Nothing quite prepares you for the feeling of being in, but not of, the school where you on Teaching Practice Placement. But for the majority of beginning teachers this is the reality. So many aspects of the placement school are familiar, but you have entered a new ecosystem with its own ways of being and doing things that are somewhat peculiar. It’s a feeling I’ve often compared to being on an extended stay at your Auntie’s house.
The guest in residence
In your own home, you know where everything is. You have ownership and autonomy. You can leave your mug on the side, your books stacked messily, and only you will complain. You’re not just resident; you are the owner of the space and its rhythms.
Placement, however, is a classic ‘Auntie’s House’ scenario.
The school is not your own. You may be teaching five hours of lessons a day, sitting in department meetings, and drinking copious amounts of questionable instant coffee in the staffroom, yet you remain, fundamentally, a guest in residence. You’re given a temporary desk space, a lanyard, and access to the shared drive—but the true control over curriculum sequencing, the departmental resource bank, and the deeply ingrained routines belongs to the ‘family.’
You have to learn where the spare towels are kept, which knife is safe to use, and when the best time is to put a wash on. In school terms, this means deciphering the unspoken rules: where to photocopy without causing a bottleneck, which staff member you report a behaviour incident to, where it’s ok to sit in the staff room and the correct departmental jargon for a Year 9 source analysis task.
Being on your best behaviour
When you stay at your Auntie’s house, they genuinely want you to relax and ‘make yourself at home’ by eating with them and settling down for Strictly or Gogglebox on Saturday night. In school, your host department will invite you to the department meetings, the school trip planning, the CPD sessions. They want you to behave ‘as if’ you are part of the family, and you sincerely want to oblige.
But you can’t. Not really.
You are acutely aware that you are on your best behaviour. In the analogy, you know that your Auntie needs to get out for work by 7:20am, so you make sure you don’t head into the bathroom for a shower at 7am. You recognise your Auntie is making an extra effort to cook meals that meet your dietary requirements, so you make sure to say thank you and offer to do the washing up. So too in your school placement. You recognise your mentor is handing over their class to your care, so you need to make sure you plan lessons and get them handed in to your mentor by the agreed deadline. You make sure you communicate effectively and that your interaction with every staff member—from the Headteacher to the office staff—is flawlessly professional. Even if you don’t feel like a fully-fledged teacher, you recognise the basic requirement is to adopt professional behaviours as a necessary stage of your development and integration into this new placement setting.
For some beginning teachers though, being on their best behaviour can all feel a bit much. Like they are pretending and putting on a performance. Shouldn’t everyone just accept them as they are?
Acknowledging the host’s generosity
Your Auntie has no obligation to have you as their house guest. So too, the school, your mentor, and your host department are taking on additional workload and responsibility to facilitate your growth. Their investment of time and expertise is a gift to the ongoing health and development of the profession.
Once you grasp this you are better placed to understand why showing up, being receptive to feedback, and demonstrating that you are a worthy recipient of their time makes such a difference to your developing professional relationships. It means that when you make a mistake, forget to wipe the side or break a plate (your lesson goes badly or you forget to do the photocopying in advance), you will be given the benefit of the doubt, a smile and a fresh start.
Being a ‘good guest’ is a way of acknowledging you recognise you now have professional responsibilities and can be relied upon to fulfil them.
Settling into placement
While it may not feel like your own comfortable, messy home, your Auntie’s house is a crucial space for learning more about your own identity and the kind of home you yourself want to create. Similarly, school placements provide an opportunity to form your teacher identity and understand the kind of schools in which you will feel comfortable and thrive. So, embrace being a house guest. Observe and internalise the ‘unwritten rules.’ Take note of the routines, because one day soon, the suitcase will be unpacked for good, and you will be Auntie welcoming your own house guest to stay.
Further reading:
McCaw, C. T. (2020). Liminality and the beginning teacher: strangers, frauds and dancing in the disequilibrium. Cambridge Journal of Education, 51(3), 395–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2020.1844150
Becoming a History Teacher 