pgce mentor problem

username5812043

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 1

username5852815

6

That is awful, I am so sorry you had to go through that :frown:

You should 100% report it to your uni for inadequate feedback and perhaps even talk to him about it and say that you would much rather prefer constructive and specific feedback.
Don't let this knock you, you will come across so many people like this who are so enthusiastic put you down
Maybe look into also changing your mentor of that is a possibility

Reply 2

amberrose13

9

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

You are not being pathetic. That is a horrible, completely unconstructive thing to say. I'd be surprised if ANY trainee teacher wouldn't technically fail if they were assessed by Ofsted at this point in their training. Because Ofsted don't assess trainee teachers, only fully qualified ones, so it's a stupid comparison to make anyway.

What he SHOULD have done is given you some positives- like your confidence and positivity in front of the class, or perhaps behaviour management or your ability to engage the class- and then some things to work on, but these should have been given in a professional, constructive way. Even if he did do this, saying Ofsted would've failed you is completely out of line because you're not MEANT to be at that standard yet, you're just learning!

This year, I had a completely horrible observed lesson and my mentor and I spent ages going through what I should've done, what went wrong, etc. It was really helpful and while I didn't feel great after (it doesn't feel great to teach a bad lesson that you're being assessed for!) I didn't feel completely horrible either, I just knew what I had to work on.

I would absolutely report this to your uni and complain about unconstructive feedback. God, it annoys me how quick some teachers are to forget they were trainees once themselves and how they would've felt getting such unhelpful, mean feedback.

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

Hi @missclp

Ask your mentor for some more feedback as to why it would have failed an ofsted inspection and ask for precise feedback on what you could have improved on to make it better for next lesson. If they don't give you specific advice/targets, then they are not doing their mentor role properly and I would then report it.
Personally I wouldn't report it straight away, as I think you could speak to your mentor about this first and see what their feedback is like on your second observation. Then if you feel if you are continuing to receive a lack of support from them, then I would report it and ask to change mentor if possible, or even schools.

However, try not to let this one piece of feedback knock your confidence. Go ahead and show them what an amazing teacher you are and as I said above, they should have given you things to work on to make the lesson better. Make sure you incorporate these and then show them you have taken on board their feedback and taught a great lesson :-)

Hope this helps.
Dan

Reply 4

SarcAndSpark

20

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

Well, firstly, your mentor is wrong, because OFSTED don't grade individual lessons any more!

Was that all the feedback you were given? Because that is hugely unhelpful.

It's usual to be given improvement points, but these are normally specific targets e.g. "wait for silence if the class is talking" "move through the lesson at a faster pace" "have extensions for the more able" etc. It's also usual to be given some praise and to have your mentor tell you something that went well!

I'd ask your mentor (after half term?) for some feedback to work on. If they can't give you this and they continue to give such unhelpful feedback, I would raise it with your uni, not to "report" them, but in a "how do I improve if I'm not given specific actions to take?" way.

You're not being pathetic. That would upset anyone.

Reply 5

Muttley79

20

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

Ofsted don;t grade lessons any more.

Our rules for feedback are three positive points and one area to work on. Go back and ask for detailed feedback and if there is nothing positive then take it further -

Reply 6

PrimaryITE

8

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

As others have noted OFSTED don't grade lessons. If it was a lesson observation, then there should be a form, from your university, that the observer should have to fill out which details what it is they are looking to observe and should then say what went well and where to focus next on improving. Which is the point as you shouldn't be judged against the teachers standards until the end of the course.

Reply 7

SarcAndSpark

20

Original post by PrimaryITE

As others have noted OFSTED don't grade lessons. If it was a lesson observation, then there should be a form, from your university, that the observer should have to fill out which details what it is they are looking to observe and should then say what went well and where to focus next on improving. Which is the point as you shouldn't be judged against the teachers standards until the end of the course.

Most forms from ITT providers ask the observer to judge the trainee against the teacher standards.

However, I agree that they should give positives as well as points for improvement.

Reply 8

ukmaths

1

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

I think you might be unlucky to get comments like that. Nothing is wrong with your performance. Surely, you enjoyed it. That's what really matters. Never get discouraged simply because of some nasty negative feedback. Maybe he didn't mean it. Some of the messages here are really good. The mentor guy probably did not realise how much damage a comment like that could cause to you. Talk to your mentor. If he can give some REAL feedback. then listen and reflect on his comments. If not, you might want to consider getting another mentor. I am not sure if you can switch mentor.

Anyway, try to relax and enjoy and classroom experience. By the way, what do you teach? Trainee teachers are there for the training and improvement process. If everyone is soooo good already, what's the point for PGCE?

Reply 9

PrimaryITE

8

Original post by SarcAndSpark

Most forms from ITT providers ask the observer to judge the trainee against the teacher standards.

However, I agree that they should give positives as well as points for improvement.

Formatively assessed against the standards in order to develop, rather than summatively assessed, is more what I meant.

If the core content framework is being implemented, then standards don't have to be mentioned at this stage. It is possible to just focus on specific skills and strategies that are incorporated into the standard(s). In a similar way attainment targets are broken down, so in developing them the AT are then going to be met at the end of the KS.

Reply 10

SarcAndSpark

20

Original post by PrimaryITE

Formatively assessed against the standards in order to develop, rather than summatively assessed, is more what I meant.

If the core content framework is being implemented, then standards don't have to be mentioned at this stage. It is possible to just focus on specific skills and strategies that are incorporated into the standard(s). In a similar way attainment targets are broken down, so in developing them the AT are then going to be met at the end of the KS.

Yeah, that makes sense. I do think it depends on the ITT provider to a certain extent, but I do understand what you're saying and agree.

Original post by missclp

I'm currently doing my PGCE in secondary education and on placement in a school, I taught a lesson for my first observation and it felt amazing to be in front of the class with so much confidence until my mentor said to me "if that was an ofsted inspection you would have failed" and it completely knocked me. I don't see how a comment like that is supposed to help. He made me feel broken. now I'm doubting every lesson I plan and don't quite know how to pick myself back up. Any advice? Do I report this to my uni? Am I being pathetic? I feel like a failure before I even qualify.

Whenever I see threads with titles like 'PGCE mentor problem', my heart sinks as most of the time it turns out to be a 'PGCE student problem'. That isn't the case here.

I agree with others that that particular piece of 'feedback' is absolutely useless. However, you are taking it too hard. You seem to have gone from elation to despair in an instant. You certainly shouldn't be thinking of reporting anything to your university. If this is the start of a pattern of unhelpful and unsupportive comments, then you could consider this but it is premature after one daft remark. Put it behind you and move forward. Good luck!

(edited 2 years ago)

pgce mentor problem

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