PGCE - Current Students Thread

Aww sorry to hear that, however do not take it as a negative. As long as you are willing to show that you are trying your best all will be fine, they will support you. Your timetable might be reduced to help you ease In.

Remember some of the best trainees may be on a cause for concern, but do make it.


Posted from TSR Mobile

But I don't think I'm cut out for Reception. And I shouldn't even be in there. My mentor said I'll be taking a lot of the focus activities from now.

Posted from TSR Mobile

You need have a word with your university tutor. I'm in secondary myself, all I say is we are stuck and have to do it. I've been put in a school where I am being bullied by the staff, I've let university know they pretty much said tough.

I personally think you should just complete it and try your best no matter how tough it is. You will never have to do it again. Universities are reluctant to move people once placed.


Posted from TSR Mobile

But I don't think I'm cut out for Reception. And I shouldn't even be in there. My mentor said I'll be taking a lot of the focus activities from now.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I am being bullied by the staff, I've let university know they pretty much said tough.

As said above CfC is not something to panic about. It's a safety mechanism - it just means you have to make more accelerated progress to be at the right point by the end.

I would certainly ask to move, and be clear that you feel the placement in Early Years is the main factor which has contributed to the CfC. However, I think I've said before that you need to bear in mind that they wouldn't have placed you there if there was another option, so it's likely that there won't be another placement for you to go to. If you think there is (perhaps in your current school) you need to make your tutor aware of this.

The other thing I will say is try to think positive. Yes, Early Years is a completely different ethos and focus. BUT as a KS1 practitioner you need to be using EYFS principles as well. And you can take a lot from EYFS practice and use it all through school. As a teacher you may end up working in a school where you're asked to teach outside of your comfort zone. And everyone tells me if you can learn to teach the youngest going up is easier (though I'm yet to experience this!). Yet all you have to do for now is get through this placement then you have a career ahead of you and can take the time to work up and challenge yourself at a more manageable pace.

The idea of teaching year 6 terrifies me! So I really do have a lot of empathy for you. All I'm saying is make sure you haven't fallen in to a negative thought cycle... you panicked when you got the placement, and that made you think it will be too hard, and then when you saw all the new stuff which you hadn't done before it seemed insurmountable. Just stop, take a breath and think about it realistically... you still have phonics that's the same (and probably maths?), you will be getting more focus activities so that's more adult directed.

My best advice for at the minute is to go and immerse yourself in it for the next few days. Just go and play with the children. Don't worry about whether you're doing it right... play with them and you will start to gain confidence and then from that you'll start to notice things they impress you with and want to note them down. And from that you'll start to come up with ideas for things they'd like. Before you know it you're in full EYFS mode!

As always I am happy to offer more advice on specific parts of EYFS practice that you're struggling with if you let me know.

xxx

Wow, thanks for that. I'm just worried that I won't be able to meet the points in the Action Plan in Reception. I was observed for 15 minutes and only the carpet input - my tutor walked out without watching any focus activities.

I just find it difficult to get them all on the same page. You say draw four spots some will draw 4 but others 10 and some even scribble. Also I struggle to maintain their focus for long.

How different is KS1 to EYFS? Isn't there work in exercise books and more writing in lessons??

Posted from TSR Mobile

I need help. I can't cope. I'm about to loose everything. I'd love to hear from people who have had cause for concern or similar and gone on to do well.

I had cause for concern and ended up with "good". Ask away

Well done! My first question is how did you feel and secondly what did you do differently? My morale is at an all time low and I'm in a dangerous place.

Am I within my rights to ask to be moved permanently to KS1 as that is where I should be? It really doesn't make sense to be failing the course in an age range not covered by my course.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Well I felt crap at first, of course. It's not nice to get told you're failing. But then I realised that it was for the best and that people wanted to help me.
Cause for Concern meant that I had smaller, more frequent goals to meet rather than just floundering and drowning in everything I had to do. I observed other teachers at other schools and even spent a week in another school to break the cycle I had got myself in.

x

Communication and language, personal social and emotional development and physical development are the prime areas in EYFS, as opposed to English and maths being the core subjects. There is generally more recording by the children yes. Remember the EYFS should still be followed for the first term of year one and some children will be continuing to work towards it through KS1. And in a year one class I'd expect to see alot of photos and learning through play and time to choose activities.

For reception the basics you need to follow are:
-Don't keep then on the carpet longer than about 15mins
-Don't worry about the recording, worry about the learning. Observations that you record if the children playing independently are more reliable than those from work with an adult anyway.
-Always carry post its/labels for noting down good learning. If a child does something that impresses you write it down.
-Ask the children what they like and want to do for planning. And change your plans part way through the day if the children want to or you come up with something. Just write it on the plan afterwards.

Xxx



This may sound silly but there was a girl on tough young teachers who did this. You could try looking that up?

Xxx

Posted from TSR Mobile

How long after the CfC were you removed off it? And can your mentor remove you from it before your uni link tutor visits again?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I feel your pain.

I know this is going to sound rather bizarre but do universities have some sort of document which stipulates how the course runs, what is allowed and what isn't? Not a course handbook but something that be used in the case of, say, a legal case.