Teachers, Trainees and NQT chat thread!

I have a question. What happens to us if the schools get shut down again for extended periods of time? Will we just lose this year, or will that be accounted for?

Last year, PGCE students and NQTs were just passed on the basis of placements they had completed. If schools shut early in the year, you might have to do a longer placement in the summer term?

I don't really think the school system could cope without NQTs coming through, so I very much doubt the year will be a write off!

What if you struggle in your first placement? Not necessarily where you're at risk of failing or anything like that but if you're certainly not ready to teach? I take it in that case, you would just have to go back in September (or whenever the lockdown is done) and either continue at your previous school or do another placement? I'm not sure I'll be able to afford not being paid until December next year!

Not necessarily. At my uni, they gave extra support to those who hadn't quite met the standards (due to placement schools closing or personal situations) as there was no longer the statutory 120 day requirement in school. I don't know any student that is going back in September (there might be) but the vast majority were passed in the summer.

Oh, that's really reassuring, thank you! I can't imagine myself being a complete natural in the classroom and will probably need a bit more time to 'get there' than other people, so I was a bit worried about this.

I think almost-complete school shutdown like March is very unlikely as schools are being highly prioritised by the government but it'd be daft to rule any possibility out at this point!

Thank you for your reply!

Don’t worry. Try not to compare yourself with others (they’ll tell you this on the course) but everyone’s journey is different. You’ll all come from different starting points. Your experience on placement will be different but just focus on your journey.

What route are you doing? (PGCE, school direct, SCITT)?

What if you struggle in your first placement? Not necessarily where you're at risk of failing or anything like that but if you're certainly not ready to teach? I take it in that case, you would just have to go back in September (or whenever the lockdown is done) and either continue at your previous school or do another placement? I'm not sure I'll be able to afford not being paid until December next year!

Last year most people had basically had 2 full placements by the time lockdown hit- although I know this isn't the case at all unis. I think if you had only completed one, then it would be tricky.

I don't think schools would be shut for so long that you'd only do one placement, it's more likely that placements will be disrupted and you may miss additional time on placement due to needing to get tested or needing to self isolate. This is likely to vary from person to person and school to school.

My expectation would be that if you miss a lot of time in school over the winter, you'll have to do extra in the summer term. It's only usually if you interrupt that you would need to do an additional placement in the autumn.

Honestly, I would put this under the heading of things you can't control. What you can control is how hard you work and how you take feedback in your placements, so that you get a positive report assessment from placement one! So I would focus on this, more than things you can't control!

Thank you for your response! This is excellent advice. It's good to know I'd likely have to go back in the summer term if anything happened in winter; I've financially planned to be without much income until September next year. I don't mind doing 'extra' time; it was just the prospect of going back in September that made me a bit concerned.

I'm honestly so nervous about starting right now that I'm overthinking things! I think once I've learned from my uni during Welcome Week how things are going to work, I'm going to feel much calmer. I just know very little at the moment.

The thing is, nobody knows what is going to happen. It is obviously a good idea to anticipate some disruption in school, but it will vary a lot by area and probably by individual school.

People at the same uni are likely to have different experiences and it's possible you could get really unlucky. I mean, worse case scenario is probably a bad case of covid and lots of time off, which would probably lead to interrupting and having to go back in September. But you can't control that completely- you can be careful with social distancing and mask wearing (especially from other adults), be diligent with hand washing, limit your social activities and so on. But you may just be unlucky.

There is so much this year no-one can control, and the PGCE is stressful enough, so I would focus mainly on positive things you CAN do!

Thank you. Yes, being realistic about possible disruptions while focusing on the things within my control is definitely going to be the best approach!!

It's so nice to have a rational thought-out response to my panicking!

I doubt much will come out over the bank holiday weekend, sorry!

But when schools go back, you may start to see things like maternity cover adverts etc come out. Obviously there won't be loads of these, but worth keeping an eye out for!

I do think it's possible we'll see more resignations than normal for Christmas, but I may be wrong!

What if you struggle in your first placement? Not necessarily where you're at risk of failing or anything like that but if you're certainly not ready to teach? I take it in that case, you would just have to go back in September (or whenever the lockdown is done) and either continue at your previous school or do another placement? I'm not sure I'll be able to afford not being paid until December next year!

Thank you. Yes, being realistic about possible disruptions while focusing on the things within my control is definitely going to be the best approach!!

It's so nice to have a rational thought-out response to my panicking!

I managed to take a day of obsessively checking for the bank holiday .
I’ve seen a few maternity covers and jobs for Jan come out, not appropriate for me but still that’s a positive!

I’m wondering if there will be resignations too. I was talking to a teacher I know and two teachers who were going to leave their school this summer didn’t but may before next summer. We shall see!! Hope the new term is going well for you .

Thank you. Yes, being realistic about possible disruptions while focusing on the things within my control is definitely going to be the best approach!!

It's so nice to have a rational thought-out response to my panicking!

Try to get assignments done before you go into school, if you can. We had our first assignment due in just after February half term and I had written mine by Christmas, it meant that I didn’t have to worry about it during my placement and could concentrate on lesson planning whilst others in my group had lesson planning and an assignment to write.