DSis and her PGDE

[AgentCooper]

Hi everyone,

My DSis has been doing her PGDE (Primary) in Scotland since September and is really struggling.

She volunteered in an ASN school for almost two years and was given glowing references by class teachers and the head, and she absolutely loved the kids, planning the lessons and delivering them. She was offered a place on 3 different PGDEs and did very well at interview.

She's been finding the PGDE workload tough, as I know most people do, but she's very down right now because she's just found out she's failed her first term essay and observation. She only has to get one more mark to pass the essay, so that's not too bad but she's devastated about the observation. Her class teacher had told her she was doing really well and her lesson plans were good. She was really enjoying working with the kids. Her class teacher was shocked that she failed and is saying that maybe she's not qualified to mentor her. She is feeling so down now and really nervous about the observation resit next week.

Has anyone had experiences like this during your PGDE? I'd love to be able to give her any reassurance that I can. It really is her dream to work with children with additional support needs and she feels like she has no chance now.

I failed my final essay for pgce last year and was given an opportunity to resit (six weeks before me wedding and whilst battling an ear virus.... was not happy to recieve that email!) generally the impession i got from my (terrible) uni was that they genuinely want everyone to pass. It looks better for them more than anything! If they aren't providing proper support then she will have grounds to appeal. My tutor was really helpful and gave me clear instructions about how to pass. If they aren't doing that already then she could ask directly for a list of points to improve on.

The first couple of obs are HELLISH and I scraped mine. If her planning is solid then she will get there. It can be if the class are having an really bad day that has an impact. I practically scripted my first couple I was so nervous! Dh had a full voice lesson taught to him just before my first! It does get easier though, you eventually get quicker at everything and your 'patter' improves. Life gets much easier as you know the kids too.

It will be ok and she will pass. If the uni has genuine concerns I doubt they'd be letting her resit. Its a blip and it will pass. Wish her luck for me! Its a tough year but so worth it in the end!

Thanks so much for replying quellerosiel. Six weeks before your wedding, bloody hell!

She's getting very little support from her tutor but the teachers at the school are rallying round to try to help her out, which is very kind of them. I just hope she can do this.

If it's like the PGCE in England, she is paying a lot for the course and needs to push for support.
In my experience as a mentor teacher, the training provider will do everything to stop a student failing as it reflects badly on them (they have to get X% of studentd to 'good' and X% to outstanding.)
On the other hand, I had a student who came from an SEN school background who withdrew part way through as she wasn't coping who had a superb reference- turns out it was because her head teacher wanted her out of the school!

Another thought-if the gradings are the same as England, students are only graded 1-4, and the same standards are applied in the first placement and the last. Its very rare for a student to get anything other than 4s or 3s ('fail' grades) for their first placement. It is tough as a tutor to give 4s BUT the training providet should be explaining the (frankly crap) grading system.

Hi HalfSpam, thanks for replying. Tbh, I'm not sure if the gradings are similar between Scotland and England. She has classmates who passed and some who failed. In all honesty, perhaps a fail now is not the worst thing - I'd probably be more inclined to really internalise and act on feedback if I failed than if I scraped a pass.