Strugging NQT

[januarysunsetfire]

Hi.

I've just had a message from the NQT in our department indicating they are hugely struggling with the workload: primarily marking but also planning and genera organisation.

Everything they are struggling with is pretty much the professional standards, and to be honest I don't know what to suggest!

Any advice? :)

Pedants' corner is this way >>>>

Thank you for all the new suggestions. I'm sure I'll forget to respond to some - sorry if I do.

Philoslothy, this is not about me or anybody else expecting someone to work in their holiday. The point is, an NQT has emailed me to say they are not coping despite spending the holiday working.

If that is true that raises grave concerns about how they manage their workload, and if it is not true their first instinct, after seeing they won't finish the marking by Monday, is to ask me to step in and help.

Neither of these two scenarios are acceptable.

I am going to have to have a very honest and very difficult, for both parties, conversation tomorrow. The problem is, I feel as if I am constantly on his case about something or other and as a result he must dread seeing me, but he simply doesn't listen.

Madonna, he chose to do an FE PCGE despite wanting to teach in secondary schools

MrsYoung - I'm not sure about the context of that comment but apologies if an error I made offended you in some way.

How can someone teach Y7 if they've been trained to teach adults and much older teens?

One of the biggest shocks for me (which I think I handled well) was just how young Y7s are (and how little some of them could read, let alone write).

Actually I think I might have hit the nail on the head there (feeling less like an irrelevant gatecrasher now!).

I'm a primary NQT - on placement and in my NQT year I was/am expected to submit my plans for the following week on the Friday. This means that I don't have a horrible Sunday night panic, and if I should phone in ill on Monday the school has a copy of my plans ready and waiting. This is the same for all the staff, not just NQTs.

I know several NQTs who have occasionally pulled an all-nighter to get marking/planning done. Not advising this, because obviously people cannot teach properly on no sleep, but pointing out that they knew they were behind and took drastic action to manage their workload, rather than asking for help at the 11th hour. One boy in my school pulled an all-nighter and I mentioned it to my mentor - not in a snitchy way, just suggesting maybe she could speak to him about where he is struggling with time management.

I might have missed this upthread, apologies if so, but have you taught his lessons? As in he gave you his plans and resources and then you stood in front of the class? We have borough-wide NQT support which encourages mentors to do this. I found it really helpful - I could watch where my own lessons were going wrong and see how to change it. It also meant that my mentor could get her head around my plans and was able to provide even more constructive feedback.

If he doesn't already, I think it might be helpful if his PPA time was the same as someone else in the department (not necessarily you - perhaps better if not?). They could work in the same room and it might help him to focus more. Ideally you would sit in and effectively observe his PPA/do it with him (just for 1 week) - help keep him on track, see where he is going wrong... My PPA was moved for one week and I ended up having the same slot as the parallel class teacher. We barely spoke to each other, but I worked better knowing that if I had a problem I could resolve it by asking him rather than locking the computer, tracking down my mentor/waiting for break to ask another teacher.

Gosh, that was massive, sorry .

None of the NQTs at our school have to submit lesson plans. I'm amazed that they have to. Ofsted outstanding school too!

I think submitting planning in advance is more common in primary.

I would ask to see plans in advance, but I know it would give him another thing to 'faff' with - I'd get massively elaborate plans in a variety of colours and fonts with nothing substantial whatsoever!

It's a good idea Roan about teaching his lessons, except he honestly believes they are wonderful. His dejection after I gave him feedback last time was evident - he just doesn't know what a good lesson 'looks' like.

He doesn't know because he isn't trained. And yes, that is rubbish, but you gave the job to him knowing he had no experience, not even as a trainee, in secondary schools. Is it very difficult to get English teachers where you are? We always have English applicants. Maths, not so much!

I think, if you want him to succeed, you (collectively, not just you personally) need to start dealing with him as a trainee (GTP style) rather than as an NQT.

Why am I suddenly reminded of Gove's assertion that unqualified teachers in schools are perfectly fine?

Teaching jobs are like hens's teeth here, Madonna. It's baffling that this chap got one at all

I work with unqualified teachers who are fab. But you have to deal with them, and support them, as unqualified teachers.

You can't just walk into a school and start teaching. Or at the very least, this bloke can't!!

Neither of these two scenarios are acceptable.

I don't normally comment on typos, spellings, grammar etc, but OP is HOD of a secondary English department - a little worrying surely?

Madonna - he wasn't hired on my say-so, that's all I can really say.

The ad went in very late, hence he was the only applicant.

Dressingdown ?

Ok, I'm going to hold my hands up and confess... I am head of English in a secondary school abld have no idea what is wrong with that sentence

Abld = and

Neither do I

I may make the odd typo as my iPad is being repaired and the keys on the laptop really need whacking for some reason!

I think that submitting lesson plans seems excessive, however I note that the OP only wants to see an outline. So a few notes in their planner should be enough rather than getting a member of staff who is already behind to fill in pointless forms.

Do you have department lesson plans and schemes of work? It seems rather excessive to expect all colleagues to be individually planning lessons , particularly when it is clear that at least one member of staff is not coping. It sounds like this member of staff is putting the hours in but is procrastinating and perhaps spending too long on the extras rather than getting the fundamentals right. By having department lesson plans who give him less scope to waste time and you have quality control.

I would also get him to record what needs to be done over the two week period and to allow him to lead the discussion about the time that he has. He then needs to plan a working schedule for himself. So he has clearly laid out what he should be doing during each hour of his working time. This will alert him to the fact, much earlier, if he is falling behind.

We do have schemes of work, yes.

The primary problem appears to be with marking, but the workload is added to by elaborate but ultimately poor planning: by that, I mean the teacher will spend hours on a PowerPoint that is animated and colourful and interactive, but not actually USEFUL in terms of teaching and learning!

Thank you very much for your help everybody - hope tomorrow isn't too hideous for those of us going back! x

I think that fact that he is FE trained rather than secondary trained is a huge factor, your school has knowingly employed someone who is not trained for the job at hand and then has an issue when they are not up to the job.

To cope in teaching you need to be passionate about what you are doing, I am not talking about having a vocation or being one of those " I do it for the kids" type. But you need quite a strong desire to teach your subject and to that age group, if he had that passion he would have completed a secondary PGCE.

I trained to teach secondary but have recently taught year 7 again after a stretch of quite a few years mainly teaching key stage 4 and 5, it has been a huge shock to the system and I have found it quite difficult. I am not sure how I would cope if I was FE trained.

It should be "neither of these two scenarios IS acceptable" surely?

I have to admit OP that I am guilty of creating over elaborate all bells and whistles PP, it is someone I enjoy doing. In order to do that and not get really behind I set myself an alarm on my phone of 20 mins to tweek or bling up a PP. I then have to move on. It gives me a sense of urgency that I can lack when I feel that I am being creative.

Perhaps he could adopt a similar method. I also set myself time limits when marking books or exams. This evening I have marked some Year 11 assessments, in the past I used to spend hour on marking and fall behind. I allows myself 7 minutes for each assessment, there were 20 in the class so I set an alarm clock to mark out for me when I should have completed each 5. I hope that makes sense. I do the same with reports.

I am a natural procrastinator, I can totally understand how this man is getting it wrong.

He wanted to do a secondary PGCE, but did one in FE after not getting on a secondary PGCE.

But - anyway - the fact is, he is with us now, he is not coping, and it's me who has to support him, despite saying all along he wouldn't cope - you can see I am still bitter about this!

Dressing, no, that wouldn't be a correct turn of phrase - that would be correct in the singular as in "this scenario is not acceptable." I was talking in the plural :)

Thank you OP

Dressingdown1 are you going to comment on the thread? It seems a little odd just to correct grammar and express no interest in a thread you chose to open. The OP is not writing a report or writing in a professional capacity, but chatting informally on a website.