental way, but because developing relationships with children is a fundamental component of the job).
• Entering their training with a different mindset or perspective – one that understands the variety in school ethos and approach, and the work that teachers undertake ‘behind the curtain’ (Crooks, Haydn & London, 2023).
• Understanding that, while their own school experience provided a place where they felt valued and supported by the teachers who have often motivated their teacher training application, if they return in the teacher’s role it will be with the responsibility to create that environment for young people. It may feel attractive to return to an environment where you experienced safety and acceptance, but the responsibility to provide this for young people (rather than be the recipient yourself) can be an unexpected step up for some beginning teachers that has real implications for their expectations of schools as workplaces and their preparedness to assume the demands of the professional role.

That is not to say that people considering teacher training cannot get experience working with young people in other arenas. Interestingly, former swimming/ gymnastics/ cricket coaches often make a strong start to their ITT year because they are able to more quickly recognise the ‘unseen’ parts of the job involved in working with groups of children. Nevertheless, having spent time in school before starting the course is an advantage for applicants’ personal readiness – if nothing else to acclimatise to the pace of school life and to work out if they like being with children in a school environment (a very different prospect from the context of a youth club or extracurricular group setting).

Do applicants need work experience before submitting their applications for ITT?

No! Applicants do not need to have completed work experience before submitting their applications for ITT, and we realise for some it is complex to arrange and combine with the other demands of life. However, I hope I have established why it is usually in a prospective ITT applicant’s personal best interest to gain some work experience before beginning the ITT year. Ideally, we want beginning teachers to enter the profession ready and able to make the most of the opportunities that present themselves during their training year. Work experience can provide important insight that supports the process. It’s a worthwhile experience.

Help to find a work experience placement

Help with arranging school work experience can be found at the Get Into Teaching website and through their school experience portal.  Alternatively, prospective applicants should always feel welcome to contact the admissions tutor of the course to which they are intending to apply – we are always happy to advise!

And if you’re a school leader reading this, please do what you can to make work experience accessible for potential ITT applicants. We need more people to enter the profession. Work experience can be a really important step on that journey.

References

Crooks, V., Haydn, T., & London, L (2023), A Practical Guide to Mentoring Beginning History Teachers, London: Routledge. (In Press: December 2023)

Skinner, D. (2022). Applying for teacher training. In Get Set for Teacher Training (pp. 188–189). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748626205-014