Swapping classes during PGCE?

[PGCEnamechange]

Hi

I've name changed for this as I want it to be as anonymous as possible- I'm trying to keep things vague, but hopefully will provide enough detail to be helpful.

I'm a Secondary PGCE trainee part way through my second placement. I recently had an observation with the teacher who oversees all the trainee teachers within the school. The school is generally good and most kids are decent but this particular class contains a lot of "challenging" characters and I find them very difficult to manage.

As a result of the observation, I've been offered the opportunity to essentially swap this class for a different one. It seems like my uni tutor has also possibly expressed some concerns behind the scenes. I'd really like to talk to him, but it doesn't seem like he is going to be available this evening.

I really don't know what to do. Swapping to another class would almost definitely make my life easier! However, it feels like giving up/quitting, and whilst this class is difficult, I do feel at times I am making progress with them. I'm a bit concerned about the implications for me either way. If I do stay with this class and continue to struggle, I feel it could be held against me. However, what if I leave this class and struggle with the new class too? I'm also worried about how it will look to others in the department and the kids if I "give up" on them.

I'm already feeling really low confidence in this placement and I just don't know what to do.

I imagine this has come from a place of support from the school. They can see that the class are difficult and perhaps feel that they aren’t giving you a chance to be the best teacher you could be. They will also, of course, have an eye on the progress of that group and be anxious to avoid them falling behind where they should be. I used to be the senior mentor for PGCE students in my school and had to have a few conversations with departments who appeared to have decided to ‘palm off’ classes that everyone knew were difficult (and sometimes where an experienced teacher was at their wits end with them) onto the student. This is not good practice and so perhaps your supervisor felt this was a similar situation and didn’t think you were being treated fairly by the department. If they felt you weren’t doing a good job overall you would know about it and there would be a range of methods in place to support you, it wouldn’t just be swapping one class.

You will have the opportunity to practise more teaching techniques and to hone your craft if you are not being stymied and bamboozled at every turn by very difficult behaviour from 'characters'. There is absolutely no shame in it.

Teaching well is difficult and you need to chance to make minor errors or change tack without it causing a kick-off because tricky pupils have decided that's what they want to do.

You would always aim to establish a meaningful but manageable level of challenge for your pupils while they are novices - this is no different. You're learning.

I would hold off on the decision until you can speak to your uni tutor.
I had a similar situation- ish. I was placed with a ‘bottom set’ first year class in the most deprived area of a fairly deprived city. There were naturally lots of behavioural and learning issues within the class, as well as troubled backgrounds and serious, prolonged absence issues. The teacher left me with them altogether, but I felt I was working well with them, attendance was up, rapport was good, they were generally respectful, we covered the curriculum adequately enough.
Just before my tutor came in to assess me, the class teacher called me to meet with her and bulldozed my whole lesson plan, with complaints that it didnt verbally signify enough of the curricular buzzwords (essentially!). I felt I had worked well with the class and to follow her suggestions would totally disrupt the course of the lesson block (which my tutor would have noticed from the plans) and the pupils would lose all the structures and systems within the lesson that were keeping us all afloat. I kept trying to present my case but the senior teacher wouldn’t listen. I eventually started hyperventilating - the lack of support to that point and total undermining of everything I had done the day before I was to be assessed was just too much. I had to leave the school having a panic attack and the teacher had to take her own class (ha!).
I phoned my tutor and talked it all through with her and she agreed with me, supported me, and came as planned the next day. The kids totally tried every tactic, I had to completely deviate from the lesson plan, and the whole lesson became a behaviour management exercise.
I passed, with flying colours. I’d have failed if I’d followed through on the advice given by the class teacher.
It’s not the same situation, but I would speak to your uni tutor. They’re the ones overseeing your training, and they are best placed to support you. I wouldn’t take a decision until you get a chance to catch their thoughts.

I’m assuming since you are in secondary that this isn’t the only class you are working with. What are the general ability spreads across the year groups that you are working with?

Thank you for your responses! I'm not entirely sure what has gone on, but I am aware my uni tutor has expressed some concerns that I wasn't aware of until today.

I totally agree that the progress of the students is an issue too, and definitely they need to be protected. I also teach in a subject where there is a real potential for health and safety issues through carelessness/not paying attention to safety instructions.

I would definitely be able to practice a much wider range of teaching techniques and build my subject knowledge more with a different class. I do also feel I would have more mental energy for my other classes if the class I saw for the most lessons each week wasn't such a challenge. If I'd been offered the chance to swap a few weeks ago, I would have taken it with both hands, but having started to build a relationship with the class and having had a few successful lessons with them it feels more difficult.

I do understand that if there were major concerns then more would be going on than this- but I equally feel like I haven't made the progress I should have done over this placement in general and I'm struggling to put a few key pieces of feedback into place at the moment.

I really appreciate your perspectives though, thank you!

Personally I would not. I had a really, really tough Y11 class in my first placement. Never quite 'got' them but the exhausting fight to try to do so taught me a huge amount.

If you can I'd try to pick up as much as possible while you still have the support of a second pair of eyes- but there is no shame in switching if you decide it's for the best. Do whatever gets you the best development and ensures OK outcomes for the kids.

@nighttimenope

Thank you for your reply- that situation sounds terrible and in my situation I honestly can't fault the class teacher. But I know he struggles with their behaviour himself at times and he's not that experienced himself.

Two of my other classes are totally mixed ability- from children with identified SEN needs up to very able students (which provides its own challenge). I then have a set 2 who are bright but lazy and a Y12 class who are mostly very bright.

The class I am having issues with actually isn't a bottom set- but there are several children in it who are known to be "difficult" based on what their teachers from last year have said! Some other teachers have speculated about diagnosed SEN within the class, but AFIAK most have very nice home lives. I do think there is an issue that this is the first year the class are in sets but there is unfortunately no potential for movement between sets- there are a few who feel out of their depth within the set and might benefit more from being at the top of the set below.

Trainees aren’t supposed to be given difficult classes.

Swapping is a no-brainer. You say that you’d be able to develop more teaching techniques with a different class, and it would free up more mental energy for your other classes. This is more important than continuing to slog on with a class who are more of an endurance test than a teaching exercise. You’ve had some successful lessons with them which is great, you’re not going to suddenly turn them around totally and have them on their desks shouting Carpe Diem, so take what you’ve learned from them and concentrate your energies on improving other areas of your craft.

@PGCE - my tuppence worth is that it sounds like a class worth sticking with as the reality is you could have most or all of your classes like that depending on the schools you are working in. Subject knowledge and techniques are the kinds of things you can learn from books, but behaviour management can only be learned and honed on the job.
In saying that, i know I’m not there, and the people put in the positions of support around you can see a benefit in you switching class, and it sounds like you see that too. Perhaps it’s even to do with the class teacher as well, and if they’re at an early stage of their career and facing challenges with class it may be that the mix of a fairly new teacher, a challenging class and a trainee is just not helpful for the class or you (or the teacher!) at present. Whatever you decide will bring its own opportunities for your development as a teacher!

@noblegiraffe - I was given loads of ‘difficult’ classes as a trainee! I was actually only given one straightforward class for 6 weeks in the whole year of my PGDE. (They were total darlings.) I’m very glad of it, because my first year of teaching was much the same and it would have done me no favours to have the easier classes as my only preparation.

NQTs shouldn’t be given those classes either. There are difficult classes and difficult classes. We are losing trainees and NQTs left right and centre and we can’t afford to lose more by unnecessarily making their training years a baptism of fire.

It might have worked out for you, but there are a lot of trainees it doesn’t work out for. It’s stupid and wrong and the school are behaving appropriately in giving the OP a pass.

The OP has said that they would be able to improve their teaching with their other classes if they weren’t so focused and drained by this one. That is important. They will be learning behaviour management skills with their other classes, it’s not this class or nothing.

Thank you for your thoughts - it's really useful to hear everyone's perspectives. I'll be able to talk to my uni tutor tomorrow and I'd be really keen to hear his thoughts. To me, he has been very much "stick it out, it will teach you valuable skills" but clearly he has been expressing other thoughts behind the scenes.

There is definitely part of me that feels sticking it out is the right thing to do, and I am also concerned about how this might look to other trainees within the school. I'd definitely still be developing behaviour management skills with my other classes and would probably have more time and energy to follow through with sanctions in other classes as well.

I do also wonder if the observation had been in a different lesson with this group that a different decision might have been come to.

Honestly if I ended up in a school where all my classes were like this one, I would probably leave. I know that's tricky on an NQT year but I'm in a shortage subject and I think it would be possible.

I really appreciate everyone's input, it's been very useful to me!

I had a horrible placement and chose to stick it out. Big mistake. Wish I'd taken the easier option. It put me off teaching all together.
Take the opportunity to swap asap.

I've spoken to my tutor who felt that moving forward a different class might give me a better opportunity to progress. I know he has a lot going on and a lot of tutees to support so I didn't really get to discuss things how I would have wanted to. However I think sticking with the group when he has advised otherwise would be silly so the decision has been made.

Good! You’ll feel much happier switching class knowing it was on your tutor’s advice too. All the best