Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com I was recently in a conversation with a beginning teacher who told me about an interview question they had been posed. Then they laid down a challenge: “I’m interested what you would have said”. The interview question was interesting, and not one I’d heard before: What three substantive historical … Continue reading Tough teaching interviews: reflections on intentions and impacts
Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked the question ‘should I apply for this job?’ both by beginning teachers and more experienced teachers looking for a promotion post. It has led me to wonder why so many seemed consumed by this question, by a fear of making the … Continue reading To apply or not to apply – that is the question.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com I didn’t intend to become a teacher. I knew I wanted a career which was, to my youthful judgement, ‘socially responsible’. I knew I liked people, although I wasn’t 100% sure about young children. For personal reasons I needed to stay living in my university town. I also knew I … Continue reading Unintentional Teachers: Looking beyond vocation to attract people into the teaching profession
Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com During her first placement Tina proved to be a good teacher in the making. She has sound ideas about what she wants to achieve in the classroom, is organised and a great team player. She was quick out of the blocks at the start of the course and really … Continue reading Teflon Tina: How to support a beginning teacher struggling to act on advice
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com The pandemic has demonstrated the strength and versatility of cooperation and collaboration in our ITE partnership. This has been shown through the support and flexibility of our school partners joining with us to train beginning teachers, and through the ways in which the University PGCE has worked to develop … Continue reading An Ode to our History ITE Mentors: A journey into training to be a teacher virtually, Part 3
Around this time last year I wrote about how beginning teachers could make the most of their final weeks as PGCE students in the classroom. This year, they do not have classrooms, they only have the virtual PGCE programme to prepare them for NQT in the absence of critical practical experience. I asserted previously that … Continue reading Supporting your new NQT colleague to THRIVE amidst a global pandemic
Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com The last month has brought changes to our world that none of us could have envisaged when we set off in September on the endeavour of training beginning teachers. Our minds were preoccupied with the usual concerns – how do we move students through the plateau, how do … Continue reading Becoming a teacher, virtually
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Edward was a quiet, some might say timid, chap. When he started his teacher training it was hard to imagine him standing in front of a hardened year 8 class, let alone 'managing' them during a wet and windy Friday period 5. Edward was great when working with pupils one … Continue reading Creation not Emulation: Developing teacher persona
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com One of our history ITE mentors likes to talk about the way she and I often perform a ‘pincer movement’ on the beginning teachers we share. This sounds much more aggressive than the reality! Our ‘pincer movement’ most often involves both of us praising the student for the same achievement … Continue reading The Power of Partnership in Initial Teacher Education
As we pop into school in the next two weeks for results days, it's worth giving a thought to how we can support new colleagues (whether NQTs or more experienced teachers) joining our departments and schools in the new academic year. How can effective mentoring and induction support them and benefit your department?
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com Fernando is a new mentor. He is enthusiastic and keen to be supportive and to work with the university based tutor. He is also realistic, and has taken time to understand his mentee and their needs and to become the ‘critical friend’ discussed previously in another post: Matey Mentor . … Continue reading A Tale of Two Mentors: Mentoring with perspective
Considering how we approach reference writing for those at the beginning of their teaching career
Becoming a History Teacher 