Diary of an NQT
SHAKESPEARE SHAKESPEARE
A new year, a new NQT
SecEd’s NQT diarist this year hails from Shenfield it is too easy for the urgent to push out the important,
This year is
High School in Essex. Once again, you will be particularly for hard-pressed and overstretched heads
able to follow the weekly adventures of our latest of department who are so often the mentors. the 400th
contributor as they tackle the ups and downs of It helps that the fields for teaching positions
NQT year. Before the column kicks off next week, have improved significantly in the last two or three
anniversary of
the school’s head, John Fairhurst, explains their years. The status of the profession and its pay have
approach to supporting NQTs. improved and made a tangible difference to our
recruitment. I have every confidence that the nine
the publication
EVERY YEAR, we at Shenfield High bright, energetic teachers we have appointed
School recruit a significant tranche of this year are exactly that and will be highly
of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
NQTs. This year is no exception and successful once they have found their
we have nine joining us this term. feet and established themselves with
Gwilym Jones, one the
Crafting those NQTs so that they colleagues and, perhaps more crucially,
grow and flourish into successful with pupils.
Shakespeare’s Globe visiting
teachers is a central part of the It also helps that the school is
school’s work; not least because a Training School and is heavily
of our location on the London involved with initial teacher training.
lecturers, writes for us about
fringe, where expenses are high, We have, as a consequence, a
the London fringe salary allowance lot of experience at mentoring the legacy of these much
is low, and the recruitment of key newcomers to the profession
workers is a problem – not just and helping people to “grow on
debated works, and we are
for teachers in schools, but for the the job”. Staff development and
public sector as a whole. Investors in People approaches are
We try to ensure that our school deeply embedded. So our recruits
also offering SecEd readers
is an attractive prospect for the newly are actually looking forward to
qualified. The success of the school their M.Teach (Master’s of Teaching)
a discount for attending
speaks for itself, but we further offer qualification that the school and the
our NQTs a structured induction for University of London will facilitate for some of the autumn sonnet
two weeks in July, and an opportunity them in the second or third year of their
for new staff to participate fully in our end teaching career.
lectures at The Globe
of year Enterprise Week. We also pay them We have not, however, expected NQTs to
for July and August. So come the autumn, keep a diary of their experiences in their first year
they already feel “part of the furniture” and know and so this SecEd series will be a new experience F THE celebration of Shakespearean
many of the people they will be working with. for one of them, and doubtless will be a talking point
However, although that pre-September at the NQTs’ weekly meetings, provoking thought
preparation is significant, our induction does not and reflection for the group as a whole. It should also
stop there. Our professional mentor guides the group be a damn good read for the rest of us!
through their NQT year with regular meetings and
discussion. Each NQT is given mentoring time, • John Fairhurst is headteacher of Shenfield High I
anniversaries is a hobby, then 2009 is surely
an exciting year for enthusiasts. Four hundred
years ago, Shakespeare’s sonnets were
published for the first time, although they
were likely written some time before.
In 1709, moreover, the first “modern” edition
timetabled not just against the teaching load for the School and vice president of the Association of of Shakespeare’s works appeared, edited by Nicholas
NQT but also for the mentor. As Steve Covey says, School and College Leaders. Rowe. Though John Aubrey had, in 1680 or so, penned
a short account of the playwright’s life in his Brief Lives,
Rowe’s edition of the works also included what can be
thought of as the first formal biography of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s superiority the reflection of imperial
Teach it like Torno!
The early biographies, whether we start with Aubrey’s Britain’s greatness.
or Rowe’s, are more than a little bizarre for the modern For such people Shakespeare’s plays were
reader. Gaps in the documentation of Shakespeare’s exemplary, but his upbringing was anything but. Here,
A class act
life are agonised over by modern biographers, but after all, was the son of a glove-maker. He had not
filled in with pure speculation and myth by Aubrey and attended university. He had even had the temerity to
Rowe. However, Rowe’s work is a manifestation of the purchase status for his family. The icon of English
idea that Shakespeare’s writing should be considered literature, master of the page and stage, crown jewel of
“MOTIVATION IS what gets you started. Habit is the opportunity of achieving an A* at A2, but in doing alongside, and informed by, his life. That Rowe shares an the cannon, was new money!
what keeps you going.” Jim Rohn. so they will need to achieve over 90 per cent. anniversary with the sonnets is, of course, a coincidence, Naturally, this would never do. How can one look
I can only sympathise with you. I know it now You know what will happen then? Unscrupulous but, as we shall see, it is a happy one. up to a man so beneath oneself? The course of action in
seems a distant memory. There you were on the inspectors will pile pressure on schools to achieve A question which anyone – whether teacher, such situations is to keep the plays – nothing wrong with
beach, bathing in the sea, reading that book that you such results and when they are not forthcoming we theatrical artist or academic – who is professionally them, of course – but find them another author. For the
had promised yourself, visiting friends and relatives, will be told that teaching is inadequate. Teachers involved with Shakespeare will face at some point is: Victorians, the alternative was Francis Bacon. Such was
and generally having a spectacular time. And now leaders’ have already warned that next year could see “Did Shakespeare really write Shakespeare?” the conclusion of the work of many hundreds of writers
you have been dragged back kicking and screaming the first fall in the pass rate in decades. This will then It is a question which built up speed in the in the 1880s, many of whom approached the plays with
and have had to prepare your lessons and resources be interpreted as a decline in standards. strict, class-based social order of the Victorian age. an alphanumeric cipher. The ciphers are ingenious in
ready to start a new term. Wouldn’t it be great if in the opening weeks Bardolatry was then in steep crescendo, especially their sheer determination, and there is something rather
You are reminding yourself about of September there was a nationwide among the well-fed echelons of society, who saw in sad in their myopia (with such methods it would be
your rituals with new classes. Marking celebration of the achievements of
is back on the agenda alongside youngsters and their teachers. This
detentions. Oh yes, let’s not forget would really show that the profession
SecEd readers can claim a 20 per cent discount on the following
the early morning starts. Great was valued.
autumn sonnet lectures and events at Shakespeare’s Globe.
isn’t it! Welcome to the new term. Anyway enough of this
I know you love it! Give it a day cynicism. A new year also
“Sonnets 400” with the Milton Consort
or two and you will forget that the symbolises fresh hope.
summer ever happened. Within a Many of the youngsters
Tuesday, November 10
week you will be completely back in our care are desperate The Milton Consort, performers from the Globe, select some of Shakespeare’s greatest
in the swing of things and preparing for good teaching and
sonnets and intersperse the passionate, meditative and glorious poems with music played
for the next batch of GCSE and the opportunity to one
on Elizabethan theorbo/lute, flutes, recorders, bagpipes, and bone whistle.
A level examinees. day themselves go
The beginning of the end is always to university. Apart
signalled with the annual debate over from parents, teachers
Shakespeare’s sonnets and sex – Professor Stanley Wells
A level results. This is when I awake are the one group of
Thursday, November 12
from the deep slumber I have been people who have such a
enjoying for the last six weeks. significant influence on the
Professor Stanley Wells’s lectures as the International Shakespeare Fellow in 2002 led to the
What a wake up! My AS class next generation. It is vital we
acclaimed Looking for Sex In Shakespeare, published by CUP. Prof Wells returns with further
achieved 100 per cent A to C approach the new term with
discussion on the theme. He will be joined by Globe actor Peter Hamilton Dyer.
grades and my A2 class achieved enthusiasm and optimism and that
95 per cent. Will I now get a we try to engender this in as many
Sounding the sonnets that Shakespeare spoke – David Crystal
bonus? No chance. One thing of our colleagues as possible. It is also
I do know is that teachers are important to remember that we give a lead
Wednesday, November 18
heroes one year if results are to those new into the profession and show Everyone who reads the sonnets notices that many lines don’t rhyme when they should.
good and then villains the next them why this is such an important vocation
What has happened? Using the “original pronunciation” (OP) perspective he developed
if this is not maintained. The only to be part of.
for Shakespeare’s Globe’s productions of Romeo and Troilus, David Crystal shows how the
bonus that I, or any other teacher I remember a documentary I watched on
for that matter, need is to witness the education. One of those interviewed was a
sonnets would have sounded in Shakespeare’s time, discusses the new aesthetic which an
elation of the students as they opened professor who employed a cleaner. She told
OP rendition permits, and points out some unnoticed wordplay that is obscured when the
their envelopes and realised that they him that her son was taking his exams and that poems are read in modern accents. He will be joined by Globe actor Ben Crystal.
were off to university or that they could she was anxious for him. When the professor
start A2 in a strong position. This is what probed deeper she remarked: “I am anxious
we entered the profession for. because whether he passes or not will determine
The effect of Shakespeare’s sonnets – Paul Edmondson
Moreover, as I reminded one colleague, whether he hires a cleaner himself one day or Thursday, November 26
success in education does not last long. By the end whether he becomes one.” Our job is to motivate and
Paul Edmondson is head of education at Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust.
of September any success your classes may have had inspire. Once we begin to do this, good habits will do
He will be joined by Globe actor Zoe Waites in exploring the effect of
will be but a distant memory and you will have been the rest. I sincerely hope you have had a great break
given or worked out the next set of targets for the new but it is now time to get on with the serious business
Shakespeare’s sonnets.
cohorts. So make sure you enjoy the limelight while of education. Welcome back and have a great term!
you can. Teachers change lives and the evidence is Further information
there for all to see. • David Torn is professional tutor and an advanced
All events start at 7pm and take place in the Nancy W. Knowles
Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop the media from skills teacher at St Edward’s Comprehensive School
decrying the success of these youngsters and in Essex. He is the London Secondary School Teacher
Lecture Theatre at Shakespeare’s Globe. Tickets cost £10, but SecEd
demanding tougher exams. How tough do they want of the Year 2007 and is passionate that the purpose of
readers can purchase tickets for £8 by quoting “pcdseced”. Call 020
these exams exactly? This year students will be given education is to change lives. He returns in two weeks. 7401 9919. For more information on other events, visit www.shakespeares-globe.org
8 SecEd • September 3 2009
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