PGCE - Current Students Thread

I've been looking over on the TES forums and keep reading about people failing their placements; I would know if I was, right? It seems a stupid question, but how do you know if you're failing? What constitutes failing a placement?

Its been really tough this last couple of weeks; its been knackering. I can feel my progression though, which is good. And I'm losing weight- although I was skinny to begin with ha ha!

I'm an MFL teacher in secondary so could probably pitch in with ideas to help you with teaching.

Getting them to listen is hard work- I currently have a very sore throat! Do you always wait for silence before you speak? It can feel like a lifetime waiting but it's SO worth it.

What sort of work/activities do you give the children?


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That would be amazing if you were able to help. I feel yor pain on the sore throat front. All of my colleagues have been I'll this week and it seems it's now my turn. There are three of us teaching full time plus one part time and the secretary.

I try to wait for silence all the time but it feels like a lifetime. Sometime I hardly get anything done. I give the students group work, pair work, videos from you tube and songs with gap fills. They enjoy the videos and songs but pair and group work is tricky- some end up talking in Spanish or the class as a whole gets very loud.

Pitching activities at the right level is tricky especially with older but low ability students or unmotivated ones.

I've been looking over on the TES forums and keep reading about people failing their placements; I would know if I was, right? It seems a stupid question, but how do you know if you're failing? What constitutes failing a placement?

Its been really tough this last couple of weeks; its been knackering. I can feel my progression though, which is good. And I'm losing weight- although I was skinny to begin with ha ha!

They should let you know if there are any major concerns. Our university tutors told us that they would come in to do additional observations if our school co-tutors reported having 'cause for concern' but that this shouldn't come as a surprise - we'd already be aware if things were that bad.

Sometimes I just ask my co-tutor if things are going OK, to be honest. Feedback is always mixed, with things that went well and things that need to be improved, and if I feel the balance is a bit on the negative side one week I'll just say to her "do you think things are going OK?" and so far she's said yes, and that she isn't worried.

Unless there are problems with your co-tutor, I'd say ask them.

My whiplash is subsiding somewhat, I just have a rather stiff neck now. Planned around 7 lessons on my time off for the week ahead and I'm continuing my first learning assignment. I guess if I'm having the time off I might as well do some work that will contribute positively to the course. M I Rite? Upto 3700 words out of 6000. Beautiful!

HUGE step up from undergrad degree!! (i think the MA students are a little better prepared)

Rant over.

Taking today off, neck is killing me, possibly over did it or something. I'm so sad

I love the school I'm on placement at and I'm getting the hang of teaching then bam, whiplash. So unfair.

Man I felt bad today, tried constantly to tell a girl to be quiet calmly and everything as you should. In the end I just flat out told her to shut up. Felt bad about it. It worked though and the teacher said don't worry about it. Hate that I had to do it though.

Really struggling at the moment. Mentor is only offering criticism, forgetting the 'constructive' part, giving no support or guidance, just emailing me last thing on a Sunday to tell me my first thing on a Monday lesson is basically wrong. She's hardly even been there in over a month due to courses.
Uni couldn't care less, just make me feel like I'm being unreasonable.
My partner did his PGCE last year and is constantly telling me it's not acceptable and that I need to complain. But to who? Noone cares.
All I can do is hope my next placement is at least no worse.

Despite not having a lesson obs higher than a requires improvement, I know that with support I could be good.
But right now I'm not sure i want to. Just doesn't feel worth the fight.

Can't offer any advice, because I am in the exact same position as you. ( though I have no idea where my lessons rank on the 'ofsted' scale thing)

All I can say is, you're not alone. I'm planning on powering through until Xmas, having some well needed sleep, and then catch my breath in time to reflect on things.

I've found that if you are in a 'nice' school, i.e pupils fairly well behaved etc then Uni's attitude tends to be that you should put up and shut-up, as you can't possibly be having problems if they aren't directly pupil related!

Glad I'm not alone. Yeah I'm the same. And then after Christmas only 5 more weeks until I'm done in that school. But then there's the worry of whether my next school will be even worse, because if it is no better I don't know if I'll get through it, especially since I know I'll have no support from uni.

Putting in some applications for graduate schemes over Christmas. I enjoy teaching and know I CAN do it, but not sure I want to after this year. There's just too much absolute cr*p involved, and especially in primary, too much being seen to act like a martyr at the right time and in front of the right people. It just seems to be getting worse and worse.