Would I be offered a new placement school?

[calmingandsoothing]

I am starting a new PGCE placement in January which I will be driving to get too, what would happen if for whatever reason I stopped driving, let's say I am involved in an accident which makes me too scared to drive.

The place I am going to is pretty much inaccessible by public transport and I was given the placement as I said I could drive. No other student is going to the same school as me. Would I be offered a new school in that situation? The only other option I could think of is having to get a taxi twice a day to get there and back.

I should stress that I am not planning on stopping driving but wondering what would happen if I did for whatever reason.

@MargaretThursday my first boyfriend drove with no working arms at all.

It was a scenario to ponder unrelated to driving.

If there is an actual reason you think that you may not be able to drive in January i would start looking at alternatives.

If it's anxiety and you'll have a working car, driving licence and haven't had a recent accident I would not even think about it. If the drive is making you anxious I'd do the journey every day between now and then and it won't be a problem by the start of term.

Hey OP. I am also doing my training and I think that there's a chance you are worried about the placement and it's coming out as a worry about the commute. From what I and my cohort are experiencing this is normal! It will be okay! If a placement is a real nightmare remember you are only there for a short time and this will help you when you look for a job to know what you like or don't like.

If you are travelling from a town/city, you might find there is someone who can give you a lift. At the first school I taught in, we had several car pools travelling from the city, and we found places for PGCE students in those car pools (one year I swapped pool to make that easier). We had a "going rate" for petrol money for non-drivers in the pools. Car pools are brilliant - a half hour drive home chatting with colleagues is great for professional development.

It's fairly unlikely that something is going to stop you driving but not stop you being fit enough to do the PGCE placement this term!

Being the only trainee in a school can be a bit lonely - that happened to me as I did my teaching practice at a different time to most. Make sure you keep in touch with fellow students so that you know that it's not just you that feels you'll never get year 8 to be quiet.

Do you not like the school you're going to be placed at, @calmingandsoothing?

Are you planning to tell them you've had an accident and are too scared to drive, in hopes of a new placement somewhere closer to home?

I would assume if you have been given that placement then that’s the placement . When I did my nurse training many years ago some people were given really out of the way DN /HV placements and most of the cohort didn’t have a car , you just had to find a way .

I doubt they could organise an alternative at such short notice.

To be actually helpful...

My car broke down on the way to placement one morning. I called in from the side of the road and explained I would be late, recovery driver took me on to placement and car to the garage. Later they delivered a courtesy car while they were working on mine. When that ran out I hired a car till the end of placement.

On another placement I had a minor accident. Again, courtesy car while mine was being fixed. It never occurred to me to be too nervous to drive though

So in summary, you just deal with it!