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 Ingo Joseph on Pexels.com Before I begin this blog it is important to establish that I am utterly convinced of the importance of partnership in Initial Teacher Education. Training teachers ‘outside’ the classroom environment in a purely theoretical realm is just not possible; theoretical knowledge cannot be easily interpreted by teachers into effective … Continue reading Embracing the space: A journey into training to be a teacher virtually
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 Ivan Bertolazzi on Pexels.com It is at around this point in the ITT year when many training teachers begin to get into their stride. They are no longer complete novices; they have built a familiarity with their placement setting and its rules and procedures, they are understanding how to fit into the departmental … Continue reading Moving beyond delivery: The thorny issue of competency
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com In part 1 of this blog, I provided some of the context to why it is important for beginning teachers (those engaged in ITE programmes, NQTs and RQTs), engage in the lesson planning process. In this second part I will unpack the ways in which we try to take a … Continue reading The Many Faces of Lesson Planning: Part 2 of 2
We're approaching that time in the ITE year when our students prepare to move to a new school setting for their second teaching practice. Having just settled into their placement school, having just found their feet as beginning teachers, we uproot them and transplant them into a brand new context, with different children, staff team, … Continue reading A shape-sorter understanding: Why mentees find changing teaching placements so hard
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
Photo by Nikolay Draganov on Pexels.com "Come on then, what makes someone a good PGCE student?", I was asked by a friend during the summer break. The faces of those successful beginning teachers I've supported over the past few years flashed through my mind. How do you answer that question? All of those people successful, … Continue reading Optimistic, Observant and Open: What makes a successful PGCE/ ITE student?
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 Scott Webb on Pexels.com At the start of the PGCE I use a recurring image with my students of a house under construction. I set out that our aim during the ITE year is to dig and lay the foundations upon which their teaching career (the ‘house’) will be built. This process will … Continue reading Building your house: Teaching in the Long Term
We are entering that often tricky period in the ITE year when most students know if they have done enough to meet the teacher standards and are very much in the final furlong with the finish line in view. They now face a decision - do they gallop to the finish line, driving forward, attacking … Continue reading Galloping into the final furlong: Supporting your mentee to make the most of their final weeks as a training teacher
Considering how we approach reference writing for those at the beginning of their teaching career
Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com What are the conditions required for a beginning teacher to thrive in their training year? Since writing my blog on ‘Bewildered Beryl’, I have been pondering upon the idea that ‘the student teacher needs to develop quickly a feeling of friendship with, and trust in, the mentor’, the key assertion … Continue reading Matey Mentor? Creating the right environment for our beginning teachers
Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com For Priya, whilst it didn’t feel like it at the time, Teaching Practice 1 was a time of steady progress and success. Teaching Practice 2 started well; it’s been a long term and she’s tired, but she is also grateful that her classes are mostly cooperative and seem to … Continue reading Pulling Priya through the plateau: supporting your mentee to continued progress
The first of a series looking at the different 'types' of teacher training students we may encounter, and how teacher educators can seek to support them in their development
A cup of tea and a listening ear Standing outside my son’s primary classroom this week, I observed his teacher deep in conversation over a cup of tea with a new member of staff. When the door to the classroom opened just a few minutes later, this young woman stood (with the class teacher hovering … Continue reading Helping a new PGCE Mentee to start well
Becoming a History Teacher 