Your Application And The Beginning Of Your ITT Year
Picking the correct training provider for you. Whether this may be based on location, nearby schools, a more academic route at university or a preferred online, distant learning course. As long as it suits you best, this is the first important decision to make when embarking on your teacher training year. Find out! Speak with people you already know in the profession who have had to make these decisions before you, visit a few universities. For me, living in East Sussex, the University of Brighton offered everything that was important to me. A great range of partnership schools, excellent support from academic tutors and lecturers in pedagogy, as well as the vibrant university student support system it has to offer on the south coast. I knew I wanted a PGCE along with my QTS, too.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I think this is such an important one. Don’t wait for others to make you look good; bring out the best in yourself from day one. Your PGCE year is effectively the longest interview you’ll ever have, so make good impressions and show yourself in the best light. Also, discussing your weaknesses, I like to refer to these as areas for improvement, is a sign that you are willing to learn and become a better version of you. What better time or place to do this than during your first SBT1 placement. A fantastic thing about school, and the key thing I always keep in the back of my mind, is that every member of staff will be willing to go out of their way to help you wherever they can. To have a passion to work with students every day, whether it be a teaching and learning route or a more pastoral role, highlights the selflessness teaching staff have. For you individually, know the skills you naturally excel at, and work hard to improve those that take a little more time- which is part of the process. Remind yourself teaching requires commitment and grit- but you knew that before you signed up for it!
Be prepared to accept you just can’t do everything! Personally, I am and always have been a perfectionist, I won’t go to bed until I have ticked everything off of my to-do list from the day. Sometimes, that doesn’t work, you will adjust to realising that you simply just cannot complete everything in one day. You will run yourself into the ground and that is not something you can afford to do in the first term of your first placement. Do what you can in the hours you have allocated yourself and learn to prioritise. If you haven’t already- become organised- buy a good diary, ask for a school planner, print off your timetable each week. Time management is the key to successful learning, both yours and your students. At the end of the day, that is hopefully why you wanted to join this rewarding and dynamic profession
Thank you, Maths Teacher Training Scholarship Team, for a fantastic workshop and for continually highlighting teacher training tips.
Rebecca Triggs