Diary of an NQT Learning the ropes


AT THIS point last year, while sitting in the staffroom worrying about the 15-minute starter activity I was about to deliver, I often heard a CDT teacher grumbling and muttering something about “collapsing timetables” and how it would put his classes several lessons behind. At the time I didn’t really understand; at one point I genuinely wondered whether I’d slightly misheard him and a strange type of table in the CDT department had collapsed. This week, however, I have both benefited from and been frustrated by a collapsed timetable.


Annoyingly, I felt ill over


the weekend. Not totally and utterly bedriddenly- phone-in-sick ill, but ill enough to not really want to do anything but feel sorry for myself and sleep a lot. And certainly ill enough to not mark two class groups’ sets of books. When I got into school


on Monday morning I was still feeling fairly ropey, but I have to say a big thank you to my year 13s and a normally troublesome year 10 class. Both groups saw me looking ill, acknowledged this and knuckled down to some hard independent bookwork without any fuss at all. I could not believe it. By lunchtime I was beginning to


look and feel a lot better, which was clearly a mistake as I was immediately asked to stay and chat at a 6th form information evening. Apparently a lot of pupils are interested in taking my AS and A level photography course next year. Still it wasn’t that bad, and at least I was home before 9pm. On Tuesday, I finally discovered why


a collapsed timetable could be annoying. Essentially, all the lessons I had planned were


Teach it like Torno! Ditch Ofsted!


“WHY DO people take an instant dislike to Ofsted inspectors? It saves time!” Anon Just when you thought it was safe to go back in


the classroom – yes three weeks into the new term we received the call on Monday afternoon to inform us that Ofsted would be visiting on the Wednesday and Thursday of that week. Talk about mad scramble. The head rallied staff after school,


reminding us to be positive and to go for it. Then followed a meeting of the leadership team to talk through the self-evaluation form and agree on common strategies. One day of preparation followed and then they were here. As with my previous experience


of Ofsted (about six months ago), I found most of the inspectors to be fair and certainly on the ball. But unlike previous inspections, there seemed to be absolutely no room for negotiation. Assertions were made on the


basis of the data and if evidence could not be found to challenge the less favourable ones there were no opportunities to present arguments which could explain what they were presented with. The inspector who


interviewed me kept saying “I haven’t time for the story”, or “how do you know?” – any explanation I attempted to give was dismissed swiftly. However, as with any stressful


experience, there were elements of comedy. One inspector who was in charge of health and safety was outraged that we had a ditch near the playground and that it was not officially signed “Beware of the ditch”. He recommended that when footballs go in the


ditch they should be retrieved quickly and that another sign should be put up saying “Now wash your balls”. The trouble was he was serious. In some ways, however, my faith was reassured


that some inspectors are indeed human. One of them attended my assembly and we had time for a chat beforehand. I told her that I thought not enough emphasis was placed on pastoral work anymore


and this was a failing of Ofsted as they do not seem to recognise the value of developing quality relationships as a key part of any school. She was a former head in a challenging area and


was very much on the same wavelength. The fact is though that this part of a school is still very much low down the scale and the obsession with results is what drives them forward. At the end of the second day, the


leadership team was invited to hear the judgements that were made and to pose questions if appropriate. This was a clinical experience for me. I did not feel any warmth emanating from the inspection team and why should I – it’s only a school! I felt like inviting them back in 2014 when the next World Cup


takes place. If England underperform they can make us accountable for


that as well. I recognise schools must undergo inspection and that rigour has to be an integral


element of raising attainment. However, there is much more to education than being able to account for every piece of data and monitoring strategy the school has. Many students arrive with baggage and sometimes we do


all we can, but this still is not enough. And what about the students who might not reach their potential there and then, but who remember the message of the school and


return to education at a later date? In the end, the school was rated as “good


with some outstanding features” which we were very pleased with given the fact that we were not supposed to be inspected until March at the earliest.


The inspection also proved very useful in giving us pointers on how to move towards “outstanding”. So here’s to the future! Have a fantastic half-term.


• David Torn is professional tutor and advanced skills teacher at St Edward’s Comprehensive School in Essex. He is the London Secondary School Teacher of the Year 2007 and is passionate that the purpose of education is to change lives. He returns after half-term.


cancelled (or collapsed) and the whole school had to do something else. Tuesday’s something else was a PSHE day. I had to teach three different year 10 groups in a row about disability rights, instead of the lessons that would help them pass their GCSEs in just a few weeks’ time. Very annoying.


Having observed, from the students’ point of view, several of these PSHE days, I can see how they can find them fairly annoying and an excellent excuse to muck about. Most days that I’ve seen are


poorly organised; the teachers often don’t have a large interest in or knowledge of the topics they have to teach and some of the subjects are frankly a little boring. Having to teach


several sessions of my own was not something I was particularly relishing.


I decided that getting the pupils up and moving about,


justifying their ideas and using some of those “higher


level thinking skills” might help. I was also even more strict than usual and thankfully several


members of senior leadership team realised that I was doing three sessions back-to-back with year 10s and kept popping in to check on the


classes. I think it worked; at least no-one rioted! Still, collapsed timetables aren’t all that


bad. I’m out at an NQT conference at the end of the week when another collapsed timetable day occurs. This means that I don’t have to write cover lessons for one of my five period days and that is a very good thing!


• Our NQT diarist this year writes anonymously and is a teacher of science from a secondary school in the East of England. He returns after half-term.


TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS The grea


The government has proposed that all teachers should have a minimum degree classification of 2:2 in order to be allowed to teach. However, this has angered many who believe that being a good teacher is about more than qualifications. We hear from two educationalists for and against the idea


For


James Noble-Rogers Executive director Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers


important to maximise the impact that teachers make in the classroom now, because the quality of teachers has such a huge influence on children’s achievement. It is a common aspiration to attract highly talented


S


people into education. We believe that the 2:2 entry norm is the best way to do this but we also realise that this must allow for exceptions. For example, it would not make much sense to


prevent a candidate with an overseas degree that is deemed (in terms of volume rather than quality) equivalent to an “ordinary” rather than a UK “honours” degree from teaching modern languages if they have the necessary knowledge and experience. Similarly, would we really want to bar a


mature candidate who secured an ordinary degree in mathematics while studying part-time from the profession if they can demonstrate that they have a lot to offer? We therefore support moves to increasing entry qualifications, provided it is done in a sensible and measured way. We acknowledge that there would be supply


implications in some subjects and this should not be overlooked. There will always be cases where those who do not meet the normal requirements would make good teachers. Therefore, the 2:2 policy should be regarded as a medium-term aspiration rather than an immediate goal and we are urging the government to allow for certain exceptions. That is not to say that the current state of the


teaching profession is less than acceptable. In fact, we are seeing quite the opposite. The Good Teacher Training Guide 2010 demonstrated that in 2008/09, nine out of 10 graduate trainee teachers had a second or first class degree across all subjects in that year and in fact, just under 60 per cent had a first or a 2:1. These figures are very positive but we must not lose sight of the need to keep this level of skills in the profession.


trainees, we also stand to raise the profile of teaching as a profession of choice. In order to attract top talent it must be designed for top talent. Teaching should be made competitive


‘ 8


and we see great potential in eventually making teaching a Master’s level profession


SecEd • October 21 2010 ’


INCE THE coalition government came to power there has been an even sharper focus on the quality of the teaching profession. In order to ensure that our children are equipped with qualifications and skills that will be essential for the future economy and job market, it is


In raising the bar to a 2:2 for most trainees, we also


stand to raise the profile of teaching as a profession of choice. In order to attract top talent it must be designed for top talent. Those professions where status is entrenched into their core appeal to the top quality candidates because they are selective at entry level. Teaching should be made competitive and we see great potential in eventually making teaching a Master’s level profession. I was pleased to see that in his recent report, Professor


Alan Smithers from the University of Buckingham acknowledged the considerable contribution that the university sector makes to the training of teachers in this country, and the high quality of training that exists. But there are areas that are misleading. It implies that there is a sharp distinction in between the teacher education led in universities and that led in schools but I believe that this is not the case. All university-led programmes are run in partnership


with schools, and schools are closely involved in the selection, training and assessment of student teachers. Universities are also closely involved in, and often responsible for, a lot of the school-centred, employment- based, and Teach First routes mentioned in the report. We welcome the mixed economy that exists in teacher education and trust that it will continue. Furthermore, although it has been suggested


that many entrants to undergraduate courses have qualifications below A level, all are qualified to at least A level or an equivalent level. Although only 61 per cent have two actual A levels, the rest will have equivalent qualifications such as BTEC and access qualifications. It is highlighted that some teacher training


providers receive low rankings because they recruit student teachers from a diverse range of backgrounds.


In raising the bar to a 2:2 for most


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