The Student Room Group

PGCE placement trouble - advice needed!!

Hello, need some advice ASAP!! I have just started my PGCE in Drama and have been at my first placement for almost three weeks now. Although my specialism is Drama, the university has placed me in a school without a Drama teacher; and without a Drama department in fact. My subject mentor is a Music teacher, who runs a two-man department of Music and Performing Arts. After observing and assisting lessons for the past couple of weeks I have came to the conclusion that I should not have been placed at this school at all. There are absolutely NO lessons dedicated to Drama, Key Stage three have Music for half of the year and Key Stage four can opt for Performing Arts GCSE which is a combination of Dance, Drama and Music (generally singing). The sixth form also offers A-level Performing Arts and Btec Music, where there are no more than 8 pupils in each class. The Performing Arts qualification allows the pupils to choose a discipline to perform, so generally in each class there is only typically one pupil or one small group focussing on Drama.
I have spoken to a mentor at university, and he agreed that I shouldn’t be there. I compiled a list of local schools with Drama departments for the university to contact to see if they could get me moved to another school. However, my university mentor has now sent an email out to myself and the school arranging my first observation visit; which tells me that the university are choosing not to move me anymore.
I am really upset and frustrated over this because I feel that all of the other university students are at an advantage than me, as I am the only person that is at a school without a Drama department. Your subject mentor is meant to be someone who you can go to for advice related to your subject and should be basically an ‘expert’ in your specialism which I do not have. My biggest worry is that when it comes down to taking over the classes, how am I meant to do that? The pupils are not taught any skills they are literally just told to make up a performance and write up about it. I cannot see any opportunity for me to teach a dedicated Drama lesson at all! I am getting that stressed over it that I don’t even want to continue with the course if they do not move me. I haven’t spoken to the school teachers here so they do not know that I have an issue at the moment, as I’ve thought there is no point mentioning it as I thought I would be moving schools by now and I don’t see how they can resolve the issue for me as they are not exactly going to change their whole curriculum for me.
I need advice on what I should do next with this issue. I don’t really know how to tackle this problem as I feel like I’m kicking up a fuss; but at the end of the day I have paid £9000 to be a Drama trainee and at the moment I haven’t experienced this at all. What’s more is if I have to stay at this placement until February, and then when I get to my second placement the secondary school would be expecting me to be knowledgeable, experienced and prepared from my previous placement which I will not be. Please help!
What university is this with? They don't sound very competent...
I highly doubt that you will be in that same placement until February as a PGCE student.

It sounds a pretty pants situation and I can understand why you are feeling so frustrated and stressed about it, BUT the difference is that you are now a postgraduate. That means that it is up to you to start the ball rolling to resolve this.

So find out how long you are in this placement for to begin with. As A PGCE (as opposed to schools direct going by your subject title) you should be University based for some of your training. Discuss your concerns with your subject mentor. If they don't know there is a problem they cannot do anything to help you! Contact your tutors, raise your issues and concerns with them. I know you've said you don't want to contact them because you don't know how long the placement is, but without contacting people you won't know anyway, and it may prevent other trainees being placed there in the future if deemed inappropriate. You've paid your 9k, now get your moneys worth and use the resources it has given you.

I know it means extra running around on top of placement, but you need to know where you stand, how long you are in placement and what is expected of you. Your subject mentor should be meeting with you regularly so bring it up at your next meeting or send some emails. The support should be there, you just need to reach out for it.
Reply 3
Just because they are coming to observe you in your current placement school, this surely doesn't mean that you will have to stay there for the remainder of the first placement period (i.e. it has not been explicitly stated that this is the case; you are basically getting stressed out over assumptions). It takes longer than you might think to sort out a placement, particularly at this busy time of year. While I can agree with you that you shouldn't have been placed in your current school to begin with, the fact that you are 'still' there just now (what, 2-3 weeks into the school year?) and about to be observed there does not specifically/explicitly mean (in my eyes at least) that you are 'stuck' there for the foreseeable future. I'd just roll with it and keep pestering your uni for updates on your situation until you get a straight answer.
You do need to have your first observation visit in order to fit in with your university's schedule. However, actually getting your mentor into the school can surely only be to your advantage? - you'll be able to show them exactly what the situation is.

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