NQT FOCUS NQT FOCUS
We kick off
this advice-
packed NQT
special with an
Where
encouraging word from
Margaret Adams, who
is asking you to look at
where you are now, how
are you
far you have come, and
what lies in store
T IS three months now since you became an
I
NQT. As the end of your first term in teaching
now?
draws nearer, you are probably starting to
think about how the term has gone, and if
you have achieved as much as you think you
should.
How can you work this out? How will you
know if you should be satisfied with your progress or
if you should be driving yourself harder? How will you If you have a mentor, or if you are working closely progress at about the same pace? Are you all finding and the progress you are making towards becoming a
know if you are making the right judgements about with experienced teachers, use their expectations of you broadly the same issues problematic? Measure yourself successful teacher.
your progress as an NQT? to work out what you should be able to achieve in your against their achievements and decide if you need to do That knowledge means you can now start to make
These are important questions and ones to which first term and what you should expect of yourself. more or if you are keeping up with the group. your plans about where you need to focus your efforts
you need to find answers. Listen to these people. Follow their advice. They next term. You will also be able to set yourself the
You need to know how you measure up to the know what is realistic to expect NQTs to do well.
Are you in the right place?
right sort of personal development targets, because you
demands of the job so that you are able to prepare They have seen other NQTs developing their skills Now that you have adjusted your expectations of know they are founded on realistic assessments of your
well for the rest of your NQT year. Therefore, take and broadening their experience in previous years, so yourself and your achievements, you are ready to assess achievements to date. SecEd
some time now to work out just where you are on your they know what NQTs can achieve in their early months whether you have made sufficient progress this term.
journey towards becoming a successful teacher. in teaching. Maybe you will need to work harder next term. • Margaret Adams is a former teacher and the author
Make sure you are clear about what they think you Maybe you are pleasantly surprised about how far you of How To Take Charge Of Your Teaching Career
How much have you learned?
should be able to do, and try hard to live up to their have travelled on your development journey. (Continuum International Publishing, 2008) and
As you think about your progress in teaching to date, expectations. Put in extra effort to do this, if necessary. Almost certainly, whatever the result of your review, Work-Life Balance: A Practical Guide for Teachers
remember that three months ago you did not know how Talk to your fellow NQTs, too. Are you all making you now have a much better idea of where you stand (David Fulton Publishers, 2006).
your school functions. You did not know the people who
work there. You did not know where to find resources
to help you with your teaching. You did not know the
detail of the syllabuses you are now teaching.
Just pause to think about how much you know about
your school and how it operates. You will quickly see
that you know a lot. You can find your way around
your school. You now know who to ask when you need
Diary of an NQT
guidance or information. You can get tasks done in the
classroom and in your department.
After three months in a new career, you know you
have made progress. Now you need to work out if you
As well as advice to support NQTs in their fight to survive year one, this special
have made enough progress.
section is also focusing on the real-life experiences of NQTs from across the
Have you demanded too much of yourself?
It is easy to be critical of yourself when you look back
country. Our first tale of term one comes from this year’s SecEd NQT diarist, Matt
over the term. You will probably remember all the
things that have gone wrong, but you might be tempted
Connett. Here is his special one-off diary entry focusing on his year so far
to overlook your successes.
If you tend to dwell on your mistakes, stop punishing
yourself for a moment or two, and reflect on the EVERAL THOUSAND years ago The key is definitely to make resources, PowerPoints laid out before me, I am only ever looking to the
standards you have been trying to attain.
Remember it takes time to become a successful
teacher, so do not measure your performance this term
against that of people who have been teaching for years.
It is unrealistic to assume you could learn enough in
your first three months to match the achievements of S
(or as time would tell you, merely 12 and mark books that can be used again and I am next hurdle.
weeks), I turned up fresh-faced and gradually learning to make things easier for myself – For me this is passing my NQT year, but what do I
enthusiastic about starting my new although I must look like a flamingo learning to walk. want to achieve in this profession? I always hated this
NQT post at Shenfield High School In the classroom is where I have, since the very ghost, no wonder Gonzo nicked off in the Muppets
in Essex. beginning, enjoyed myself most. I got the bug for version! I’ve always said that I want to maximise
It’s funny to retrospectively teaching after my first tentative forays into the world of my ability and become the best teacher I could be. I
someone who has been refining his or her teaching reminisce, even at this premature stage, at a first “stand-up” at the beginning of the training course. I still fully expect this to take some time – there can be no
skills over several years, so do not make those sorts of term that has been at times difficult, rewarding, really enjoy the unpredictability (within reason) and substitute for experience.
comparisons. exhausting, and particularly ageing (at a rate closer the creativity of young people and have had My SCITT course undoubtedly stands
Before you start listening to that critical inner voice to my original quip than the timed reality). some fantastic times so far this year. me in good stead, armed with all the
again, ask yourself if you assumed, back in September, In thinking what to write in this Christmas-tinged I still remember lesson one with my latest theoretical tools to pick my way
that you would find that you are an expert in every NQT special, I found myself typically visited by the new year 7 boys and the can of worms I out of any Alcatraz of a class, but I
aspect of your subject. Did you think you would have traditional three ghosts! opened with my acrostic poem starter; think there’s a feel you get in teaching
the answers to every question anyone could ask you at The ghost of teaching past came in the shape of poor old Christopher Richardson- and no doubt a chance to stamp out
your fingertips? If you did, then you were asking too our shiny new English department SCITT (school- Williams! It never ceases to amaze a reputation in any school.
much of yourself. centred initial teacher training) student. me what kids think is the actual I hope if you’re an NQT and
Syllabuses, especially examination syllabuses, often My occasional observations of her charming flusters real truth. Who are the people have managed to stumble your way
cover issues in great depth. Even though you know take me back 12 months, to a time when learning teaching them this stuff?! through my meandering narrative,
your subject well, sometimes you will need to do objectives were to be contemplated deeply and starters I really appreciate their sense of that you can appreciate some of the
extra research to enable you to teach an element of took all night to plan. Whether I’ve become any better humour whoever they are, sending trials facing our “kin” this year. If
the syllabus with confidence. Do not be too critical of or just quicker at planning now could be debated. It me children who believe Bob you are an established teacher and
yourself if that has happened to you. is a constant reassurance that you’ve come a long Marley is the current poet laureate are reading this for some yuletide
Be realistic, too, about your abilities to manage way when you can look on with a knowing smile at and that Charles Dickens made hilarity at the naïvetés of newbies,
student behaviour. Do not be frustrated if you found the poor old trainee and their daily dramas regarding some cracking films. Thank you. It well then also fair play.
you needed help to deal with some of the behaviour things that now pale into insignificance, because you makes my day and gives me enough A lot has happened already this year,
issues you encountered during the autumn term. Do not haven’t got the time to care! ammunition to be the centre of pub-based more than I can fit in to any length of
think of yourself as a failure if you have needed to call Aside from my subtle, probably jealous, attacks attention for hours on end at the weekend. article. The gist is that the adjustments
on extra support to help you to deal with such situations. I have complete sympathy for our excellent newbie, Although I can still find it difficult to from trainee to NQT are sheer but
Just note how your more experienced colleagues dealt because I can remember just how hard it was learning manage the behaviour of 33 hormone/ manageable, demanding yet achievable,
with matters and learn from their successes. to juggle all these balls of techniques that make up sugar-crazed boys at times, I think I can and that learning 160-plus names is hard
In summary, do not demand perfection of yourself, the secondary school teacher. I think it testament to say I’ve settled into my teaching style now (stick to “boy/girl”).
especially while you are still an NQT, because you will the Mid-Essex initial teacher training course that and am all “theoried out”. I only hope the I’m trying to embrace teaching in
not achieve it. they moulded us into half-decent teachers in just sympathetic hands of experience shape an earnest and sincere manner, to keep
nine months, although alas I still cannot juggle. me into a half-decent teacher, there’s little it in my heart and honour it all year,
Have you demanded too little of yourself?
Looking into the mirror these days I see the more they can teach me! living in the past, present and the future,
It is difficult for you to be clear about the standards ghost of teaching present, which by the time I And so onto the scary and self- but all I can manage is this dry recourse
you should be setting for yourself. With only your own get home is clinging on with a waning degree of examining moment that anticipates the – Bah Humbug!
values and experience to draw on, you could be driving consciousness. The NQT year is tiring! I think arrival of the ghost of teaching future. I
yourself too hard. You could just as easily be asking too it’s because everything is new that it is taking me recently got asked in my first NQT • Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of
little of yourself. How will you know? so long. Whether it is marking books, planning development meeting, where I saw myself English at Shenfield High, a training school in
To help you to find the right standard to aim for, schemes of work, or even just organising my folders, in three years’ time? I honestly do not know. Brentwood in Essex. Read his regular weekly
temper your own judgements of your successes with everything takes such a long time. With all the short-term goals that have been diary entry on page 8.
those of other people in school.
SecEd • November 26 2009 17
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24