Looking back at when you started teaching, how different is it?

[Chchchchangesss]

Not intended as too intense (although I’m not trying to police, just saying how I see it) - what sort of things have changed since you started?

I was an NQT in 2003. I have a vague recollection of Bromcoms and how teachers on placements were all excited about them being the next technology leap forward!
Power dressing from Next in an attempt not to look like a sixth former.
OHPs.
The 21 (I think) tasks teachers weren’t supposed to do coming into force and it being a hotbed of discussion on the TES forums.

As we moved through the decade, I remember Brain Gym, Moodle (I think) and APP in 2009, I was KS3 coordinator at that point and it gave me the biggest headache.

As we got into the 2010s academy fever spread, it felt like loads of schools were migrating to shiny new buildings and having new names and new uniforms. Exam reform. I vaguely remember something about blogging your learning being the done thing.

I’ve recently been job hunting again, TES is nearly unusable. It used to be such fun.

What do you remember?

I also started teaching in 1978:
Wheeling the bloody TV on a stick around.
Filming on Super 8
100% coursework GCSE
Banda machines - the smell of the fluid in the morning: like victory.:o
Roller blackboards - genius for planning.
Pub lunchtimes (occasionally)
Family Life: where they had a mock flat set up, with washing machine and so on.
CSEs, where an A at CSE was judged equivalent to a C at O level. Pleeeeeze. CSE As were amazing, and so much better O level Cs, and most Bs.
The photocopier regarded as the holy of holies and Not To Be Used Much. This was until the storage of banda fluid became illegal and suddenly it was all good.
Cow glue - also not used any more. There's a theme emerging here, I think.
Later on BBC computers.
Floppy disks
Even later: Prometheus whiteboards - don't make me larf.

I trained in a very traditional state school last year and was called a 'Beginning Teacher' and used Bromcom!

I qualified in 1994 and remember the smoking room. Unfortunately the non-smoking room was entered via the smoking one. I loved the fact that experienced teachers shared their skills with us NQTs. I worked in a really tough area and out of a staff of just over 50 teachers, when I started, 17 were new to the school, 13 were NQTs. It was sink or swim, but those of us who could do it, emerged the other side stronger and better.

I agree completely about emails, how much more you have to put in now, planning and teens' mental health. It's not got better, it's much worse now.

Any ideas for an older teacher who is thoroughly disillusioned welcome...

My classroom was opposite the smoking room! The fumes!!

Pupils passing notes instead of snapchatting

I qualified in 2002. I remember leaving at 3.30 several times a week because I had done my marking at lunch, there was little endless paperwork/assessments and it wasn’t frowned upon. We didn’t get PPA time and it still was less stressful! My planning was also on a few A4 pieces of paper. I had the energy to make my classroom environment amazing and to think of exciting activities. The day was less pressurised and I was able to chat to my year 1s if there was something upsetting them. There wasn’t a constant pressure to get so much done. Teaching assistants were there to support you as well as the children , rather than constantly squeezing in interventions. Fridays we would go for pub lunches! No one moaned about the job/pressures! You were trusted to just get on with it. I enjoyed it far more. We didn’t use an interactive whiteboard/lap top with power points. No mini whiteboards!

I qualified in 1987.
"Choosing" activities in year 2 and Friday afternoons for all years.
Record books of work that we had done as opposed to what we were going to do.
Using maths text books.
Country dance lessons ( where I always joined in) on tape played in the hall with much laughter and puffing ( by far the best cardio related exercise!)
Choir and orchestra during school times (rather than cramming them into endless lunchtime and after school clubs.)
Smoking in the staff room ( not me- I hated it...)
Roger Red Hat reading scheme ( actually hated it.)
Look and Say reading and a bit of phonics thrown in ( " magic e " anyone? none of that split diagram nonsense!
Look and Read BBC education programmes- (Geordie Racer and Through the Dragon's eye were my favourite)
One BBC computer in the classroom with a very high tech device called a concept keyboard attached.
Chalk board
No little whiteboards
No water bottles on the table.
No snacks at break time.
One LSA for the whole infant school who mopped up paint spills and did classroom displays with a bit of reading thrown in.
No PPA time.
Banda copying ( we weren't allowed to use the photocopier...)
Seven ( yes seven) teachers who could play the piano. No tapes or discs with assembly songs on them- it was all played live!
Beyond probation year, no lesson observations.
No OFSTED.
No science curriculum (nature table anyone?)
No national curriculum and when this came in after my first year the huge folders with each containing so many learning objectives that there wouldn't have been enough time to cover those for just one subject.

Qualified in 2010. So not too long ago:

• more money meant the luxury of useful staff training
• less pressure on the students (the anxiety and pervasive mental health issues now are incredibly difficult to deal with)
• SLT who had earnt their place through years of teaching and work; not the speedy greasy pole that now exists
• being surrounded by qualified staff. My school is on it's third non qualified teacher for a core subject. They ruin classes and can't cope. Who on earth thought that that they would be a good thing?!
• headteachers with sense. In my first school, our head used to flood the staff room with citrus fruits from October to deal with the constant colds. A small gesture but one that literally bore fruit as it meant less sick days.

1978 for me as well. Called “ probationer” and it was hit and miss whether you had support or not depending on the school you “ got” I did a three year Cert Ed which was really thorough with loads of “TP” teaching practice. Applied to lots of authorities to be accepted on their “ pool”.
Banda machines
38 in a class with no other adult
No one telling you what to teach! You just got on with it, lots of sen slipped through the net though .
No parents ever questioned what I was doing ( or asked why their daughter was only the innkeepers daughter in the nativity)
National curriculum ( mark 1) came in while I was off work having a baby and I was given 13 A4 files to read. There must be some still floating around as every single teacher in the country was given 13!
Teachers older than me taught me so much, mainly useful but some things I definitely wouldn’t be copying.
Sorry to say it but little children were much better behaved but as I said before a big downside was complete lack of support in mainstream for any sort of sen. Special schools catered for complex needs but nothing in mainstream.
The first inspections looked at things like resources! And you had about 10 weeks notice!
I thoroughly enjoyed teaching in the main but a combination of nonsense, constant inspection in one form or another, constant new ( reinvented wheel) initiatives and age made me finish early a few years ago after nearly 40 years.
There were 2 last straws for me.

1. I had to attend a whole inset day on “ innovative ways of using a number line”
2. A monitoring session by a head concluded that I was unsatisfactory due to me not asking a child ( reception, aged 4, in the sand tray) what she could have done better during her task......

I've only been teaching ten years but one thing that has actually got way better in that time is the end of the obsession with three part lessons and sharing learning objectives and plenaries. Always found them useless and now the 'experts' seem to agree.

I started teaching in 95. The following year Blair came to power with ‘education, education, education’ There was money everywhere. Beacon schools, specialist schools, massive funding for GIfted and talented. Massive endless amounts for IT. Pots of money you could just tap into here and there.

And, no data, no targets, little stress, staff room at lunch time, pub on a Friday. Reports limited to about 30 words. Workplace reform, all admin jobs taken away from staff. Counsellors, mentors, behaviour support, mental health support, EAL support lots of class support. Every day was fun. Blackboards and chalk.

Now: gloom, despair, grey, skint. Massive classes, support axed, endless targets, data, observations, stress stress stress. Still like the students. But l feel sorry for them☹️

About 8 years ago an old colleague retired. He said when he started the stater was ‘shut up’ and the plenary was ‘pack up’

I know when l was at school,3 part lessons would have just overwhelmed me. No room for silent thinking!

Teaching has always been the way it has now, for me, because I've not being doing it as long as some PP. In some ways I feel lucky, because the workload doesn't seem unusual since it's always been that way for me, since training. If anything, it has probably lessened slightly!

And I’ve heard the 3 part lesson has drifted out of favour. What is it being replaced with?

I feel like we are at a strange point in education, on the cusp of something but not sure quite what. I think we might well go back full circle to scrapping things like 1:1support and putting more children into SEN schools. It will then probably change again, but I think the current media focus on education, and even reading threads on here, suggests some kind of change is coming.

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince For us at the moment, it's staggered inputs rather then three parts. So plugging gaps and teaching inputs differntiated. Then coming together for plenary that is child-led reflection.

sharing learning objectives and plenaries. Always found them useless and now the 'experts' seem to agree.

Interesting-that hasn’t filtered through to my school yet!

Do you still have LOs but don’t share them?

‘Staggered inputs?’.

‘Plugging gaps?’ Are you teaching bricklaying?

staggered inputs rather then three parts

What does that actually look like?

I keep seeing a drunk teacher staggering around!!!

And “ narrow the gap” moved to “ close the gap” or else!

I remember when learning objectives first came in as a thing. Children had to write it in at the top of their work, some little ones never got past writing that sentence before it was time to move on to the next lesson!

The 3 part lesson thing reminds me of when I had a student observing me on their first practice. They were only about 3 weeks in and making copious amounts of notes. They were shocked that not only did I not do a 3 part lesson but also didn't follow the scheme to the letter but went off on my own tangent ! He attempted to put me straight with 'how his tutor said it should be done' !! I just went 'ok' !

I'm in primary so might be a little different?
Will try to best to briefly explain...
We have to split our children into usually three ability groups. It works differently every day, but for example I might leave my 'HA' children to do a task on tables independently, my 'LA' children would then sit at table with my TA and she would 'plug gaps' of previous lesson or for example if I was teaching division might support them with a starter based on three times tables, basically preparing them for the input. Meanwhile my 'MA' children would be on the carpet with me, receiving their input.

It's not as complex as it sounds and actually works really well if you have children that struggle to focus for long periods, because the lessons moves at such a fast pace.

Sometimes I only split into two groups to stagger the input, sometimes I teach the whole group together, sometimes we work in mixed ability Kagan groups. It's up to us, but apparently it's the new thing! It does work well for maths though.