Unqualified teacher - how can I get myself ready?

[Slurpy]

To cut a long story short, I went into my local secondary to observe some lessons with a view to doing a PGCE - by the end of the day I was offered a very part time teaching post in my degree subject.

The school is very supportive - they've factored in mentoring time, the head is a big fan of the GTP, so I'm hopeful that this can be a way forward for me. I'll be teaching an AS class this year, and hopefully taking them onto A2.

My subject knowledge is rusty, but I can polish it up. I have a background as a trainer (as well as training people in how to become trainers) but I've not done that much in the last couple of years.

Is there any books, tips, anything that people can recommend on how to actually teach?

It's probably absolute madness, but I would have kicked myself if I'd turned it down, plus the school were totally stuck on how to deliver the course next year. And 30 pupils have signed up!

Would really appreciate some advice from MN teachers. Thanks!

[Slurpy]

Been dipping in and out of this thread when I can face reading it. Thanks again for the supportive comments.

So to update, I've been very busy. I met with the current (external provider) teacher yesterday and she was kind enough to spend 2 hours with me, gave me loads of tips and resources, and offered support and guidance going forward next year (she'll be taking the A2 class). She was great and I'm sitting in on her class next week.

I'm meeting with the Assistant Head tomorrow to discuss what other classes I can observe and intend to raise the subject of splitting the class. We shall see.

I'm going to establish a path forward to QTS as soon as I can - if they're not forthcoming, and I've enjoyed my year teaching for a few hours per week, I'll leave to do a PGCE. I won't do this indefinitely. I'm really hopeful that they're going to be true to their word though - they are making lots of time for me.

I'm very aware that Psychology has moved on since I studied it, so I've been catching up. The first couple of modules are coming into focus and I've got a good idea of what needs to be covered by when. I'm not just brushing up from a textbook.

Sadly I think you’ll find it’s more like there was no one else to do it for the salary they were willing and able to pay.
The job advert didn't mention a salary. Any qualified teacher could have applied. They didn't. I was the only applicant. This is a rural school, almost an hour away from the nearest city, and half an hour's drive from the nearest supermarket. Tons of farmers, very few Psychology teachers.

@Peachsummer - I don't know if you've read my other posts, but my background is training - I've delivered and written more courses than I can shake a stick at. I know how to engage and break down topics for adults. I know how to prepare good resources and learning activities. I've assessed and written accredited courses. I also used to deliver courses to a PRU in the valleys. All of which must surely give me some advantage, as opposed to some random off the street. But I know it's not the same as teaching, which is why I'm on here asking for advice.

[Phineyj]

As I have explained a few times on this thread there is pretty much no training pathway for the sixth form only subjects. It is not as simple as schools preferring cheaper unqualified teachers over more expensive qualified ones. Schools, however, often have lots of students wanting to take Psychology, Economics, Law etc.

It is a government created problem.

[holdingonbyathread]

Blimey. I did a psychology degree 18 years ago and have slightly used it since in my AHP role and if someone offered me a job teaching it at A level I would laugh I their face. How completely ridiculous. Things move on. What we were taught then is not up to date. My husband is marking A level exam papers now and it's not something you can just brush up on in a textbook. I think you're mental. And so is the school for considering it. Shows how poor the education system has got.

[TheFallenMadonna]

I would worry far more about someone who thought "any fool can read a textbook" as preparation for A level teaching than someone with a degree in the subject who was following a programme to QTS "on the job". A blase approach to the importance of a deep knowledge of the subject is every bit as damaging as not valuing teacher training.

[Peachsummer]

I’m absolutely horrified by this. No wonder teachers are quitting in droves if they’re being put on a par with someone off the street who has no teaching qualifications. The poor students too - they have every right to expect to be taught by a qualified professional.

Subject knowledge is absolutely not the most important issue here. Any fool can read a textbook. Teaching is about understanding pedagogy, techniques for how to break down topics and teach them, how to engage students, how to schedule, how to relate to students and parents, how to effectively discipline, etc. That’s what you learn on a PGCE. And that’s why university lecturers, who previously required no teaching qualifications, now have to be qualified. Because a lot of them were the world’s foremost experts in their subject but had no idea how to teach.

the fact remains is I haven't stolen anyone's job - there was no one else to do it
Sadly I think you’ll find it’s more like there was no one else to do it for the salary they were willing and able to pay. Unqualified “teachers” are hired because proper qualified teachers cost too much. At the very least the work should be planned and prepped by a qualified teacher and only delivered by an unqualified teacher.

[TheFallenMadonna]

Not arrogant at all. Feel free to contact me if you like, whenever you like. I don't teach psychology at the moment but I keep my hand in examining so am not completely out of the loop. Sadly nowhere near Wales though.

[sakura06]

You will be fine to train on the job and I'm sure you'll work hard for your students. My concern would be for you. Make sure this can be a year to work and train. Do not do this job as an unqualified teacher indefinitely. Teaching A Level is hard work.

[Piggywaspushed]

You do not al all come across as arrogant OP. Ignore.

[Slurpy]

Blimey - I went away with my head reeling, wishing I'd never asked, left this thread for a few days and came back to loads of replies. I've skimmed the replies since and just wanted to address a few points.

Firstly, thank you to those who offered some encouragement, practical advice and weren't horrified I may well PM those that invited me to, thank you.

Anyway, since I last posted I've spent a fair whack of time on my subject knowledge - I've managed to get from rusty, to positively shiny on about a quarter of the spec (and I intend to keep on at this pace). My degree was 19 years ago, and I've not used it directly since then, so I think 'rusty' is understandable - I didn't present myself to the school as the Psychology teacher they've been looking for all their lives, I went in as someone thinking of doing a RS PGCE (as Psych PGCEs are non-existent, in Wales at least).

I've set up a file structure, downloaded everything I can get my hands on, looked at all the past papers, examiner reports and CPD material. I've joined every group I can find for A Level Psychology (all exam boards, but there's overlap areas).

The SLT are bombarding me with invites to come for a chat/sit in on lessons etc - following up on their promise to be supportive. I'll find out more about the support/training etc when I go in to see them again. And I will ask about whether it's possible to split the class.

To the person who called me arrogant - arrogance isn't in my makeup. If I've somehow come across as disrespectful to the teaching profession, then I'm sorry, but that's not what I intended. My current job aims to support teachers and learning settings, and I have the utmost respect.

But the fact remains is I haven't stolen anyone's job - there was no one else to do it. Neither do I intend to fail my future pupils. I fully recognise that I'll need to put in far more hours than I'll be paid for, but I factored that into my decision.
And no, I wouldn't extract a tooth, or land a plane if someone offered me to have a go

[physicskate]

Haven't read the entire thread.

I'd definitely suggest splitting the class. That way, you'd have more teaching time to practice and you'd be paid more to deliver a single course.

There is a lot of hyperbole on this thread... I 'trained' via the gtp (my mentor to me to 'fuck off' on my first day when I asked for help planning a lesson. Another teacher told me the help she was giving was the only help I'd get all year... etc). I then moved schools and started teaching a level. I had a lot of help and support during that not year and we muddled through reasonably successfully. The students all mostly got the grade they deserved (but there's always that ONE who doesn't)... and I have 'half' my degree in my subject.

Everyone has a first year of teaching a level. It's a different beast than ks4 or ks3. It is hard, but not impossible.

Beg, borrow, steal as many resources. The easiest way to structure a course is to follow a textbook (although you want to plan from at least 2 to get your notes). Make sure you're including everything from the spec as you go.

Use the summer to write detailed notes. Perhaps notes that you'd want the students to have lesson by lesson for as much of the course as you can. And then match those to any resources you can find. Start broad - what are the different topics to cover in AS. Create a folder for each lesson electronically to get a feel of how many lessons you'll have and try to outline what you might cover in each lesson. And then get an idea of what you will still need, resources-wise.

Sorry if I'm being patronising or telling you what you already know.

The questions you always ask yourself when planning a lesson are; what do I want the students to know and understand? How can I help them to do this? What do I want them to be able to explain and analyse? How can I help them do this?

The answers to those questions won't be the same for every class you ever teach. And how you answer those for kids is different than for adults, but it's where every lesson should start off.

And get in to see as much a level teaching as you possibly can!!

[Phineyj]

Those are odd comparisons. Pilots and doctors have to be licensed by law and could potentially kill people. I'm not sure you have to do any training at all to call yourself a hairdresser (it's not a protected title) and if you were bad at it, the problem would solve itself as you'd have no customers.

Like it or not, you do not in this country have to have QTS to teach.

The government probably ought to sort out coherent training for the sixth form only subjects but they seem to be a tad busy with BREXIT.

Anyway, back to the OP...

[KneelJustKneel]

I guess an untrained pilot or an untrained doctor or untrained hairdrrsser or...

Yep lots of jobs being untrained means you can mess up other peoples lives!

[Phineyj]

Also, it's not just in teaching where you could mess things up for other people. There was a strong element of that in the jobs I did pre teaching. The wonderful thing about teaching though is that you have a specification (most of my other jobs, I had to figure out what to do by myself) and lots of other people do it and are willing to give you pointers. It really is a lot easier to figure out the what part than in some other jobs even if the how takes more time.

I am still so impressed by how helpful a lot of teachers are to other teachers. You just didn't get that in my other workplaces.

Anyway, OP, let's face it, the school need you more right now than you need them so go back to them with a list of suggestions to help you succeed. Starting with a decent mentor who would ideally be another career changer/sixth form specialist.

[Phineyj]

I was mentored by a wonderful Psychologist in my first year and that helped so much because she taught me the jargon and helped me understand school politics, get resources etc. It didn't matter that she didn't know my subject. She made sure I could go to other schools to meet their Econ departments and I did some online training too. The other Econ teachers were so generous with their time and resources.

[Phineyj]

Ah, Vygotsky my old chum . The problem I had throughout the training and to an extent afterwards is that I was mentored, monitored, assessed etc and am now observed by people who have no knowledge of Economics. They have no idea if I'm teaching the right stuff in the right way (how could they?) I have read Christoudoulou's book and I could relate to her argument that you can't easily separate skills from knowledge. You need to be able to teach, but you also need to understand supply side policy (to randomly pick what I was teaching yesterday).

By the way I took over from a qualified teacher and the students had got D to U at AS with her. This was in the sixth form of a superselective state grammar. I don't blame her or the schook but remember she won't have been seen by anyone with knowledge of Economics during the recruitment process or once she was in post.

The advice from TheFallenMadonna is good, OP

[TheFallenMadonna]

As others have said, PGCEs for A level only subjects are hard to come by. So you get psychology graduates training as Science or Maths teachers, and then subject knowledge is an issue...
Good on the job training is what will make this possible. The OP should insist on an in house mentor in an appropriate subject (Sociology?), links to another school running the course, and paid extra planning and preparation time. And a clear route to QTS.

[BishopofBathandWells]

Yes @noblegiraffe, same here! Ah, Vygotsky! I remember him, the wee scamp.

I also did a placement and was subject to constant assessment. You couldn't pass the course unless the school you'd been placed at endorsed you.

[BishopofBathandWells]

I suppose a lot of my response to this comes from my own standards. I did a PGCE and was taught how to design a lesson plan, how to create a scheme of work, how to hold the attention of the students in the class, how to incorporate tech etc. It was a really good course. The subject matter was my own responsibility and as I had a degree and a Masters they were happy I would know enough to carry the class - but honestly, I was still daunted.

It's the feeling of responsibility that got to me mostly - these young people were on the cusp of their lives and what I taught them was the difference between whether they'd pass (or fail). Don't get me wrong, you can bust a gut but if a student doesn't want to learn, there's little you can do about that. But if your own subject knowledge isn't up to spec, that's a problem.

I've been privately tutoring for a few years now. All of my students come to me from the same local school. They have the same teacher in common. This teacher has a degree but no PGCE. Presumably the school haven't provided them with adequate mentorship (the teacher they replaced retired in part due to cost cutting). Recently, I realised this teacher had told the students to buy the wrong course material, meaning there were several elements essential in an exam that the students hadn't read or been taught.

OP, I sense you're probably going to go for it and I hope it goes well. But I personally wouldn't teach without a PGCE and I'd be pretty annoyed if my child were going into A-Levels to be taught by an unqualified teacher.

[noblegiraffe]

I don't think that people outside the profession are aware that teacher training courses I) don't actually train you how to teach

Mine attempted to, I have vague memories of Vygotsky and Piaget. I’m assuming at least some current PGCEs are more up to date - our student teachers had read Christodoulou, for example.

But what a PGCE definitely does is give you a safe space to try things out, and to fail. It’s not your class. If it goes wrong, the teacher can step back in. You don’t have that much of an impact.
And you are constantly being observed and getting feedback.
Students on placement at my school aren’t left alone with a class.

[Phineyj]

I must go and do some work... But just to add that lots of my former students have gone on to study Economics including at Oxford and Cambridge. That included two from the very first year when I was "unqualified" so while no doubt my grasp of Economic theory was a little rusty, they got the bug!

[Phineyj]

Yes, but I I think on balance if my child felt a strong desire to study Psychology, Economics, Law or any of those other sixth form only subjects, I'd prefer them to have a teacher with a degree in the subject and enthusiasm for it but without a teaching qualification, than someone with a teaching qualification but no knowledge of or enthusiasm for the subject. Or not to be able to do the subject at all. As that is the actual choice most schools face.

Then students opt for Econ or Psychology degrees costing them £££ without having been able to test it out at A-level.

I don't think that people outside the profession are aware that teacher training courses I) don't actually train you how to teach (at least, mine didn't) nor that they include nothing about the actual subject (I was brushing up on Economics in my own time as the ITT provider were very keen I learnt to teach RS - something I have never done again since finishing the course).

It sometimes astounds me that there are any Econ teachers at all when you consider the number of other better renumerated things you can do with an Econ degree. I enjoy it though and am so glad that original school took a chance on me!

[Piggywaspushed]

Yup, phiney, I agree. Our Law teacher was at first unqualified and became qualified : the results have remained very good.

[greathat]

I'd be horrified if my child was being taught a level with no experience at all. You need to be observing every day until then

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

Take yourself over to twitter, OP - loads of sharing and a big teaching community.

A good starting point book to look at might be 'Teach Like A Champion' by Doug Lemov and another that's useful on the basics is 'Visible Learning' by Fisher, Frey and Hattie. You should also look at Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction, which is freely available online; Tom Sherrington has just published 'Rosenshine's Principles in Practice' (that might not be the exact title but something like that) and that would be worth a look - Sherrington is usually fairly sound. Andy Tharby's 'How to Explain Absolutely Anything to Absolutely Anybody' is very 11-16 and seemed to be teaching grandma to suck eggs to me, but could be useful if you haven't taught before.

I've tried to keep these recommendations around the general principles but all have a strong KS3-4 slant - as a PP said, A-level can be a different kettle of fish and you need to talk to teachers in KS5 for further recommendations.

Check out (online) the Early Career Framework for teachers - it's not yet statutory but is a good reference point. It includes the Teachers' Standards broken down into what teachers need to 'learn that' and 'learn how to' with research references for each, so can signpost you to reading on elements of teaching.

As you prepare, the best investment you can make is to get your subject knowledge up to scratch. I would absolutely expect any teacher, particularly at A-Level, to be in command of the material to a level that goes well beyond that taught curriculum/exam spec. Read around the topics and do extra research.

Along with other posters, I wonder whether the school might be asking you to bite off more than you can chew - it does sound like a dicey situation. As you say you are planning to visit/observe regularly, make sure that you are satisfied that you are not being set up to fail and that you have had plenty of in depth conversations about the support you will be given.

In terms of curriculum design, you should be prepared to travel to other centres where they have a course up and running in order to discuss this with experienced teachers in the subject. That's the bit that worries me most - it's a challenge to get right, so good examples are v necessary.

Good luck!

[TheFallenMadonna]

It will, of course, be hard. OP needs a good mentor, as I said down the thread. And a link to another school doing A level Psychology.