NQTS


SecEd’s CPD expertMargaret Adams offers her advice on three crucial areas. First she talks to the students out there who are coming to the end of their time as a trainee


and about to embark on their NQT year. Next she discusses when your induction really does come to an end, before offering advice as NQTs prepare for year two


Moving from student to NQT


in, there is a lot you can do to prepare to make your first term in teaching a success. You will probably want to begin by thinking about your teaching responsibilities. However, as you plan for September, do not just


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focus on preparing yourself to teach your subject. Place your understanding of your department in a


broader context. Find out also how your whole school operates and what makes your school different from other schools. Use the following suggestions to help you to start your learning.


Learn as much as you can about your


school now There is a lot you can do now to enhance your understanding of your new school. Before the new term starts, you will probably be


given a staff handbook or a history of your school.Read everything you are given. If you find other documents mentioned in the materials you are working on, ask for them, too. Set yourself the task of finding out how the


academic and pastoral systems work in your new school. Check if you will be expected to take on a pastoral role as well as your teaching responsibilities. Find out who has responsibility for what in the different parts of your school. Think about practicalities, too. If your school


has more than one site, how is travel between sites managed? How do you access teaching resources? How do you book equipment or rooms? If you are in contact with leaders in school, ask them specific questions about all these issues, but seek out more general information, too. Look at your school’s website. Check out


how your school presents itself to the world. Use the internet to find out how often your school is mentioned in the news locally, regionally and nationally. Read some of the press information and work out what sort of image your school presents to the wider world. For example, does your school win lots of awards? Are any of the teachers famous? Are students achieving a lot? Doing this sort of research now will help you to understand your school’s culture. You will also be able


people’s pronouncements on school life while


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sitting on the sidelines of staffroom-wide


conversations is a good way of developing your understanding of what being a teacher really means


’ Listening to other


OR ALL the student teachers reading this, it is almost time for you to stop being a student or a trainee and to become a teacher. It is almost time for you to take on the responsibility of a timetable and to become a full-time member of a school’s team.


Now you know which school you will be working


to work out what your school’s priorities are, who is successful in school, and the achievements your new school is proud of. That means you will find it easier to fit into the life of the new organisation quickly when you start work there.


Talk to this year’s NQTs Do your best to gain access to NQTs who are finishing their first in year in teaching this summer. Talk to them about their experience of working in what will soon be your school. Try to find several NQTs to talk to, as everyone has different experiences and everyone deals with teaching’s challenges in different ways. To bring focus to your discussions ask the current


NQTs about the most important things they learned in their first weeks in teaching and what they would have valued knowing earlier in their NQT year. Listen to their replies and profit from their


experience. Their insights could help you to avoid lots of mistakes.


Identify experts who can help you


As you begin your teaching career you could decide to work out for yourself what to do in all the situations you will be faced with. Doing that would take you a long time and a lot of energy, but it is one way of working. You might like to try an easier strategy. Do not wait to be confronted by complex and


difficult issues. Draw up a list of tasks and situations you think you might need some help with. When you are in contact with your school, actively try to find out who is recognised as being successful in dealing with those issues. Ask who has a reputation for effective classroom management. Who is acknowledged as having a way of dealing with boisterous year 9 classes? Who is known to have a good system for getting homework in on time? Make a list of these people and what they are


respected for.As soon as the new term starts, introduce yourself to them. Watch them at work. Get to know them. Seek out their advice and learn from them.


Promise yourself you’ll listen more than you


speak in the staffroom School staffrooms are great learning environments. Listening to other people’s pronouncements on school life while sitting on the sidelines of staffroom-wide conversations is a good way of developing your understanding of what being a teacher really means. Paying attention to the different views, and to the


varied solutions to problems put forward by different staff members, will help you to learn a lot about teaching quickly. Make a commitment to yourself to listen to these


discussions more than you contribute your opinions, at least in your early weeks in teaching. Promise yourself you will not take sides or adopt a particular set of views too quickly. This will give you the opportunity to reflect on several different approaches to teaching and to begin to develop your own teaching philosophy.


Conclusion


Broadening your understanding of how your school operates and identifying people who can assist you to make the transition from student teacher to teacher quickly will help you to make a good start to your teaching career. If you complete the tasks outlined here, you


will learn a lot about your school before you begin working there. You will also define a structure for rapid professional development in September. Do your homework and your planning now.


Then, when you head for the sun, you will be able to enjoy your holiday knowing you are well prepared to meet September’s challenges. You will also know that by thinking ahead you have increased your chances of getting things right from the start of your teaching career.


SecEd When will your


a few lessons and you can see the end of your probationary year approaching. You also remember that you had an induction back in the autumn term, when you first arrived in school. It is true that a significant part of your induction has


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already taken place. When you needed guidance on what exactly you


were expected to teach, or where to find the right resources for your lessons, someone helped you. You probably also had some formal support during your first year, from a mentor or from a more experienced teacher in your own department. However, induction has larger goals, too.


Essentially induction is a matching process. Its purpose is to help you and leaders in your school to be confident that teaching is the right career for you. That is, induction is about making sure there is a match between what you want from your working life and what the world of education wants from people who become teachers. Thus, the induction process takes time, and working


out when it ends depends on a range of variables. To help you to be clear about where you are in your induction, and just when your induction might end, consider the following.


S YOU approach the end of your first year in teaching you might think your induction is already behind you. After all, you know your way around school. You know a lot about how your school operates. You have taught quite


Do you think that teaching is the right career for you?


When you review your progress through your induction, the first thing to think about is whether you, yourself, believe you made the right decision in choosing to become a teacher. Everyone who enters the teaching profession thinks


about this question from time-to-time. Inevitably some new entrants discover they have made the wrong career choice. Some realise by the end of their first year that teaching is not for them. Some will take a little longer to decide, but eventually those people who do not want to be teachers will leave teaching. As you approach the end of your NQT year it is a


good time to ask yourself whether you still think that teaching is the right career for you. If, after a year in teaching, you believe that, on balance you have made the right career choice, then you will have completed an important element of your induction. You will have developed a commitment to teaching.


How well do you think you’re doing?


Being sure you really want to be a teacher is important, but in order to reach the end of your induction you will also need to make sure you have settled into the educational working environment and into teaching itself. These two aspects of the induction process are quite different, and you should consider them separately. The chances are that you can now function effectively in your working environment. You know


SecEd • June 24 2010


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