PGCE - what happens if you fail in terms of later recruitment?

[golemmings]

DH has sailed through his first 2 placements (KS2) and is really struggling with his final one (KS1). he is worried that he's not 'getting' the level right and I suspect that panic is now causing him to get it more wrong. he has his final assessment in 2 weeks. If he doesn't pass then he can resit the placement in a different school. His placement is challenging; its a mixed group so year 1 & 2 and at that age the bottom ability of year 1 is vastly different from the top end of year 2.

In terms of job hunting is it likely to make any great difference if he's looking for a Christmas start rather than a September start or will schools be less inclined to consider him because he had to retake the placement?

Anybody got any experience or can offer any advice?

What is his placement school's view? There is a lot of difference between him feeling a failure and actually being likely to fail. It's not brilliant to have to retake a placement, but is he more likely to be looking for key stage two jobs? I know my brother in law retook a placement and still got a job quickly.

His head teacher is not even prepared to discuss failure. He will move heaven and earth to ensure DH passes but DH's headspace was so messed up last night that he was close to giving up. If he can sort his brain out I think he'll be fine but his confidence has been badly shaken by having to have a third observation from uni; usually they only do one... and the next one is the penultimate day of the placement so it really is make or break. He is looking for a KS2 job.

I got my job at Christmas rather than in September.... passed my PGCE so I can't comment on that aspect of it, but in my area there were still a good number of vacancies for a term 2 start. And there's always supply work (which is what I did for the first term) if needs be.

If the school is supportive then he should be fine. I know the messed head feeling. I wish I could help-he could do with someone giving him some really solid, confidence building time to go over his planning, because his head ( not headteacher!)will be all over the place. But if the school is supportive then he is halfway home. So don't even entertain failure either. Key stage one and two are such different animals that some people never cross from one to the other in a career let alone a pgce. So he is going to make a fantastic teacher and needs to get through this with the support of the school. Not sure I'm much help, but the school being on his side is absolutely critical and he seems to have that. Can't be easy for you either.

You've got all those teachers who come back in September, after 6 weeks of not being so knackered that they can actually HAVE a sex life and discover they're pregnant - so there'll be maternity cover posts around at the least (which would be inductionable for you).

Thanks folks! That's very comforting. I don't think he'll fail; I just like to plan for contingencies.