I started my second placement last week. Within that time I have had an observation by my mentor (for the first lesson I taught), who gave me nothing but negative feedback and completely ignored the fact that I had chosen a target for her to focus on and didn’t comment on it. My school lead came and spoke to me and said I was struggling (after ONE observation) and this week my uni tutor came to visit. She was supposed to visit next week but my mentor said that she (uni tutor) wouldn’t be able to watch me teach due to PPA and so she was coming this week instead. She came today and observed my lesson. When I went to speak to her after, she said nothing about my lesson just that she knew I was struggling. The school have decided to keep me on 25% for two more weeks rather than the 50% (only have 5 more weeks of the placement left). She then said that “they” had decided to put me on a sort of report and that she would be observing me next week.
So my mentor has failed to mention that all this discussion is going on to me, I expected a bit of talk about my lesson and a folder check but all I got was negative feedback. My mentor purposely didn’t tell me that my tutor was coming in because they were “concerned”.
Should they be saying all this behind my back and not mentioning it to me? I cried I was so upset about what my tutor said to me as I had no idea it was all going on. I cried almost solidly for an hour when I got home and just feel like my confidence is really going to be affected by this. I can’t see a way out at the minute.
Also, all the things they’re concerned about haven’t been brought up before now. If I knew there were any issues I could have been working on them. Should this not have been the case BEFORE escalating it so much?
Last edited by h0llandr0ad; 4 weeks ago
I am in my RQT year and cried for the first time last term. Teaching is tough. Everyone is criticised more or less all the time. Just when you think you are on top of it, something else comes along. It is the nature of the job I am afraid. Those who survive and thrive in this wonderful career are the ones that get knocked back but then stand up, brush themselves off and get back onto the saddle. What you need to do right now is go to your tutor and ask one simple question - "What do I need to do to get back on track?"
Hang in there. If you only have a few more weeks to go you might as well stick it out till then end.
Good luck!
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