Schools Direct stress?

[Bitlost]

My husband is retraining as a teacher on the Schools Direct programme and I was wondering if anyone had any experience they could share. I have never seen him so stressed out and he's just told me he feels like crying half of the time. He's getting excellent reports from his lecturers who observe his classes yet he's constantly put down/undermined by his colleagues. The teacher he works for is full of praise but then other teachers come into the classroom, overrule her and criticise him in a most unconstructive way.

If you've been on the programme, what's been your experience? Did you feel experienced colleagues were trying to trip you up? Were you stressed out your mind? Or did it all go swimmingly?

Not had that much to do with Schools Direct - but I doubt it is the whole national programme that is the issue. It may be the specific school or it may be a wider issue.
Have you seen this thread - this is one of the issues some experienced teachers are facing that is driving them out of the profession!
One aside - the other colleagues observing his lessons may be more of an expert in either a subject or in assessing the quality of teaching and learning than the class teacher he is working alongside, so may have legitimate comments to make. However, it is how it is fed back that I would be concerned about.

Think this is pretty typical tbh. Is it the fast track scheme? I am a teacher and think that these schemes are total crap. It takes time to build up the skills and confidence and these schemes just pile on the pressure too quickly. Teaching is turning into a nightmare job tbh.

No it is not a fast track scheme cansu ... basically a school based PGCE (one full year).

Bitlost I'm afraid what your husband is experiencing has nothing to do with his course and a great deal to do with the climate in education at this time.

DD is doing teacher training (school based too) and finding similar issues. Lots of pressure, very up and down - one day she is told she is great, the next she is crushed and told she is doing lots wrong. I am in teaching too and sadly it is just the nature of the PGCE year (I don't agree with it though). Everyone finds it incredibly hard and overwhelming. DD has weeks where she is on the edge of tears and weeks where she loves it. It seems to be one extreme or the other. I have never seen her so exhausted and crushed though.
Just keep reminding him it will get easier and try and help him keep perspective.

Thank you all so much and sorry to hear about your bad experiences. Dh got an email from school today (very poor feedback) and is now having a major breakdown. Never seen him like this and now very worried about him.

I'm sorry he's having such a rough time but I'm afraid it's become very much an occupational hazard for teachers

That's what I have come to realise. Lots of pressure for little gain frankly. My teachers got much more out of us with a quarter of the workload. Now also worried about dd in this crazy education system.

Bitlost - sorry to hear your DH is having another bad day (its the weekend - it should be at least a bit of a break).
Try to arrange something nice away from the house even if just going for a walk for half an hour to get him away from it all tomorrow.
Talk things through and remind him it is just training, he will pass and be freed from all the nonsense (well some of it) and he has to look after himself.
Teaching is a real emotional rollercoaster - I've been doing it years and still have days where I drive home in tears and feel so angry about it all. It is a very messed up and highly pressurised education system.

Thank you, ZebraDog. We'll do that. he has tonnes to prepare for the week but he'll have to leave it. I am quite amazed at what teaching's done to him in the space of three months. He's hardly a weak person. Sorry to hear that it's tough for you too.

DD is the same - she was very resilient, had an incredible work ethic, was highly organised but knew how to balance things effortlessly. I sometimes wonder how those who aren't naturally organised and contentious cope - or perhaps it is easier if you are less contentious as you take things more with a pinch of salt and don't try to be perfect. Although DD said she is not trying to be perfect, she is just trying to survive and not be ripped apart again!
She is now constantly on the 'edge' between just coping and being completely overwhelmed and breaking down.
It is a lot worse than when I trained and worries me. I just hope she gets through the year and then her NQT year should be slightly easier than those doing the non-school based routes. After that, she will be qualified and her 2 year commitment to the school finished and she can make her mind up whether it is for her long term. She is thinking of going into educational management or children's services management if teaching continues to destroy her wellbeing so much. I guess for your DH this is more of a long term thing though?

Teaching is a job were everything depends on management and how they feed back to you. And still a stranger can walk in and pull apart all your endless work in five seconds. PGCE is a hell year.

I quite about 1/3+ through my teacher training.

I do worry about my DC at school, and have a lot of sympathy of their teachers.

It is tough. How is his in school mentor? Does he see much of other students? Can he get support from them?

I do know a lot of people who quit during training, or finished but then went back to other work. It isn't a great job to fit in with family life.

He really shouldn't be getting negative feedback via email. This sounds v unsupportive and basically crap. I have mentored people on PGCE and I would never in a million years send poor feedback by email on a weekend. There are ways of giving feedback and that isnt one of them. I think teacher training is very hard and some people responsible for trainees are not that good at supporting their trainee.

If necessary and to give himself some space to regroup and get sorted I would advise him to take a few days off. Phone in sick, if he isn't already he will be soon if he doesn't get a break.

The trouble is training providers and schools pressurise staff into taking on trainees. Sometimes they are just not that good as teachers so are not ideal role models and trainers. Sometimes they are brilliant teachers, but that doesn't mean they have all the skills to train the next generation of teachers; being good at teaching primary doesn't automatically mean you have the skill set for teaching adults. There is little training for these teachers on training, mentoring and giving feedback to adults. It can be tough as we have trainees with a variety of approaches (insecure and anxious to know-it-all-already types) and all need differing support by school staff. It isn't always the teacher's fault - they are thrown in the deep-end without support themselves, so how can they adequately support the trainees. This is my biggest complaint about school-based training.