...to quit my PGCE?

[fridascruffs]

I am doing a 'part time' PGCE through the OU. When I signed up, it was 3 years and a certain amount of the school placements could be done full time., so I had to have only 5 weeks then 8 weeks off work for full time school placement.

Once I started the course, it came out that they'd reduced it to 2 years and NONE of the placements could be done part time except the first 2 weeks, leaving me to negotiate 4 weeks, 8 weeks, then 10 weeks off work in a 2 year period. I've done the 4 weeks placement.

My tutor keeps telling me she's never had anyone successfully complete the PGCE while holding down a job, especially while having young DCs (I am alone with them, have them all the time). Someone else told me on the phone I shouldn't expect to be able to work during the PGCE- in spite of the fact that their marketing booklet on the course uses a woman who had to continue her job during the PGCE as a case study. I can't quit work.

Now that I am on the course, I am finding it very poorly run. I keep finding ut about stuff that I'm supposed to do after I have failed to do it- there is no central list of what you're expected to do when, so you have to trawl their website for clues as to what's expected.

The last straw happened a week ago- they told me I had to teach a sex education unit as the centrepiece of my 8 week school placement. I am doing a physics PGCE and have no intention of teaching biology. I don't want to be judged on how well I teach sex education, for which I have zero enthusiasm. I would probably not use the PGCE for straightforward teach-in-a-school jobs as there are no longer many part-time jobs; I'd do tutoring and home schooled kids instead, so i don't necessarily need it.

I don't like to quit, but that's just about my only motivation to continue at this point.
WWYD?

...I have negotiated reducing my hours for the 8 week placement with my employer, and they will consider the 10 week placement depending on how the 8 week placement goes for them. I'd ned the OU to give me an extension on the deadline in order to finish, as well as permission from my employer to take the 10 weeks off.

So it is a biology unit you are doing? I really think if you are doing a PGCE then you need to get experience in all areas of Science teaching. Much as I need Physics teachers (I am a Head of Science), I need people who can teach a reasonable timetable, and that rarely consists only of A level, although a physicist would get closer than most!

I reckon I could teach sex education, and my subject is IT!

'Sex Education isn't biology.'

Sex Education isn't biology.

I must have been doing it wrong

i have had the impression that schools are hierarchical places, you do as you're told and you shut up
Well yeah pretty much, within reason though. You can't apply to a job and say "oh and I only want to teach A Level" especially if you want your timetable over 4 days.

Fair enough Madonna. If it was just this one incident i don't think I'd be too bothered, but after all the hassle of not knowing what they want and not getting key information until too late, I am hugely irritated with it. They could easily have swapped the Y7 for the Y8- still biology, and I'd still have to do the Y7 reproduction unit, but it wouldn't be my main placement project. That's what gets me- it would've cost them nothing to swap it round, and it all seems a bit jobsworth to me.

IS it biology, or is it some kind of integrated biology/PSHE sex ed thing? Because, as I said, our trainees of all persuasions have to do sex ed (which we do in PSHE). I had an English trainee in my PSHE lessons with me for that bit. Which might be why they are insisting. Although they could say.

What is your objection to doing it BTW? Because it is a very standard teaching requirement.

Dial M- sixth form college was the plan.

I think you should persist but it does seem the OU is in breach of contract. I know you have a bursary but in reliance on their assurance you could do it over 3 years you booked the course and they change teh rules after and you have these long up to 10 week placements whilst trying to hold down your job. It's not acceptable. Presumably ltos of others are affected by the change. If enough of you objected could you not make them hold to their original contract?

Madonna- my objection is that I have a lot of aspects of teaching to get right- assessment, differentiation, behaviour management etc etc at the next level, and i did not get much in the way of useful useful feedback from my mentor on the first placement. He's now saying he'll give me ' all the support i need' to teach these sex ed classes (which are within the biology unit but they look like sex ed to me) which is really a waste of time. I didn't get a load of required stuff done that i was supposed to on the last placement because he wasn't available. It's a distraction and is going to take time away from learning useful things about teaching. It already has.
But there seems to be a consensus- if i want to teach physics and maths and chemistry, then I have to expect to teach other stuff that i have no interest in. It's mad, but that's how it is.

Even if you plan on teaching in a sixth form college, when you do a PGCE you have to teach across at least 2 Key Stages. Most students do KS3 and 4. KS5 is rarely given to a trainee. I observed some KS5 lessons on my PGCE but never taught any.

It's not mad it's perfectly reasonable. How do you think schools would manage their timetables if every member of staff only taught the subjects that interested them? Can you think of any job where people get to only do the bits they like?

"Dial M- sixth form college was the plan"

Well, you will find that A level teaching is a small proportion of the timetable here too. I taught in one for 5 years, and A levels were part of my timetable for only two of those years, and a small part, at that. The days of having to acheive a certain level before being allowed into 6th form are long gone. most 6th formers are students who have messed up badly, and are still trying to get to grips with the basics, reading, writing, numeracy, getting up in the morning, switching on acomputer, sitting still, not hitting the person next to you, etc. You would not be just teaching science, but also English, maths , citizenship, PSHE, contraception, etc etc etc

I've tutored 4 x PGCE students in the last three years, and as a Head of Faculty, I have to say that you seem, to be harsh, somewhat naive ... the reality of the workplace, even for someone who can offer a shortage subject is, get in, roll your sleeves up & get on with whatever is thrown your way. My first PGCE student had come from Pakistan with excellent degree & post-grad qualifications, but was forced to do the whole (UK dumbed-down) version, while also supporting his young family in this country (he worked nights as an HGV driver). The others have had varied home backgrounds, but all of them have taught Citizenship, helped with form tutoring, and demonstrated flexibility across the age & subject range. We employed one of them (interviewed before the end of his placement so we could grab him), and the other two both got jobs at first or second interview. It often helps if your placement has been in a challenging school such as mine. My advice, cruel to be kind, is to suck it up & try to get on with it. Good luck.

I did a degree and then started a PGCE - I found that I hated "being a teacher" and it wasn't for me. Is that what you have found?

I took the 3 full years to complete my PGCE but I had a year "off" as I had a baby in the middle.
I must stress that the course is NOT part time- but it is FLEXIBLE!! If your school are happy for you to have part time days then great but all my school placements were full time- but only for 4 weeks, then 8 weeks, then 10 weeks.

I dont really understand why you would still work during your L3 placement- by that time you will be nearly finished and surely looking to apply for NQT jobs? I met a few people on the saturday schools who started off working during the shorter placements but nobody who continued right until the l3 stage.

Everybody has to teach a second subject. It might be that when you apply for jobs- you find your perfect physics only, a level part time job- but until then, its good to learn to teach other subjects. As I said- I am qualified to teach a subject that I only did myself at school for 6 mos- I literally know nothing about it- but so far I havnt actually had to teach it in my job- I just had enough knowledge to get through the PGCE.

You need to be flexible- like in any job or training- show that you are up for anything- one thing I have learnt in schools is that something you think makes little impact may actually have a huge impact somewhere else in the school- for example- it might mean that a different teacher has to observe you, they might have given you an "easy" group to teach- I would go with the timetable they have given you and learn from your experience. Again- once you are actually teaching you dont get any choice on your timetable!

I have heard nothing about having to complete the course within 2 years- I would kick up a fuss- when you first started they would have issued you a date by when you have to complete the course by-I would check because surely if you ahve started under those t+c then they cant change them? Are you sure it isnt just for new starters?

Stick with it if you want the PGCE qualification. It is valuable currency both here and abroad. You can't be too specific about what you will end up teaching, even if you have preferences.

The Reproduction unit is part of year 7 biology.

As others have said, as a science teacher you are expected to teach all 3 sciences, particularly at KS3 if not at KS4 too, and I think even as a physics specialist you'd probably be lucky to find a job in a school that was A level physics only. In an ideal world we'd all stick to our specialisms, I am lucky (or rather my students are, because I'd be rubbish) that I don't teach physics at all in my current school.

I nearly quit my PGCE, it was a shambles. My mentor left at Easter, so we spent a term covering her lessons with nobody actually training us at all on placement, my uni tutor knew nothing of this. It was only the fact that I had a teaching job lined up for afterward that kept me going.

Oh yes, and the advice given to me when I was a PGCE student is to just do what they ask you to and don't kick up a fuss. It doesn't go down well and the school has the power the fail you.

Hm, tricky... I agre me with whoever said earlier that most people think their PGCE courses are badly run so I think YABU to consider quitting for that reason. So long as you're getting teaching experience & learning the curriculums & all the safeguarding stuff then I think you should just suck up the lack of organisation on the part of the OU.

I was going to ask what you do for work & whether it would be possible to quit that instead of the PGCE because it is bloody hard work & I can't imagine doing it & holding down another job (I salute you for trying!)

However, I have to say that your later posts make you sound a bit arrogant and your assumption that it would be 'easy' to swap around the yr 7 and yr 8 options is very naive. As a trainee you do need to fit into the school, be helpfu and teach what they want you to teach (what they think is in your best interests & the best interests of the children they're responsible for) I'm an english teacher & have had to do a bit of sex ed, some home ec & art along the way. TBH if one of the students I mentored made that kind of suggestion I'd be pretty cross. I put a lot of effort into pgce timetables & mentoring & have to be careful to get the balance right for my pupils, colleagues & mentees (in that order) Criticising the schemes of work can also come later. For now, just get the practise of teaching them!

Hm, tricky... I agre me with whoever said earlier that most people think their PGCE courses are badly run so I think YABU to consider quitting for that reason. So long as you're getting teaching experience & learning the curriculums & all the safeguarding stuff then I think you should just suck up the lack of organisation on the part of the OU.

I was going to ask what you do for work & whether it would be possible to quit that instead of the PGCE because it is bloody hard work & I can't imagine doing it & holding down another job (I salute you for trying!)

However, I have to say that your later posts make you sound a bit arrogant and your assumption that it would be 'easy' to swap around the yr 7 and yr 8 options is very naive. As a trainee you do need to fit into the school, be helpfu and teach what they want you to teach (what they think is in your best interests & the best interests of the children they're responsible for) I'm an english teacher & have had to do a bit of sex ed, some home ec & art along the way. TBH if one of the students I mentored made that kind of suggestion I'd be pretty cross. I put a lot of effort into pgce timetables & mentoring & have to be careful to get the balance right for my pupils, colleagues & mentees (in that order) Criticising the schemes of work can also come later. For now, just get the practise of teaching them!

Sorry. Now I sound like the arrogant one! "You WILL listen; I will post twice to make sure of it!"

Albertcamus- thank you, that is good advice I think.

whatever117- I like the teaching. I am not sure if I would fit in to the working culture, though.
Johntp-I was accepted then had to do a year of physics; only when I passed the physics course could I begin the PGCE. Some time in the interim they had changed it from 3 years to 2, but I only found out by chance,they never actually informed me. It was too late by then to change, I would've lost a year. As for applying for jobs after Level 3- I will be half dead by them, I planned to take a bit of time out and try to remember my kids' names for a while before tackling the NQT year.
I know that you are all right- I am probably being a wuss. I have to see if I can get my motivation back to keep plugging away at it. Many thanks for your time, everyone, it's kind of you to help. I have been stressed out of my head so it's good to get a bit of perspective.

Contact your tutor or someone "higher up" in the OU, to explain the situation. Try the welfare office etc.