NQTS NQTS
Taking the next step
SecEd’s CPD experts Margaret Adams and Dot
Struthers have put their heads together to offer
crucial advice for NQTs who are preparing to start their
second year at the chalkface in September. They look
at what to expect, what key questions you should be
asking, and focus on career development. They also
offer some more general advice
Time for a change
ow many times over the last workload challenges, even with your lighter teaching
H
year have you told someone commitment, you know you will need to give
you are an nQT? How many the issue of how you manage your work serious
times have people in school consideration in September.
referred to you as an nQT? you will have to develop a strategy to help
as you have used the term, you to keep on top of your workload. Think about
have you given much thought prioritising and what you can, and cannot, fit into
to what it means? your day. a little practice now will serve you well
The initials nQT convey a lot of meaning to in the autumn.
people who understand the educational world. If
you say you are an nQT, this statement defines you
Are you building your support network?
as a newcomer to teaching, someone who is just nQTs have a habit of sticking together. They share
starting out in the profession. each other’s successes. They share horror stories.
The term also suggests that you are probably They give each other support on difficult days. It is
someone with a lighter timetable than more all part of the learning process that new teachers go
experienced teachers. It often indicates that you through.
have access to a mentor and other forms of support, That ready-made peer support network is
such as nQT meetings and CPD specifically geared about to dissolve. you may form friendships with
to your needs. In short, being an nQT sets you apart individual nQTs that will last beyond your first year
from other teachers. in teaching, but you are unlikely to find bands of
That is about to change. you will not be an nQT ex-nQTs holding meetings in school or working on
for much longer. problems together in their second and third years in
Have you thought about how you are going to the profession.
deal with your change of status and the implications next year, who will you talk to about your life
of those changes in your teaching role? If you have in teaching?
not, perhaps now is the time to do so. you will need to develop your support network.
you will need to draw to you a group of people with
Who will be your mentor?
whom you can talk comfortably about your life
Every one needs guidance and every one needs to as a teacher. you will need to create a network in
find experts who can help them to build their skills which you both give support to others and receive
in areas where they need to develop further. it yourself.
From the most experienced professional to the Do you have any ideas about how to start building
newest recruit, every teacher needs advice and this network? make some time now to think about
helpful hints on some aspect of the job from your answer before the summer holiday arrives.
someone who is recognised as an expert in that
field.
What will your colleagues expect of you?
as an nQT, thus far, this sort of support has been more, is the short answer. However difficult or easy
What comes next?
built into your timetable. you have almost certainly you have found your nQT year, more experienced
had a mentor. you have almost certainly had access teachers will agree that you have had an easier time
to someone whose job it has been to give you than the typical teacher this year. ou have just about reached the end Remember that while you have been employed to
support, to answer your questions, or to make sure as you move into your second year, you will fulfil the responsibilities of a particular role, there is
you locate additional guidance when you needed it. be expected to carry the same workload and always some scope for a teacher’s personal preferences
From now on, you will decide for yourself when responsibilities as others. you will be expected to to be taken into account when individual timetables are
you need extra guidance. you will also need to cope with crises and problems as effectively as other prepared.
find your own mentors. you will need to be honest experienced teachers do. ask yourself what you like doing, what you want to
with yourself about where you will benefit from Think about how you will respond to these y
of your first year in teaching. you
are probably starting to think about
putting your teaching notes away
and looking forward to the days
when you will not need to set your
alarm clock. do more of, and what you have not had the chance to do
support. expectations. Be prepared to consider if you will Tempting as it is to think about the summer holiday, this year, but would like to do next year.
Take the time to look around you in school for need to change your approach to how you deal it is probably a good idea to push such thoughts to the no-one knows as much about your enthusiasms and
the people who are good at the things you need to with the unexpected. will you need to become back of your mind – just for a little while. your interests as you do, so unless you tell the people
learn more about. when you find them, ask how more self-resilient? will you need to spend more now is the time to look ahead to your second year who organise your work about your interests, you are
they achieve their particular successes. ask for time anticipating what might happen in a difficult in teaching, because this is the point in the year when unlikely to find yourself with the sort of timetable you
recommendations of resources to use and books to situation, and how you intend to resolve it? things in school are changing. new timetables are being really want.
read. ask them for their views on how you might as you look forward to your next year in teaching, drawn up. Projects are being planned and resourced. Do not just think about your subject. Seek out the
improve your practice. remember that losing the nQT label is an important Responsibilities are being reshaped and re-allocated. people who are setting up whole-school projects that
accept that, once you have lost your nQT status, step in your career. The label you create, or the one you need to think about what you would like your you would be interested in working on. Tell them you
you will be asking for a favour when you ask for that you accept from other people next year, will be job to look like next year, and how you would like your want to be involved. Find out which aspects of your
guidance, so be prepared to wait for help until the even more important. That label will start to define second year in teaching to progress, so that you know school’s work are being re-organised. ask the relevant
person you have approached has time to allocate who you are as a teacher, and it will be more difficult which opportunities to seek, or to accept. leaders how you could get involved in those new
to you. to put aside than the nQT label. It is a good idea to do this before you think about programmes.
Therefore, while it is time for a change, and you winding down at the end of term. By the time the If you are proactive, and if you start to let school
How will you manage your workload?
are ready to relinquish your nQT status, think about summer term ends, most of the planning for September leaders know where your enthusiasm lies, you are
Dealing with workload is an issue that challenges how you want people to view you in the future. Be will be complete and the opportunities to shape the likely to find this is taken into account when the tasks
every teacher. There is always more to do than ready in September to start to promote your new coming year will have gone. and responsibilities for the coming year are allocated.
there are hours in the day. as a result, it is easy to image and your new identity. as a result you will have a timetable you will enjoy
allow the job to overwhelm you and to take over
What sort of timetable would you like?
teaching.
your life. • Margaret Adams is the author of How To Take your timetable in your first year was probably given to
you have probably had the luxury of a reduced Charge of your Teaching Career (Continuum you, and you had very little opportunity to influence its
Are you ready to specialise?
timetable this year. If you have experienced International Publishing, 2008). composition. you will have more opportunity to shape Every school has its experts and specialists. There are
your timetable in your second year in teaching. people who are special needs experts, for example.
20 SecEd • June 25 2009
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