Secondary English PGCE Applicants

Wow, that's tough! For my School Direct interview it just has to be a 5 minute starter.

The text from Manchester Met interview would be a good one as you could check to see if they realise that it's a self-contained story and if they understand the humour?
Then quiz them on the setting, character and plot and how they can back these up from the text (that would link it into the National Curriculum!)
Maybe you have thought of a better idea by now?

Thank you! Yeah, I thought I could base it around the whole idea of inference and get them to come to their own conclusions in groups / pairs and go from there. It's a tricky one though as the school have instructed me to research a topic which is above their expected current knowledge - so I am not sure if that means something hard for them? Or just something they may not have already come across.

Very cryptic.

Also I feel like 15 minutes is such an awkward time! Too long for a simple starter, and not long enough to develop any ideas well.

Have you heard from any of your other choices yet?

Interview for my York School Direct place on Tuesday and I've still not heard from Hull. Although I did my degree at Hull and they are renowned for taking a while to do anything...

The trick will be to not try and do anything too difficult as 15 minutes will pass really quickly. Also make sure you make it really interactive rather than just giving them a worksheet or something. I'm not saying I'm an expert but I'm pretty sure that they will mainly be assessing your vibe and how you relate to the kids. We're not teachers yet after all!

What I would do is look at the national curriculum and introduce a concept that is expected of KS4 pupils

Good luck for your interview! That's annoying about Hull - hopefully they will get in touch soon

Yeah I'm trying to keep it as interactive as possible. Its just hard because I have been given no info on their level of ability or what! Spent so long on this tiny lesson its driving me insane. Will be happy when its over and done with...

I have an interview at Hull but it's not till 7th January!

Good luck with the lesson... for my starter activity at York tomorrow I'm literally just going to get them to throw a ball around and name a setting. The next person has to name a mood evoked by that setting and so on.

Here's hoping that they connect with it.

Well done! At least you have plenty of time.to prepare.

Ah no that sounds really good, even if they are a bit quiet at first I'm sure they'll get into it! I wonder if the schools have chosen us particularly nice kids or purposely given us difficult ones? (Hoping they are friendly and enthusiastic otherwise 15 minutes is going to feel like forever).

I suspect they would maybe go for mixed ability but they wouldn't give us the ones with problem behavior as that derails the whole assessment.
The adults pretending to be kids at teach first "misbehaved" but they are obviously recruiting trainees into tough schools.

How did you find your School Direct interview? I found my lesson worked really well (although the children were angels) and managed to get an offer! Really liked the look of the school and the School Direct programme in general - how do you feel about it in comparison to the university-led route? Now that I have to make a decision I am having a bit of a panic!

Glad to hear you got an offer! I should hear back sometime this week, not sure how the day went.
The School Direct route I'm looking at is basically a PGCE and with time split between two or three schools that are part of an alliance. It still grants a PGCE and has the same number of weeks spent on placement.
Do you like the idea of Schools Direct?

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Yes that's the same for mine. Good luck I'm sure it went fine! I really like the SD route, so I accepted the offer when I got it. I like how all the schools work together and how there's less people for each subject - so thought the support would be a bit better? I'm not sure, there's pros and cons to both routes I guess! But at least with SD you get some choice about where you'd like to go.

I have my first interview a week tomorrow (17th) and am incredibly nervous about it! For those who have had interviews so far, just wondering what kind of questions you were asked and what tasks you were set (i.e lesson plan, response to an article about English teaching etc)? Any tips/information would be appreciated!

Hi Everyone,

I need some major advice please! I have just been emailed about an interview for Friday, any tips please? Details will be sent to me tomorrow morning but all that was told is that I will have to prepare a 5 minute starter activity.

All help welcome, I feel like I am going to have a panic attack!!!

xxxx

I was given a task to instigate a discussion on a topic we were given on the day - really easy just to show you can listen and ask good questions to get the others to respond and generate a good discussion. Also given a 15 min teaching lesson but this was for SD, I've heard a few people get given presentations etc. on a topic but all they are looking for is your ability to speak clearly and confidently. Usually they are pretty straightforward tasks so I wouldn't panic

Questions varied - got quizzed on differentiation in lessons, equal opportunities, the value of Shakespeare, then the generic type regarding your skills and reflecting on your own teaching experience.





5 minute starter should really show as much as possible of you which would reflect your ability to be a good teacher, so getting the children involved / lots of creative thinking and discussion. It depends on your age group really! They aren't expecting you to be a ready made teacher, just to have confidence and to be able to interact well with children.

Wonderful! Thank you. Much appreciated ☺️ Did they ask any question re curriculum? How did yours go? X


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Does anyone think it's "cheating" to use teaching resources from the internet in our interview lessons?

Not at all, although I would probably adapt it a bit to show that you shaped the lesson in your own way rather than just copying. But the resources are there for a reason so go for it. Just hope they haven't used it for one of their own lessons ha!