Graduate Teacher Programme

[notnigella]

Is anyone doing or thinking about doing the Graduate Teacher Programme? I will be applying for it next month to start Sept 2008 and wondered if anyone has any advice / comments / chat.

We have several staff at school who did the GTP, and one new one just started. I keep thinking of possibly doing it, but not for a couple of years yet.

Are you thinking of primary or secondary? What subject?

am applying for primary, ks1 and 2. lo is now 7 months old...

if anyone knows of any schools in surrey which take gtp's would love to know about them...

Do you have to find a school placement first? Or apply for a place on the training first?
Can I ask what background/experience are you coming from?

If you can get a place then GTP is a great route into primary teaching, but it is very competitive atm. Good luck!

Someone has just started doing it at our school(juniors, she's working with Year 4) but I don't really know much about it - I could ask her if you have any questions.

roisin, guess you are a teacher?
on the gtp you have to find a school willing to train you and submit a joint app to the "designated recommending body". not much exp, still on mat leave so have done one week in an infant school and am doing another week in a junior school later this month

rustybear, where is that?

I work as a cover supervisor in secondary school.

Hi notnigella. I did the GTP a few years ago. I have recommended the TES staffroom before but it really is a wealth of information for all things teaching and the people there are very supportive. They have a gtp forum which is a good place to start, although many areas have been fazing out the GTP in favour of the SCITT training course , which is similar in that you get lots of school based experience but it is balanced with more structure and academic focus than the GTP, it's kind of somewhere between the GTP and the PGCE.

HTH

It's in Wokingham, notnigella. The person doing it is an ex mum (I mean her dc's are expupils at our school)and she has worked as a TA at a secondary school. She did some pre PGCE experience at our school last year and was going to go to college, but it fell through for some reason, and she spent the rest of the year as a TA, and then our head suggested she should do the GTP. I know she's shadowing the year 4 teacher at the moment and I think she goes to college as she's not in every day, but I'm not sure what else she does.

Thanks Schnapps,

I have subscribed to TES and logged into their GTP forum and resources. Am waiting to hear from a local school where I got some experience if they will take me on.

I do think that doing an employment based training is the best way to go (I just finished a PGCE), as it is much more practically based, and of course, you get a wage! However, in conversation with colleagues who have done the GTP, and others who have done the SCITT, the SCITT does seem a bit more balanced. I think the GTP can be very stressful trying to work full time and do all the required essays/paperwork at the same time. I am not sure but I think the SCITT gives you time to do some of those things.

I did half a PGCE, but I gave it up because I found the workload of combining looking after a small child and coping with teaching too much. In my second placement I was teaching 18 hours a week. I was spending at least three hours preparing each one hour lesson. I just burnt myself out. The discipline side of working in a secondary school is really hard work. For example giving little Tommy a detention for misbehaving in your lesson is in affect a detention for yourself.

A lot depends on your quality of your mentor. I had a wonderful mentor in my first placement school, but the mentor in my second placement school was an evil bitch from hell. She was proud of the fact that her marriage broke up because of the pressures of her NQT year.

I believe that GTP people do about 80% time table very quickly. In comparison a PGCE student only has 40% time table to start off with and 60% time table at the end.

Personally I think teaching is a job that you learn by doing. I think that GTP would be great for someone who has had a lot of experience of working with kids in a school as a cover supervisior or an LSA. For someone with little experience of working in a school teaching 80% time table would be really tough.

One advantage of the PGCE route is that you get interesting experiences. For example I got to spend time in a primary and a special school. I also had some voice training. However a lot that lecturers tell you is complete rubbish.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

A few friends of mine is doing this and finding the work load on top of the college side of the work very hard. One is very dediated and is up at 5 am and works until late too just to keep on top of eveything.

They both have school aged children and need to arrange before and after school care and coer for TD days. etc.

Good luck I am sure it will be worth it in the end.

Just a thought, the OU do teacher training, and you can fit it round your responsibilities etc. Also if you have done some teacher training, they take that into account, so you may need to do a shorter course, than someone with no experience. Not sure of the fees though.

We had a student on GTP, she was really good, but it was v hard work. Harder than a PGCE IMO, and that is very hard work. However felt she was much better qualified to teach, than someone who had done PGCE, as learning on the job is a much more effective way of gaining experience.

Just a thought, the OU do teacher training, and you can fit it round your responsibilities etc. Also if you have done some teacher training, they take that into account, so you may need to do a shorter course, than someone with no experience. Not sure of the fees though.

We had a student on GTP, she was really good, but it was v hard work. Harder than a PGCE IMO, and that is very hard work. However felt she was much better qualified to teach, than someone who had done PGCE, as learning on the job is a much more effective way of gaining experience.