ECTs Thrown to the Wolves.

[Itjustnevergetsthere]

School support staff member here. Can I ask any subject leads out there why ECTs are given such challenging class groups in their first year of teaching? Or is it just my school that does this?

Shouldn’t happen really, but I expect it does happen a lot, especially if timetables are quite advanced before appointment. I’ve known HoDs who insist on taking all the ‘good bits’ for themselves eg. A level, top set etc. Could a/the union help?

They’re supposed to be given relatively easy groups but the schools definition of relatively easy and theirs doesn’t always match up.

sometimes they’re taking over someone else’s timetable.

Oh, they’ve always done this, it’s a sort of rite of passage in a way.

Yes, there is an element of creaming off the top and trying to avoid Y7s at all costs from established teachers (who I believe ought to be setting the stall out for the younger ones) . I don't think unions would be a popular choice.

They will be taking over a TT , but still they're awash with Y8s and 9s which are very challenging. This is in Science by the way, so all the elements of danger thrown in too.

My dn ect is at a very tough school and has several set 6 groups.
It's not just your school.

It says in the ECF guidance that ECTs should not be given unreasonably challenging classes, certainly not the most challenging and only the most challenging. Most HoD I know are balanced and take on the most challenging groups themselves (and I certainly did before). I expect this is somewhat dependent on subject and school though. It’s poor form to give ECTs the most challenging classes when the guidance says otherwise and we have a teacher shortage.

That's how it should be. Surely ECTs should be given time to hone their craft and build confidence in the first year. I feel so sorry for them. We have a relatively high turnover on our department. That said, they move schools not profession.

I’m a secondary school teacher. I would say that we don’t set out to give ECT’s challenging classes but given their inexperience it tends to be that even decent classes start messing around soon enough.

Good schools avoid giving ECTs the worst classes, although if the difficult kids are well distributed across classes then there is probably no way of avoiding getting some of them. They also need to learn to teach the full ability range, so where there is setting, they probably have to have a bottom set, but a good HoD will try and give them a relatively nice one.

I met two brand new primary teachers on a behaviour management course in July. Apparently they had gone in for induction, and the head had said "we've given you the year 6 classes because nobody else wanted them, but we've booked you on this course". He sounded like a very poor manager.