Website recommendations

[truegold]

My daughter has just accepted her first post as an English teacher , independent secondary school. She has no experience, I was wondering if anyone can recommend any useful websites or books that would be good reference points for her . I have told her about this site, all info and any helpful tips or any guidance would be greatly appreciated, thank you

While I share the reservations stated here, I offer a recommendation or two - teachit is excellent, also she should look at joining NATE.

sassytheFIRST - thank you, I will add those to the list!

If she's on Twitter, then @teachertoolkit is a good one to follow.

I still don't think it's going to be easy for her. If she's been interested for years, then why on earth is she not doing a PGCE? Sorry, but there is an arrogance about someone who thinks they can walk into a Secondary classroom and simply get on with it. The fact that independent schools and academies do not need to employ qualified teachers is not a good thing.

If she's motivated and creative,, she should be fine, and the school should have very specific expectations that are made explicit to her, along with resources. The TES boards will steer her to more detailed areas, will she be teaching all ages as well as exam classes?
Want to support her?
Having someone discreet to rant at, someone who would listen sympathetically without sucking their teeth or suggesting that it was all a mistake was the most helpful thing in my probationary year. Someone to hold me up when I couldn't quite manage it on my own.

That was before websites, or the internet, but I bet it still holds true.
Good luck.

I think you're right too ET, but the real problem will be if she fails, the parents will eat her alive because they are paying for their child's education and therefore expect it to surpass what's on offer to the state sector.
The school will put her under pressure and then she may start thinking that it's all her fault.
But in the state sector, a lot of the crap that we have to do gets in the way of good teaching, innovation and creative learning. The sausage factory. She won't face that particular hell, nor will her students.

"there is an arrogance about someone who thinks they can walk into a Secondary classroom and simply get on with it."

This is a straw man, which does not reflect the situation the OP has described. It is also an extremely unpleasant thing to say to a mother. I understand your view, but your criticisms should be addressed to those who set up the school-based QTS route, and those who run the school that has offered her the post, not to a young person who necessarily lacks your more mature perspective on the world.

"the parents will eat her alive because they are paying for their child's education and therefore expect it to surpass what's on offer to the state sector."

Do you have experience of independent schools? From what I have read, this would only apply to a small proportion of elite schools; in your ordinary independent schools, there are plenty of less than brilliant teachers, but they succeed because they don't have to deal with the problems the state sector faces.

"The school will put her under pressure and then she may start thinking that it's all her fault."

And this doesn't happen in state schools? There is a thread in The Staffroom at the very moment contradicting that. Ofsted and league table pressure can mean that new teachers are put under a huge amount of pressure, and their PGCE doesn't help them with that. If an independent school is prepared to put resources into supporting her, they are far more likely to have the resources to be able to do so.

She's not walking into it blind with no training, she's doing a school based training course which I assume will give her QTS at the end of it. I now many people who have done a GTP or now the salary-based School Direct route and they are trained on the job. I don't see this many complaints about 'Teach First' (which I have many personal gripes with) what's wrong with this?

Truegold -

This is a good blog article written specifically for new teachers, with links to sources and further reading:

gregashman.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/a-guide-for-new-teachers/

'The school will put her under pressure and then she may start thinking that it's all her fault."

And this doesn't happen in state schools? There is a thread in The Staffroom at the very moment contradicting that.'

I'm probably on it, agreeing completely that the pressures put on teachers are insane and unjustifiable.
Yes, I have experience of independent schools. And their parents.

I didn't think you could do schools direct or teach first through private schools? I presume the OP meant her daughter was doing training by the school-meaning their own training.

You can't do schools direct in a private school.

I also have massive issues with Teach First for a number of reasons.

Yes, me too.

Isn't Teach First supposed to be putting graduates with firsts in inner-city challenging schools?

Yes, that was its aim. It has very low retention rates. I even object to the name... Teach First... And then get a proper job.

It makes me

'Isn't Teach First supposed to be putting graduates with firsts in inner-city challenging schools?'

Like a Gap Year somewhere exciting and frontier-like, with the safety of not having to leave the country? I suppose it's similar to sending philosophy students abroad to build hospitals.

Re Teachfirst:

"Our own data ... shows a steady increase since then in the numbers [from Teachfirst] choosing to stay in teaching. It shows 56% of participants that started the course in 2009 are still in teaching four years later. If the number for mainstream PGCE is still 63% then Teach First is very close. And that would still not be a fair comparison as all Teach First participants are placed in challenging schools which tend to have higher turnover rates."

www.teachfirst.org.uk/blog/how-many-our-teachers-stay-classroom

I know what OP's DD is doing wouldn't be School Direct or Teach First, I meant that it would be something similar to that though. If those are acceptable training routes I don't see why hers would be any different.

My issue with Teach First is that they are intentionally sent to "challenging" or "deprived" schools. Who is benefitting from that? I'm not convinced that it's the students.

I suppose it depends partly on whether such schools have difficulty finding and retaining staff.

56%, given the resources ploughed into it, is woeful.

And who wants their yr 11 DC to be the one taught by a totally inexperienced 22 year old who is essentially doing it because they're not sure what to do after graduation and was told that Teach First looks good on their CV? I know I wouldn't.