Tough Young Teachers

Well said Tegan! I now wonder how many students that I taught over the years, had weapons concealed about them! I reflect back on several difficult encounters with teenage students and thank goodness that I have retired, I would not like to be starting out again. Those who face all sorts of daily challenges at the chalk face deserve respect. X

Here in France the holidays are staggered and there are three lots of holiday dates - they are done by area and therefore all the children in a family should be on holiday a the same time.

In each news bulletin I have heard they have said that the changes will benefit teachers as they will be less tired and stressed. I do think there are some good teachers. I also feel for parents with children in two or three different schools trying to work and cover three sets of different holidays and no chance of holidays together unless they pay fines! The whole idea is ridiculous

I think the change in holidays is supposed to be for the benefit of the pupils. Anyone who knocks teachers should be made to spend a week in an inner city school imo.

Are these the same teachers who will now have holidays spread throughout the year so they do not get too tired!

I have met this,but mainly at university. My law lecturer in my first year at Uni had every academic qualification, accreditation possible, he was recognised as pre-eminent in his field but by the time I knew him, the only exam course he still taught was in the Economics Department. After a major catastrophe in my year, when most of us failed because so many of the questions on the exam paper referred to topics that he had never managed to cover in his teaching, he was relegated to only teaching 'law for engineers' (a non-exam course).

I had a similar lecturer on another course some years later. Fortunately his subject formed only part of an exam paper so I just avoided his section.

Unfortunately in-depth knowledge of a subject and high intelligence do not mean that you can teach well.

www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/05/maths-physics-teachers-george-osborne-school

Anyone else read this? Osborne's idea this time, not Gove's.

I think that what the teacher trainees need help with is crowd control in the current climate. And strategies to encourage learning. One of the biggest eye-openers for these keen youngsters was that most of the children in the classes we were shown were not interested in learning anything.

That's something the courses should be picking up FlicketyB. My social work training course over 30 years ago had 50 students, two of that group were failed. Their academic work was good, they failed their practice placements. Some teachers/social workers have excellent academic skills, but lack what are sometimes called soft people skills. "Soft", says so much about our value systems doesn't it

DM & DMiL were both untrained teachers. Both were considered to be outstanding teachers by school inspectors, Head Teachers and in MiL's case, the local teachers training college, who always specified that trainee teachers in her school should spend some time with her.

I am not advocating a return to untrained teachers, but I think there is far too much emphasis on training making good teachers, it doesn't, it may make teachers better teachers, but I think all of us have had experience of teachers whose academic qualifications and knowledge are superb but whose teaching abilities, despite training are really poor.

I totally agree with you Mishap it is quite frightening to see first hand what a mess our Education system is.

Gosh that sounds grim. Teaching is such an important and challenging profession that I think trainees should gt all the support and encouragement that can be mustered.

On the job teacher training has it's drawbacks too. My DD had several successful terms as a supply teacher in challenging schools so decided to train 'on-the-job'. after much conflicting advice from the Teacher training Agency, she found a placement, linked to a nearby University, as a dance teacher with an inner city school with challenging pupils. In this situation you really are thrown in at the deep end. The support from the school & University were appalling. She had to resort to the school Union rep on so many occasions because they broke the rules for trainees-e.g. she had 16 trips between sites instead of the max of 7, had to clear dinner tables so she could use the hall. They even made her take on Head of Dept duties and supervise PGCE trainees. Near the end of her year, the University decided she should have done PE as well as dance & said she needed to do another year. She said the school took part in so many Govt 'initiatives' they never had time to teach the normal curriculum. The preparation of lessons & reflection work afterwards was relentless at a time when a lot was going on in her personal life. One day she blew up & lost all confidence - & then had to take on the bullying from the LEA Officers & a useless NUT Officer who was meant to be acting on her behalf.

Not a good idea to spam the forums, Pearsons. It tends to have the opposite effect to what you want.

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Grannyactivist - yes, isn't it sad that the majority of applicants for TA posts are qualified teachers, who don't want to leave the classroom but have become exhausted by the paperwork/after school clubs etc. I just don't understand why anyone thinks that a brain good enough to lead to a 1st or 2.1 means the individual can become a teacher or social worker with no experience of the job. One of our daughters worked as a TA for a year, and then for a temp agency as a TA whilst completing her pgtc. During the period I managed a busy social work team, I was lucky to have bright young graduates who came straight in from qualifying, working alongside people who had the sw qualification but had been engineers, hair dressers, admin assistants, sailors, etc etc. Life experience, as well as work experience is what underpins so many good teachers or social workers. The idea of throwing a young maths grad into teaching sex education within weeks of starting the Teach First scheme - well, so unfair to him and to the pupils.

Yes, GA. She has an MA as well as a BA in psychology. But she had to learn the hassle of the total teaching load before she decided that it was too much with two children, one with autism, to look after.

durhamjen the last time (as a school governor) we interviewed for TA posts the overwhelming majority of applicants were trained teachers who wanted to be in the classroom, but just didn't want any hassle. Higher level TA's are now regularly teaching and running after school clubs, but their pay is less than that of a domestic cleaner.

A similar scheme for SWs - heaven help us!

I'm not convinced they could have had lucrative careers elsewhere. After all, we have discussed many times on here the difficulty graduates face finding employment now there are so many of them. Don't get me wrong, I do admire these young people's nerve and think they probably are going into this with good intentions. I'm not convinced that all of them see teaching as a long term career though. I've only heard Meryl (?) actually say that. Some of the participants (not just on the TV programme) may just see it as worth a shot, and good on their CV.

They have introduced a similar scheme for social workers. Heaven help them.

My son's partner did that, GA. After doing one year part time as an NQT after her PGCE, she is now happily back as a TA, knowing that when she goes home, she can spend time with her family, instead of all the extra stuff that TAs do not have to do.

I too admired their commitment to doing something worthwhile, particularly as they mostly come from privileged backgrounds (one very privileged indeed!). I just worry that they are being sold short when it comes to proper support and professional advice.

My daughter in law has a good degree and has worked for two years as a TA; on Tuesday she has an interview for a place on a PGCE course. Because of her work as a TA she has a good understanding of classroom dynamics, of the paperwork involved, and of the stresses and strains that a teacher's life entails. Her school is an academy, has an 'outstanding' Ofsted report and is a centre of excellence; so she has experience of seeing good teachers and good lessons - all underpinned by planning and preparation. All of that will stand her in good stead when it comes to her own experience in the classroom.
I do feel very sorry for these Teach First graduates who are plunged into inner city schools with such a paucity of experience. And yet, it's not hard to see that some of them are 'born' teachers, the geography teacher being one, who are able to hit the ground running. I also admire the fact that these young people could have had lucrative careers elsewhere and their reasoning for joining Teach First is to make a difference in society.

The geog teacher is indeed good - but is this because she is a "born teacher" and has the right instincts; or is it the result of good support and mentoring?

It is always difficult to decide whether what you see on a TV programme has been edited to fit an agenda, but it certainly comes across as though the input from the mentors is judgemental rather than supportive.

It looks as though Teach First sees the programme as a reasonable reflection of what goes on, as they plug it a lot on their website - which surprised me, as it would put me right off to be honest!

They need to start with shared teaching, and acting as a TA, so that they can watch and learn and discuss with the experienced teacher afterwards what they have seen that works well and then they can look at why and how.

Some of them are seriously floundering and are not serving these already disadvantaged children well.

I am not judging these young people - there is no way I could cope with a class of unruly reluctant learners.