Devastated.

[Amai]

Was told that i would never make a teacher and could not be trusted to take classes. Also if i continue my Teacher training i would fail. This was by a woman who hadn't even seen me teach. She also said she wouldnt put her 12 year old daughter in one of my classes.

Some days I think I have "it", some days I think I don't! Crikey, must go to bed, and hope I don't have any yr9s tomorrow. I rarely think I have it with yr9s, and certainly never when I have them last period of the day

Roisin, I wouldn't want to be anything less than a good teacher. Well niether would I, are you a teacher by any chance. I have been at this school for 5 weeks, three teaching. This is my second placement my last ended in april. Secondary sch Science. I have never injured a kid and never come in drunk.
I think it is really hard to take comments like the ones i recieved wether they are true or not. The point is it isnt professional and what went on in her office was a form of bullying. She even reminded me of her position as dep head when she is meant to be in charge of teacher training. She said i don't like to pull rank but when you came and asked me something relating to Teacher training the other day i thought you were very rude.

Get a second opinion... how DARE a woman who obviously has no communication skills speak to you like that, especially in the light of her never having seen you teaching!

Some people just think no-one else can do as good a job as them.. I used to work with a woman who refused to have any days off, ot go out for doc's appointments as she said no-one else could do her job.. one day she fell and had to go home... the supervisor asked me to do it, I was a bit anxious and reluctant to do it, until my supervisor said a trained chimp could do it

So, sit down and talk about it, do you have a studies advisor @ Uni? I think you should have, go and have a talk and see where you can go from here, I think you need to see if you really want to be a teacher, it takes guts and determination to stand up and out your neck on the line to prove this deputy head wrong... but if you really really want to be a teacher, grit your teeth and do it... and smile at her when you graduate... very sweetly

How did the previous placement go?

Got to go to bed, but will catch up with this thread tomorrow Amai .

Cod please dont tell me you put teacher trainees through the 'have you thought about another career talk'. I understand some people just dont got it but it is not up to you to judge that, just tick the boxes and keep stum.
I believe that whatever you do in life it is a learning experience and you must try and not give up. Neither should you put an end to other peoples careers based on your personal opinions. As a teacher i reckon you share this belief. Maybe i dont really want to be a teacher and will do badly but earning a decent salary for a couple of years whilst finding out would be nice.

Puff it went ok and I learnt heaps but felt i did nto get enough mentoring. This is my fault though as i did not use my initiative enough to get it. There were no programmes in place for trainees no one ever looked at my lesson plans and i only went have to go in to uni once a month. I did read a few good books of teaching though. My dd was a sleepless ninemonth old and that made extra work really hard.

Message withdrawn

I still think a thorough discussion with your mentor is the best way forward. It sounds as though the course wasn't well organised at the start - is this because of the staff changes? If you have a young child and you are doing a PGCE, it's important that these structures are properly in place because you haven't got time to faff about chasing after people.

If your mentor thinks you should carry on, and you still want to make it as a teacher, then see what happens on the next teaching practice. If that practice doesn't go well, then teaching may not be for you.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Puff i will go and see my mentor agai with all teh bits and pieces i did whilst at the placement. I feel it is too hard at the moment with a young toddler to get in to this teachin g thing but hope fully i will beable to defer it for a while. Not so devastated anymore just a little low on confidence.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and encouragement.

do you have any right to complain to the school?

i must sayi would write a letter explaining my experiences and concerns - maybe c a copy tot he governers?. nothing over the top but just something that makes the deputy head teacher get over herself - what a bitch!

I found my PGCE exhausting with no kids!

Good luck Amai .

FFs Amai, the point about being a trainee teacher is to get things wrong and learn how to improve them. This woman is a complete witch who is just using you as an excuse for her lack of management skills. Surely before she could comment on your teaching she would have needed to observe it?

Are you being left in classrooms on your own? If you are, you have a legitimate grounds for grevience. I suspect this woman is trying to cover for the fact that she leaves you unsupervised and unpaid to do a job you are not yet qualified to do.

Grrr this makes me so mad. I have trainee teachers in my classes all the time. I never leave them unsupervised and I always discuss beforehand what they, or we, are going to do that lesson. It's part of the process of learning. As for 20 action points!!!! Talk about micro managing. She's setting you up to fail.

I think you have more of a grevience against her and the placement as she has against your (imagined, because how can she know for sure?) teaching style. Get in touch with your tutor. Express your concerns. Is that school really the most appropriate placement for trainee teachers given the lack of support and supervision? If necessary make an appointment with the head and ask how it is that such comments can be made without direct observation.

Don't give up on the teaching though.

Dear Slug (cool name). This lady was not meant to be supervising me, she is just head of the Teacher training at the school. I was not ever left unsupervised so no grievence there. Just silly really, I was doing badly (spending hours on lesson plans but never doing the right thing on them, not giving them in the day before the lesson, not doing two copies etc) and couldn't get out of the rut which was made worse by my mentors lack of communication skills. I really want to teach and have faith in myself but it takes time dedication and with my 17 month old that is proving to be too difficult. I would like to complain just so she doesnt treat anyone else like that but don't know how seriously anyone would take me. They may just put it down to me being bitter and malicious. I will mention this at my meeting with the university tutor.

Still, you should have had your lesson plans looked at and any issues with them discussed. That is the job of the mentor. Of course you spend hours on them getting them wrong. We all did at the beginning. I know some teachers now who's lesson plans (only ever done for inspection mind you) make me cringe, and they've been at it for years.

In the new caring and sharing educations system (as you will learn as the years go by) it is NEVER the fault of the student if they fail, the blame almost always ends up at the foot of the teachers. I suggest you take advantage of this attitude while it still works in your favour and insist on knowing what the school is going to do about the mentor who has failed to support and train you adequately.

Amai, if you do decide to carry on, what I would recommend is that you "cover" yourself by making sure that you have all the admin things sorted - ie the lesson plans handed in on schedule, right number of copies etc. These things can easily be picked upon as negatives, which then opens the gates for other criticism to follow.

One of my friends on my PGCE failed because basically she wouldn't "play the game" with her teaching practice file. We were given extremely detailed instructions about how to compile, organise and use them. She didn't follow them and failed the course. Her teaching was pretty sound - experienced teachers who observed her said so, but her uni and school mentors were v critical of her teaching, blaming her teaching practice file, saying it was "symptomatic" of her attitude.

I felt really sorry for her and thought she was treated unfairly. She had two children under 5 and as she said herself, her file may not have been perfect, but all her planning and evaluations were in there, ie she was doing the work.

She would have made a good teacher - I saw her teaching classes a few times and she definitely had what it takes.