PGCE - Current Students Thread

Yes, I'm doing the Part Time MEd, it's through a partnership with the school I'm going to be working at and a number of other schools (about 8 I think) in the east of England, so everyone on the course will be current teachers. It should take 2 years but my school have told me that in the past people who already have the 60 credits from a Masters will be able to transfer those to Cambridge and therefore complete it in one year. If you get a job in a partnership school (google Cambridge SUPER Partnership) you may be offered a place

I don't have to do a QTS evidence file on paper or online. It has never been mentioned at my uni, Oxford Brookes.

We have a standards grid - our teacher we work with just signs us off when they agree we've met a standard. Don't see the benefit of having to "prove" that I've met with parents or whatever, my teacher is in the SMT of the school, she's not going to put her reputation on the line by just signing off someone rubbish is she?

Hmm... okay, I wasn't aware that it was only with specific partnership schools. They were just really off with me when I emailed and said that because I hadn't done my PGCE at Cambridge then it wouldn't be happening, then I emailed back and they never replied.... I'd love to do it there as they have the exact MEd course that I'm interested in with exactly the right sort of research angle on it whereas the one I've got at IoE is great as its way more specific/narrow angled, but I'm not sure if that's always a good thing. I don't know... but I'd ruled Cambridge out due to their response.

How much focus do they put on your previous academic record, though? I "only" have a [high] 2:i in my undergrad (from Edinburgh) and I don't know if they're only actually looking at people with a first even though it says the minimum is a 2:i on their website, or is it more down to you as a teacher?

Looking at that SUPER Partnership, it seems to only be secondary schools. I'm primary... so maybe they only take their own primary PGCE students? Don't really know why it'd be any different for primary/secondary though!

How can your tutor say that you've done every single standard - have they observed you enough to see that?

Well I've got a very LOW 2:1, in fact I just scraped a 2:1 but it's still a 2:1. And yes, I'm secondary so perhaps there's a different aspect, but I think the main thing is that I'm on that Partnership which has made it a lot easier to get on the courses - each school has an allocated number of places and my school offered it to me, and as the school pays for tuition fees I think the University accept anyone that the school suggests (within reason I suppose, if I were a complete idiot I guess they may have reservations!)

I guess this might be a primary/secondary difference, but my class teacher would have been able to have given an example of me having done every one of the QTS standards if it were up to her to tick them off if I'd met it... which she basically did anyway when we went through my mid placement report as that literally is all of the QTS standards and her rating me as outstanding/good/satisfactory in all of them. Then she gave examples of why she thought that, then I had to sign to say I agreed with what she'd said as we did it together... so it just seems odd that I have to do that then replicate the entire thing again in file format for the QTS folder, although that is just teaching all round really! This will probably depend very much on the school though as in both of my placements I've had my class teacher as my mentor so they've seen me constantly as they're normally in the classroom/just outside catching up with kids reading etc even if I've got the class all day anyway.... then we spend loads of time chatting/doing things before and after school... so essentially the vast majority of the time I'm in school I'm in very close proximity to my mentor, meaning yeah, they observe me/speak to me constantly whereas I guess secondary is really different as you move around and don't just have one group of kids.

That's really really interesting. When I get a job I'll need to see where they're in partnership with, although I really want to go to IoE if I'm doing it and they've said I can keep deferring the entry point if I want which is good Did you apply for the job knowing the partnership existed or was that just an added bonus? As such a distinct link with a university isn't something I've come across on the primary job rounds.

As someone else said, it's good practice. Just as people in professional positions who want to become chartered (for example chartered engineers) need to build up a portfolio of evidence before someone can sign various standards off, we as teachers must provide evidence. How can your tutor say that you've done every single standard - have they observed you enough to see that? Or have you simply told them what you've done (where's the evidence? You could be lying?)? Not saying that you are lying of course but providing evidence just ensures good practice.

I disagree - when I am actually a teacher, I will not have to get parents to sign a piece of paper to say they've met with me, or worse still get a photo of us meeting(!)

Who ever said that you required either of those? All you need is to jot down some notes to log a conversation you had with a parent, no need for a photo! Sigh...

Again, I think this depends from university to university. All of my QTS evidence had to be signed by the person I was referring to or I had to get some other form of proof that it had happened, such as a photo of me in the act... I couldn't just use evidence of me having written some notes saying "today I talked to Mrs X about the situation with Y blah blah....." and use that as proof. If I wanted to use it, I needed to get either the parent to sign that we'd had this conversation (which to me feels fairly unprofessional as I want parents to see me as a teacher, not as a trainee teacher) or get someone from the school who witnessed the conversation to sign that this is what had happened. Literally every piece of evidence I submitted HAD to be signed as being true by someone, they wouldn't have accepted me saying that I'd done X from say, a diary I'd kept throughout the school without someone else also saying that it was true that I had done it.

So inevitably, I ended up dumping loads of paper on my class teacher this week and being like "sign here please!" of things I'd written at various points or written up that week of things that had happened that I could only use for QTS if she signed it for me.

HOWEVER, QTS folder is done, dusted and submitted, as is final observations from uni and I'm officially outstanding, apparently so I'm happy

Dobbs, can I ask what you've done with your CEPD? I've just done transition point 1 now as I had to submit it with my QTS - how come you're doing transition point 2 already?

And with regards to the partnership schools, I've not really heard of any. In London you can do the Masters in Learning and Teaching at KCL/IoE/somewhere else depending on your borough and which one it is connected to, so maybe that is similar? It doesn't expand to all MEd courses though, unfortunately.

Dobbs, can I ask what you've done with your CEPD? I've just done transition point 1 now as I had to submit it with my QTS - how come you're doing transition point 2 already?

And with regards to the partnership schools, I've not really heard of any. In London you can do the Masters in Learning and Teaching at KCL/IoE/somewhere else depending on your borough and which one it is connected to, so maybe that is similar? It doesn't expand to all MEd courses though, unfortunately.

HOWEVER, QTS folder is done, dusted and submitted, as is final observations from uni and I'm officially outstanding, apparently so I'm happy

Congratulations!

Well done on your outstanding, oxymoronic. You must be chuffed!

Don't remember mentioning that I was doing Transition Point 2? No I've only just done a draft of Transition Point 1, we have to have it finalised in a couple of weeks time but didn't realise we needed it for QTS. TP1 is really easy though, its very very wishy washy and you can do it in any format you like!

Unfortunately I really didn't look into other Masters courses so I really can't comment on other ones ha, I had coincidentally looked at the MEd at Cambridge prior to being offered the place by my school, which was good, but otherwise not looked anywhere else Maybe wait until you get onto your NQT year to think about it? I've been told it's going to be tough doing an MEd and NQT year together, eep!

Hannydee - have you had your final ratings yet or is that still to come? I think my uni is doing them really early.

I'm debating whether to go back to Tesco where I worked last year to ask if I can help out over the summer holidays. But worried people (children) will see me there and, if I happen to get a job or supply locally, will be confused and won't see me as a 'teacher' but as 'that lady who works in Tesco'...

My final report is supposed to be written in week 7 out of 8 of my placement. Just going into week 6 now, so: soon!
My university tutor observed me on Thursday and had a chat with my class teacher/mentor and they both agreed they think I'm on track to come out as an overall 'Good' with 'Outstanding' elements - which is great! I would be perfectly happy with a satisfactory if I'm honest, just as long as I pass... When I started this final placement I honestly felt as though I was going to go backwards so much that I would fail completely - because it's such a different setting from placements I've been in before. I guess I've managed to adjust. Just can't wait for it to be over now though so that I can enjoy my summer.

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Anyone got any summer jobs lined up to tide themselves over til September? Or in the case of those who haven't found a job yet - what will you be doing to sustain an income if you can't find much supply work?

I'm debating whether to go back to Tesco where I worked last year to ask if I can help out over the summer holidays. But worried people (children) will see me there and, if I happen to get a job or supply locally, will be confused and won't see me as a 'teacher' but as 'that lady who works in Tesco'...

Tbh I doubt they would take much notice of what the cashier in Tesco looks like, so I doubt it'll be an issue

The children at the school I volunteered at 1 day a week while working there did. Obviously if I got a full time teaching job it wouldn't be an issue, but if I am only able to do short term supply work that would mean I'd probably have to keep working there too, and it may present issues! I don't know. I'm probably overthinking things, as usual...

I am shortly going to be starting an upper primary PGCE course but I have reservations. The problem is, I don't have much confidence, and it is putting me off the course. I'm very nervous about the workload, and I'm especially nervous about delivering a good lesson and classroom management.