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Tomorrow starts today
Having just finished their probationary year, a group of newly-qualified teachers speak about their experiences, aspirations and concerns.
So, you've come to the end of your probationary period. What's your immediate impression of the experience?
Annette Leask - Shetland (AL): I've loved it! It has passed so quickly though. It's been really good for me, fantastic.
Heather Linton - Dundee (HL): Me too. Everyone said coming straight from a post graduate course that I'd be even more tired, but though I was tired I loved what I was doing - you throw yourself into it and I've loved every minute. It's nice that you have your own class - you're not going in and taking the reins off someone else. You're setting the classroom up the way you want it to be, you're choosing the topics, its up to you - it's your class now!
James Flannighan - Dumfries & Galloway (JF): Definitely. You're putting the work in for your class, and you're seeing the rewards. Whereas in your teacher training, you're there for four or five weeks and although you get rewards during that period, you're not carrying it on afterwards. There is a place for theory, but I'd rather learn the job on the job. This year has been about putting into practise what you've learned.
John Millar - Stirling (JM): I agree with that. As a young teacher you want to be in the classroom teaching. A lot of people have said that going up to .8 is a negative; I don't see that as a negative - I would rather be teaching .8 because .7 wasn't enough for me.
Sara Anne MacLean - Western Isles (SM): Yes. My day out was the worst day of my week. I feel like I didn't really gain that much from it and I could get the resources I needed within my McCrone time. I also found my class didn't do that much that day. Though my half day out with my mentor was fantastic.
AL: I'll shine a slightly different light on that because I felt at my school I got the chance to go and speak in different classes, so I was linking in to the different ages and stages. As my confidence grew I was covering for other classes, which gave me a different experience.
JF: I think the day out is very beneficial up until about Christmas, where you are getting to grips with the school and the community and also the policies, procedures and resources within the school and how you can harness them in the classroom.
SM: Yes. Come January I just wanted to be in my class teaching my children.
JM: I think it [the experience] depends a lot on where your placement is. My head teacher gave me a lot of leeway, which meant I had the freedom to get involved in a lot of inter-disciplinary projects, which opened up my insight to a lot of different aspects of schooling.
What are the main learnings you would take from your experiences?
AL: Be flexible. You can sit all weekend making plan and plan and plan, and someone arrives in the classroom and says 'this is all gone - we're doing this'.
HL: You have to be adaptable to cope, especially in school. Assembly gets cancelled - you've got to come up with something. You have to be extremely organised as well, always have a back up plan. Sometimes the children will whizz through a lesson you thought was going to take ages, so you've got to have something else organised.
JM: You need to know your pupils. The saying that sticks in my mind is: 'You're a teacher of your pupils - then you're a teacher of your subject.' You've got to know the pupils' names - what they like, what they dislike - their interests and their backgrounds.
HL: They respect you more if you take the time to get to know them.
SM: I know it sounds like a cliché, but I learned you should always evaluate what you have done. Sitting down with my mentor and saying: 'that didn't work' and exploring an alternative is vital.
JF: As long as you don't put yourself down! Use it constructively, ask what can I do to fix or improve this - always look at things positively. As teachers we need to accept that we'll never know everything - you are always learning and developing. You also need to harness the knowledge and experience of other teachers, so that you are more able to support your class.
JM: That is one great thing about .7 - it gives you the time and opportunity to go and watch other teachers and learn from their practise.
SM: Working with other teachers has definitely been a really positive thing for me. You have good ideas and you discuss them with others and their input makes them into great ideas. Before you know it, you have a really good project that you wouldn't have come up with on your own. It's the same with the children. Bounce ideas off them, ask them what and how they want to learn - they can come back with some really excellent ideas.
What was the highlight?
HL: The whole experience is the highlight. Everything, from the planning to having your own class. There is no other job like it!
JF: That moment when the light switches on and the children grasp something you've been teaching them is so magical - so rewarding.
AL: We were going for the John Muir award and I had to go across The Postman's Walk and all the children were cheering - but they didn't know that I was terrified! They were all saying they'd go after me and they did - there was a real feeling that we were going through this together.
HL: We were doing some gardening work and it came to break time. Some of the children asked if they could just keep gardening, and I was delighted. That's when I knew I had their attention and they were engaged.
SM: When you have a good relationship with the children they come out with the funniest things. The other thing is when at parents evening a parent told me how their child's confidence had grown over the year - that gave me such a humongous boost!
JM: With PE, you have children with such diverse capabilities. I had one child who was one of the best in floor routines in Britain, while others could hardly do a forward roll. By the end of the six week block, all of them had moved on - they all experienced success criteria within their relative abilities - every pupil had achieved something, regardless of
where they started.
What was the lowlight?
JM: I had a meeting with my rector and he said to me that outstanding teachers do not get highlighted enough. Teaching is the only profession whereby you get paid more simply for getting older - not necessarily for getting better. As a result, you can have outstanding young teachers who are pushed into being principals even when they are not ready, but they feel pressured because they are stifled. There is no incentive to being exceptional - no financial incentive anyway. There has to be some sort of performance scale, whereby top performers get highlighted for their efforts and achievements.
What makes a perfect probationer teacher? Can there be any such thing? Probably not, we're all human after all. But what do our probationers think are the attributes needed to succeed?
HL: Be a good listener. Take on board advice wherever it comes from
and respond.
JF: James Flannighan Be creative. Find imaginative solutions to problems.
SM: Be passionate. Have a real desire to do the best you can for your pupils.
AL: Have empathy. Understand your pupils, their lives, their circumstances.
JM: Be innovative. Stay on the front foot - act and don't react.
Top tips for probationers:
HL: Prepare to the Nth degree. And prepare for the unexpected!
JM: Enjoy your holidays. Otherwise you'll soon be exhausted.
SM: Don't take work home, set a cut off time and stick to it.
JF: Establish a good relationship with your supporter/mentor
AL: Keep your online profile up to date. It isn't hard and it makes life easier