The Student Room Group
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Things you would tell someone doing a SCITT / teacher training

post removed
Some general advice:

- don't overload on equipment in advance. The three things I would say are important to have ready for Day One are a notebook (for observation notes, meeting notes, etc.), a planner (for keeping track of your day), and a good pen (those four colour pens are good, so you can use it to mark as well). Obviously, a large enough planner can double as a notebook, but I found it easier to keep these things separate

- make sure you have comfortable professional clothing. You'll be on your feet a lot, so invest in good shoes

- do some reading if you're really keen to prepare - your SCITT may have some recommended reading for the PGCE element of the course. But this isn't necessary!

- brush up on subject knowledge. Doesn't need to be anything too intense, maybe just look at a couple of exam papers for your subject / SATs papers if you're primary, make sure you can do most of it. Once again, not necessary at all, but it may help you feel more prepared going in.

In response to your two questions, I wouldn't recommend planning lessons over the summer. You don't know what you'll be teaching, so it's unlikely you'll use them, and even if the topics do end up being relevant, you'll definitely be better equipped to plan a decent lesson after having started the course. I also wouldn't recommend buying stamps - different schools have different marking policies, and some departments may already have stamps that you can use.

Honestly, it's not something you need to do too much preparation for! You won't be teaching from the first day, and so you will have time during the course to prepare for your first lesson. Better to hold off on buying anything / preparing too much until you've actually been there for a few days at the very least.
I would read the school website to 'get a feel' for policies, way the school is organised, names of key people.

Don't buy anything - they should let you know what is needed. Don't assume anything e.g. www - many schools don't use this.
I did a traditional PGCE so no!

I wouldn't plan as they may well have a specific 'way' of doing it and a pro-forma to use. You should be observing anyway to start with ... get used to the behaviour policy and see how teachers implement it.
I found the time management during my training year pretty difficult, I was definitely putting in a lot of hours - often I did an hour in the morning before school, 1 - 2 hours after school, and about 4 - 6 hours on Sunday. There were definitely periods of 'reprieve' though, like the first week of a new placement where we weren't expected to do any full lesson teaching, just observe ready to take over classes, and also of course the training year usually finishes before the actual end of the school year so you get a long summer. Also, you get free time during the day to plan.

I think you have to accept when going into teaching that things will be very intense to begin with. I'm coming to the end of my NQT+1 year now and my workload has been a lot lighter this year - despite having fewer frees and more additional responsibilities - because I can lean a lot on the bank of lessons I have planned in my training and NQT year. I rarely do any work on weekends, and usually I am out of the school building by 4:30 if there are no meetings, which would have seemed unbelievable to me in my training year!
I teach maths :smile: I think that how much spare time you have partly depends on your own organisation, but also very much depends on the school you work at. I feel like my school has a very fair marking policy that minimises unnecessary 'box-ticking' sort of marking and actively works to reduce staff workload, it's one of the main things that drew me to apply. I know I have friends who work in schools that are totally different, and they definitely do longer hours. Some of my coworkers have told me about schools where it's frowned upon to leave before 5pm (which is mad!). So it's definitely something worth asking about at interview.

Though personal organisation is also important, obviously. One of the most valuable things I did between my training year and NQT year was spend like a week thoroughly organising all of my own resources + resources I had taken from my placement schools on a flash drive. That way, I can find resources that I need in ~1 minute rather than just making new stuff every time, or spending ages trawling through my files.
(edited 2 years ago)
Definitely no need to plan over the summer for a SCITT- the course will teach you how they want you to plan, and the school will support you a lot initially.

If you really want to prep, getting a bank of "ideas" that can be adapted as e.g. starters and plenaries for any lesson may be useful.

But honestly, I would take the summer as a break, a chance to relax, to spend some time doing stuff you enjoy so that you feel mentally happy and resilient for the year ahead!

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you