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!

To be fair to OP , you sound the right type : you sound enthusiastic, inquisitive , like you have initiative and willingness to learn. Just make sure you ask your school questions, and they have answers!

Heads often say things: and the person in school in charge of mentoring/CPD/ induction remains blissfully unaware! Heads - believe it or not- offer things without even knowing if their own school has capacity to support !

So, can you do the GTP (or it's equivalent) next year when you start?

Science (Biology) and Maths.

I entered teaching Economics in a similar way and it was fine. I taught at that school for five years and by the time I left I was fully qualified, had done my NQT and had a sixth form wide responsibility. There is little training and support for the sixth form only subjects, but when you do find others, they will definitely help you! I am now running a subject cluster group to try to pay forward all the help I received.

I did have to be very assertive with the school about getting me trained. The unqualified pay scale is peanuts. By asking everyone who might be able to help (including at one stage, my MP), I managed to find an organisation that would train me on the job. Like you I had trained adults before and while it wasn't the same, there are transferable skills and being an adult used to organising themselves and others, knowledge of budgets, ability to quickly decode jargon (teaching has loads!) etc all helps.

I did encounter the attitude that I've seen on this thread that unqualified teachers are taking somehow from qualified ones, but with the sixth form only subjects, training is very hard to get so this situation occurs quite often.

On a practical note, get on the Tutor2u website. They saved me in my first year of teaching! Insist the school lets you buy their off the peg teaching materials to get you started and see if you can get to their subject day this summer in London.

And yes, do and mark all the past papers from the correct specification.

Is it AQA? Tutor2u have got a subject training day in a couple of weeks in London for new and non-specialist Psychology teachers. If you're teaching a Welsh board, however, numbers will be much smaller so there won't be as many resources, but hopefully it's like Economics and the subject content is similar between boards.

Get a CGP revision guide as they're normally really good at identifying what's important for the different specifications.

There is no such thing as an unqualified teacher. A teacher is a qualified person.
To say that your subject knowledge is rusty and you have no teaching qualifications is appalling.
You plan to take on A level classes. Genuinely gobsmacked. I have a masters in my subject and a PGCE.

Thanks @Mrskeats, I thought it was just me!

bishop this type of thing explains why I get so much tutoring work. I would not describe myself as an unqualified doctor would I?

there is no such thing as an unqualified teacher. A teacher is a qualified person

Agree! Yet you hear it all the time.

I’d want my child taught by an unqualified teacher as much as my mouth looked at by an unqualified dentist or my flight carried out by an unqualified pilot.

fed yes. It really winds me up that people have so little respect for the profession. I have tutored pupils who have been taught things that are completely wrong.

Wow. I have a first in the subject, a pace and a ton of experience teaching a different subject at secondary.

BUT having had a few years out Im reticent about taking a part time maternity post because its a level, its better to learn alongside/from others in a department. It truly really is full on.

I still havent decided. I think youd be nuts doing it cold. Going straight in at basically head of department having never taught in a secondary... thats 30 A level grades you could stuff up.

Curious how much they'll pay too... Id be taking a drop to do supply here (nowhere near wales!)

How long ago was your degree? You say you're rusty...and think it's ok to 'brush up' to do A level??

I did a psychology degree and I've not done teacher training. To think I could go and teach A level psychology is arrogant at best. Irresponsible, neglectful and reckless also springs to mind. As a parent if I found out I'd kick up a holy show.

You're flattered they offered you this but it is very wrong.

I think people are being a bit harsh on OP. I think arrogant is very unfounded. To be fair, such is the recruitment crisis, people are being flung at quite low quality training to become teacher now without even a degree in many subjects and sometimes not even an A Level. OP does have a degree in the right subject, at least! And the analogy with unqualified pilots (who do land planes under supervision as it goes) and unqualified doctors is a bit hyperbolic!

I am a qualified teacher : but I don't have an A Level or degree in the subject I lead. So, I guess my qualification and experience trumps my subject knowledge. MY SK is now very good but it was a massively hard slog and I am still learning stuff. My SK is my other subject is so much more natural , even though I did my degree many moons ago.

And, yes, OP is hardly taking someone else's job! You'll be calling her a scab next! If they had a qualified teacher to offer the job to, they would have done it

Let's be realistic. The school probably have a choice between the OP and no-one and they've got 30 students signed up. If she goes in with the right attitude and she has a Psychology degree, she studies the specification carefully and she's an organised and encouraging person, that can work for sixth form. Also, it's sixth form. They're supposed to have responsibility for their own learning... Anyway, OP, I have been there and done this (and I didn't 'stuff up' anyone's A level grade) so feel free to PM me if you want.

I don't know if posters here are aware that PGCE courses in these sixth form subjects are virtually non existent, anyway. The last Economics one has closed. Also you can't as far as I am aware train in just the sixth form subject through any of the on the job pathways. It has to be paired with something offered at KS4.

This sounds like madness. Your subject knowledge is rusty and you have no teaching experience/qualifications. AND you are teaching 30 kids A-Levels. That's going to be helluva hard. Is it even possible??

Blimey yes. My subject knowledge was "rusty" when I started teaching, because my degree and PhD are in Biochemistry not Biology, and it was an awfully long time since I'd done some of it. But it was completely fine. A level Psychology is not tricky content when you have a degree in it, even if that degree was a while ago.

Cross post with whatevermission, withbwhime I do not agree!

With whom. Need coffee.

The school is in a tough situation and have recruited the OP who is unqualified.

The issue for the OP is they are having to learn their craft in a subject with no mentor, with no schemes of learning and no educational experience where their students' university places depend on her teaching.

When I reflect on my PGCE year time was spent getting used to how a lesson works or a sequence of 5 lessons. We didn't go in in September and create schemes of work because we didn't have the curriculum or pedagogical knowledge to do that.

OP you seem to have the right dispositions to do a reasonable job, but my concern is schools can be quick to promise support and slow to deliver. In my school even small departments have a head of department or coordinator of... role with a TLR to reflect the time to set up, teach, monitor, be accountable for a subject area. They want you to do the job of a more experienced member of staff whilst paying peanuts and there's every chance you'll be taken for a ride. I'd advise you go in with your eyes open and get all agreements of training and support in writing.

ThefallenMadonna I'm not sure how you are disagreeing with me, as I was asking a question. Or you disagree that it will be hard? There is no doubt, that it will be difficult, surely??!

I disagree that it sounds like madness.

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.

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!