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The NQT Year Thread
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Congrats to all the NQTs for making it to Christmas! I had an "informal" chat with my line manager yesterday and found out that they want to offer me an 100% class teacher job next year, which would mean I'd have my own class...hopefully the one I have worked with most because I love them. 
Nothing's concrete and I have to apply for the position in February, but...yay!
Also yesterday was just generally awesome. The whole team surprised the year group with a Christmas play. We told them we were going on a course and a cover teacher was coming then we spent and hour preparing and then we performed it for them! They loved it although they were a bit miffed that we'd lied to them. Had to explain what a white lie was
THEN another awesome thing happened...I was originally employed at the school to work with one kid with ADHD/behavioural difficulties. He's on medication and this year he's been much better generally, not totally without issues, but still. Anyway yesterday he came up to me completely out of the blue and gave me a MASSIVE hug. He has never done that before and I loved it
Nothing's concrete and I have to apply for the position in February, but...yay!Also yesterday was just generally awesome. The whole team surprised the year group with a Christmas play. We told them we were going on a course and a cover teacher was coming then we spent and hour preparing and then we performed it for them! They loved it although they were a bit miffed that we'd lied to them. Had to explain what a white lie was
THEN another awesome thing happened...I was originally employed at the school to work with one kid with ADHD/behavioural difficulties. He's on medication and this year he's been much better generally, not totally without issues, but still. Anyway yesterday he came up to me completely out of the blue and gave me a MASSIVE hug. He has never done that before and I loved it
Original post by Becca
Congrats to all the NQTs for making it to Christmas! I had an "informal" chat with my line manager yesterday and found out that they want to offer me an 100% class teacher job next year, which would mean I'd have my own class...hopefully the one I have worked with most because I love them. Nothing's concrete and I have to apply for the position in February, but...yay!
Also yesterday was just generally awesome. The whole team surprised the year group with a Christmas play. We told them we were going on a course and a cover teacher was coming then we spent and hour preparing and then we performed it for them! They loved it although they were a bit miffed that we'd lied to them. Had to explain what a white lie was
THEN another awesome thing happened...I was originally employed at the school to work with one kid with ADHD/behavioural difficulties. He's on medication and this year he's been much better generally, not totally without issues, but still. Anyway yesterday he came up to me completely out of the blue and gave me a MASSIVE hug. He has never done that before and I loved it
Nothing's concrete and I have to apply for the position in February, but...yay!Also yesterday was just generally awesome. The whole team surprised the year group with a Christmas play. We told them we were going on a course and a cover teacher was coming then we spent and hour preparing and then we performed it for them! They loved it although they were a bit miffed that we'd lied to them. Had to explain what a white lie was
THEN another awesome thing happened...I was originally employed at the school to work with one kid with ADHD/behavioural difficulties. He's on medication and this year he's been much better generally, not totally without issues, but still. Anyway yesterday he came up to me completely out of the blue and gave me a MASSIVE hug. He has never done that before and I loved it
Yay
All good news!So today I got out of bed at 1pm, think that has recharged my batteries and now I'm organising all my folders on my external hard drive haha....although I should be 'relaxing' I'm so bored already so just doing some little things here and there to help the process along
I need help creating a CV. Can anyone send me an example please?
Original post by sweetiepieh
I need help creating a CV. Can anyone send me an example please?
Sorry, a CV for what?
Is it for a teaching job? This isn't really the place for it, this is a discussion thread for new teachers haha
Original post by sweetiepieh
I need help creating a CV. Can anyone send me an example please?
If it's for a teaching job, check if you need one first. Legislation for state teaching positions means that you have to fill in an online application instead, which is more detailed, for child protection and safer recruitment reasons.
Original post by Becca
Anyway yesterday he came up to me completely out of the blue and gave me a MASSIVE hug. He has never done that before and I loved it
Ah, the thorny subject of hugs. If you're male, they're a minefield.
Keep your hands where they can be seen, don't hug back, and remind "hugs are for home!"
Sad that I even have to consider this.
Original post by FadeToBlackout
Ah, the thorny subject of hugs. If you're male, they're a minefield.
Keep your hands where they can be seen, don't hug back, and remind "hugs are for home!"
Sad that I even have to consider this.
Keep your hands where they can be seen, don't hug back, and remind "hugs are for home!"
Sad that I even have to consider this.
Lame. Would ignore. Would NEVER say "hugs are for home". What a pile of ****.
Sorry
Original post by FadeToBlackout
Ah, the thorny subject of hugs. If you're male, they're a minefield.
Keep your hands where they can be seen, don't hug back, and remind "hugs are for home!"
Sad that I even have to consider this.
Keep your hands where they can be seen, don't hug back, and remind "hugs are for home!"
Sad that I even have to consider this.
Sorry I completely disagree, if a pupil initiates a hug then there's no reason why not to reciprocate. The majority of my pupils are very nice kids who I have a good rapport with and if for whatever reason they chose to give me a hug I would hug (gently) back.
And why should they be a minefield for males and not females? This is the exact sort of attitude that puts men off getting into education careers, because it's actually very equal for both men and women but opinions like yours on a public forum stating "It's a minefield for men" mean then men read it and think "Eep I don't want to be a teacher now!". It's no worse for men than it is women (I say worse, when we're talking about hugs, there's really little problem with them).
Original post by Becca
Lame. Would ignore. Would NEVER say "hugs are for home". What a pile of ****.
Sorry
Sorry
Agreed. Rep given (it finally let me give you some rep again! Yay!)....Happy New Year by the way
OK, I was being slightly sarcastic, and un-necessarily glib, but I do have to disagree with some of this.
To be fair, that's mostly aimed at very young (reception / Y1) children who're still learning what is and isn't appropriate. Of course it's fatuous and simplistic and not appropriate for older children.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. If you are a male entering teaching, particularly a female-dominated area of teaching such as primary teaching, it is only fair to go into it with your eyes open and are aware of what it can be like. Teaching as a male is not completely different to teaching as a female; teachers of both sexes do have to be particularly professional and careful. Areas such as physical restraint or language used about pupils can of course be contentious for teachers of both sexes. Nonetheless, I truly believe that males have to be slightly more careful than females, in certain areas, because of the perceptions of society. Looking at the report at https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RB163.pdf about accusations made about teachers, a fifth of accusations were sexual in nature (half of those false). Although the report does not detail the sex of those accused of sexual misdemeanors, the unions report that the majority of those accusations are made about male teachers.
I believe that it is worse for men than women, because of the attitude of society. Consider the tabloid frenzy over paedophilia; the vast majority of cases are about males. I'm not arguing that tabloid reporting is true, but the perception amongst the readers of the tabloids, who may include parents at your school, is that the majority of paedophiles and abusers of children are male. The reason that physical contact with pupils is a "minefield" is that
I don't of course like this situation, and I am being over-cautious and slightly over-reacting; nonetheless, I feel that this is a far safer course of action than being negligent.
Typical example- at the end of my last teaching placement, I was in the corridor outside of the classroom, coming back in. A six-year-old female pupil came out and, knowing that I was leaving that day, put har arms around my legs and her face at, well, waist level.
Bearing in mind that I was alone in the corridor with the pupil, this could have gone badly wrong. My response was to raise up my arms so as not to touch her, and say, "OK, let's go back into the classroom now" so that nothing I said or did could be misconstrued.
I don't like the situation at all. It is unfair, biased, and wrong. Nevertheless, I think it is disingenous to present any other situation.
How would you respond to the following scenario- Y10 girl has her legs up on the desk, you go to her and tell her to put her legs down, it's not the attitude for the classroom, etc., and she responds, "well, stop staring at my legs, sir- are you, like, a perv or something?"
That retort could in no way be used against a female teacher.
(Tried looking for a direct copy of the NASUWT report but couldn't find one, unfortunately).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8770736/Teacher-banned-for-letting-pupils-hug-him.html OK, in this case the teacher engaged in other, more inappropriate actions, such as lifting up pupils and spinning them around, and the newspaper is sensationalising the story; but the bare facts are that a well-liked, respected, and experienced teacher lost his job because of his physical contact with pupils.
Original post by Becca
Lame. Would ignore. Would NEVER say "hugs are for home". What a pile of ****.
Sorry
Sorry
To be fair, that's mostly aimed at very young (reception / Y1) children who're still learning what is and isn't appropriate. Of course it's fatuous and simplistic and not appropriate for older children.
Original post by dobbs
Sorry I completely disagree, if a pupil initiates a hug then there's no reason why not to reciprocate. The majority of my pupils are very nice kids who I have a good rapport with and if for whatever reason they chose to give me a hug I would hug (gently) back.
And why should they be a minefield for males and not females? This is the exact sort of attitude that puts men off getting into education careers, because it's actually very equal for both men and women but opinions like yours on a public forum stating "It's a minefield for men" mean then men read it and think "Eep I don't want to be a teacher now!". It's no worse for men than it is women (I say worse, when we're talking about hugs, there's really little problem with them).
And why should they be a minefield for males and not females? This is the exact sort of attitude that puts men off getting into education careers, because it's actually very equal for both men and women but opinions like yours on a public forum stating "It's a minefield for men" mean then men read it and think "Eep I don't want to be a teacher now!". It's no worse for men than it is women (I say worse, when we're talking about hugs, there's really little problem with them).
I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree. If you are a male entering teaching, particularly a female-dominated area of teaching such as primary teaching, it is only fair to go into it with your eyes open and are aware of what it can be like. Teaching as a male is not completely different to teaching as a female; teachers of both sexes do have to be particularly professional and careful. Areas such as physical restraint or language used about pupils can of course be contentious for teachers of both sexes. Nonetheless, I truly believe that males have to be slightly more careful than females, in certain areas, because of the perceptions of society. Looking at the report at https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RB163.pdf about accusations made about teachers, a fifth of accusations were sexual in nature (half of those false). Although the report does not detail the sex of those accused of sexual misdemeanors, the unions report that the majority of those accusations are made about male teachers.
I believe that it is worse for men than women, because of the attitude of society. Consider the tabloid frenzy over paedophilia; the vast majority of cases are about males. I'm not arguing that tabloid reporting is true, but the perception amongst the readers of the tabloids, who may include parents at your school, is that the majority of paedophiles and abusers of children are male. The reason that physical contact with pupils is a "minefield" is that
I don't of course like this situation, and I am being over-cautious and slightly over-reacting; nonetheless, I feel that this is a far safer course of action than being negligent.
Typical example- at the end of my last teaching placement, I was in the corridor outside of the classroom, coming back in. A six-year-old female pupil came out and, knowing that I was leaving that day, put har arms around my legs and her face at, well, waist level.
Bearing in mind that I was alone in the corridor with the pupil, this could have gone badly wrong. My response was to raise up my arms so as not to touch her, and say, "OK, let's go back into the classroom now" so that nothing I said or did could be misconstrued.
I don't like the situation at all. It is unfair, biased, and wrong. Nevertheless, I think it is disingenous to present any other situation.
How would you respond to the following scenario- Y10 girl has her legs up on the desk, you go to her and tell her to put her legs down, it's not the attitude for the classroom, etc., and she responds, "well, stop staring at my legs, sir- are you, like, a perv or something?"
That retort could in no way be used against a female teacher.
http://www.atl.org.uk/help-and-advice/allegations-and-complaints/facing-allegations.aspIt is unrealistic for teachers or lecturers always to avoid being alone with students. In some situations (such as music lessons, for example) one-to-one teaching is entirely normal. However, teachers (and most particularly male teachers) should be very careful not to make themselves vulnerable to accusations of impropriety [....]
Be cautious when comforting a distressed student with physical contact. If comforting is necessary (if a child is crying uncontrollably, for example) then comfort them until their immediate needs are met, and then cease as soon as they are calm. Physical comfort should not be given in private and it is generally considered appropriate only for younger children.
Always avoid any contact with a pupil/student which could be misconstrued, or cause offence. It is wise to consider the following factors in these situations:
Be cautious when comforting a distressed student with physical contact. If comforting is necessary (if a child is crying uncontrollably, for example) then comfort them until their immediate needs are met, and then cease as soon as they are calm. Physical comfort should not be given in private and it is generally considered appropriate only for younger children.
Always avoid any contact with a pupil/student which could be misconstrued, or cause offence. It is wise to consider the following factors in these situations:
•
the student's gender, age and ethnicity
•
the nature of the distress and her/his needs
•
the physical environment - including the proximity of other students and adults.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/education-when-innocent-touches-put-a-teacher-at-risk-1071533.htmlDespite constituting a tiny minority in the primary school sector - fewer than two out of 10 teachers are men - males are far more likely to be accused than females. The NASUWT estimates that at least 80 per cent of accusations are against males. Ted Wragg, the professor of education at Exeter University, says: "Men are in a far more difficult situation than women because there's been so much publicity about men and child abuse." Often, actions which are seen as normal when carried out by a female teacher, such as taking a child on to the knee, are seen as suspect when done by a male.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8770736/Teacher-banned-for-letting-pupils-hug-him.html OK, in this case the teacher engaged in other, more inappropriate actions, such as lifting up pupils and spinning them around, and the newspaper is sensationalising the story; but the bare facts are that a well-liked, respected, and experienced teacher lost his job because of his physical contact with pupils.
Original post by FadeToBlackout
OK, I was being slightly sarcastic, and un-necessarily glib, but I do have to disagree with some of this.
....
....
A good number of sources, just to clarify I'm already a male teacher with a full time teaching position, and my original opinion stands.
People going around talking about how males are accused more does nothing to help the situation, it just seems to highlight it more and as it's in the press even more then males are even less likely to get into the profession.
Just like how there is so much media frenzy about boys performing worse than girls - reporting it tends to make it worse because boys pick up on the fact that they underperform and then feel like "What's the point? We do worse than girls so there's no point in working hard"....rather than if there were no reporting of it they wouldn't feel that that was just 'how things are'.
As a male who has worked in a number of positions where I've had to work with children, from living in a cabin in America (on a summer camp) with a group of 6 year old boys where it was just me and four of them and each day I woke them up, got them showered and dressed, and took them to out for the daily activities then again in the evening; to managing summer camps here in the UK where I've had to supervise children at night in dormitories and various other 'sensitive' situations; I can happily say that I will continue to go about my profession the way I do.
People are overly cautious and I will take comforting a pupil in need rather than them coming to me and crying on me for me to push them away or drag them in front of a load of other people which may be horrifying for them.
Yes, be careful, but I do feel that a culture of "Be really careful of exactly what you do, where you do it, who sees you, where you put your hands, etc etc" just works to make the situation worse whereby someone can go "Ooooh no you didn't follow the procedure, your hands were 10cm out of the correct position as stated in Document 4a paragraph b diagram 22 of the NUT proper guidance". I'm sorry, I have more important things to worry about, like teaching my pupils.
Saying all that, I have child protection training tomorrow, yay!
Original post by Becca
How are you NQTs getting on with the worst term of the year?!
Agree with popa_dom - it's going quite well actually. For one thing I've managed to defer my MEd course as it was just too much to do, so that's a massive weight off my shoulders, and secondly over Christmas I basically planned all my KS3 lessons right up to half term so I've not had much planning to do so far - just my GCSE classes
Means I've had a lot more time to do other important things like marking, feedback, and some mentoring for my tutor group yay 
So team NQT - it is the Easter holidays, how is life??
Original post by oxymoronic
So team NQT - it is the Easter holidays, how is life??
Good
Just got back from a GCSE trip to Sicily today, a very tiring five days but great fun and got to climb a few volcanoes, including Mount Etna (which has just had a minor eruption the night before!) and Grand Cratera...lots of eggy smells (from the sulphur).
The year is going fine and seems like it's coming to an end now even though there's still a full term. But soon the Year 11s go on leave, my Year 10s are just onto revision sessions now, and the rest just as usual. The sun will make me happier
Original post by dobbs
Good
Just got back from a GCSE trip to Sicily today, a very tiring five days but great fun and got to climb a few volcanoes, including Mount Etna (which has just had a minor eruption the night before!) and Grand Cratera...lots of eggy smells (from the sulphur).
The year is going fine and seems like it's coming to an end now even though there's still a full term. But soon the Year 11s go on leave, my Year 10s are just onto revision sessions now, and the rest just as usual. The sun will make me happier
Just got back from a GCSE trip to Sicily today, a very tiring five days but great fun and got to climb a few volcanoes, including Mount Etna (which has just had a minor eruption the night before!) and Grand Cratera...lots of eggy smells (from the sulphur).
The year is going fine and seems like it's coming to an end now even though there's still a full term. But soon the Year 11s go on leave, my Year 10s are just onto revision sessions now, and the rest just as usual. The sun will make me happier
Pretty damn decent GCSE field trip! People at my school never got to go anywhere exciting because there's just so much Geography in the Lake District
9 weeks until summer hols for me
Getting my own class next year, full time. It's the class I've been working in since I started as an assistant, and I love them so it should be awesome!
Hey guys!
Anyone have any really good interview tips? I have one for a nursery teaching post on Monday.
Anyone have any really good interview tips? I have one for a nursery teaching post on Monday.
Same here I suppose!
Original post by balloon_parade
Same here I suppose!
Hello balloon_parade.
I know you got a job a little while ago. Is it in nursery? I got a nursery job yesterday and obviously I'm thrilled but a little bit scared also. I can't believe I will be entrusted with the lives and learning of 60 three year olds!! I did an early years course but always said reception/KS1 was more for me. Did you have a placement in nursery? My EYFS placement was in reception so I was a little surprised that I got this job. How are you feeling about it all? Any reservations about teaching nursery?
Darcie x
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