Trainee quitting without notice

[Flatbred]

I've just checked my work emails as I'm mentoring our trainee and he usually emails me his first plans for the week on Sunday afternoons.

Today I've got an email saying he won't be in from tomorrow, after his formal obs on Friday! He says he didn't take any of the books home with him (I had asked him to, to mark them), so he must have had this in mind but not mentioned it to me.

Obviously we as a school are responsible for the students' learning, and there might be other issues behind this than one bad experience, but I'm struggling to know what to reply, as it seems rude to leave with immediate effect.

To stop marking books and doing planning, then announce over the weekend that all this will need to be picked up seems really unprofessional, but I guess if you quit a PGCE, you don't have to be professional anymore.

I know for a fact if I email the teacher whose lesson he should have been teaching tomorrow, she'll likely only pick it up about 20 minutes before the lesson is due to take place!

Is this something that happens regularly and I'm just expecting too much? Is a trainee just allowed to state that their last day of attendance was last week?

Apologies if I seem to lack compassion, but as some acknowledge, it's a lot of extra work coaching a trainee and for him not to have mentioned anything to me at any point about not enjoying the course or struggling more than he could manage with the demands and to email me instead seems abrupt.

I don't expect him to work at the weekend, but the university has a policy of submitting plans with a minimum of 24 hours' notice. Basically, instead of insisting on everything being sent to me the Friday before Monday's lessons, I allowed him to manage his time as he wished and made myself available during my own weekend, when by everyone's arguments here, I shouldn't have to work.

The observation wasn't done by me, although I agree the feedback was accurate, and I didn't let him go home without reassurances about next steps and praise for what had been going well over time. I fought his corner in the meeting, citing evidence for how the standards were being met. He sat in the meeting agreeing and reflecting, seeming positive about making a few tweaks and developing and addressing the concern before the end of the placement.

Part of my frustration is that I have worked to be as supportive as possible, up to this mid point of the course (still team teaching, so he was realistically on about 8 hours of solo teaching per week, still picking up a set of marking when necessary to lessen the load, which I would have done last week if he'd asked again, still outlining activities for lessons to give a starting point beyond the schemes, sharing resources, setting manageable targets with real strategies for improvement and trying to pick up the pieces after external observer was blunt and not constructive).

If it matters, he was salaried. Having seen all those thinking he 'well, he wasn't paid, he doesn't need to be committed', I'm genuinely shocked. I wasn't paid and didn't receive a bursary when I trained, but I still took my responsibilities seriously and used the time to learn from others.

I think the trainees I've had in the last 10 years have been far better than I was 25 years ago... (secondary, so PGCE mostly).

What’s the point of a mentor if they are just leaving you to it and not giving any constructive advice or helping ensure the trainee is approaching things in the right way?

They get that after the lesson has been taught.

It should be both. Help with the planning and resourcing beforehand and feedback on the delivery afterwards.

In my school, we’re all teamed up and help each other. We plan a lesson together, watch the delivery of the lesson and then offer feedback. This happens for all of us regardless of experience. I’ve found it really helpful.

People seem to be missing the massive issues with professionalism here - if he was struggling, he needed to find someone to talk to and explain this before he just quit. Should we really accept such a lack of grown up behaviour from someone who's likely to have had a massive amount of time invested in them? When did our standards for those entering the profession, or attempting to, drop so low as to accept someone who can't explain that they're struggling before they land others in difficulty?

Write back something supportive. Ask if he is ok, fffs.

Encourage him to contact his ITT provider urgently on Monday.

Suggest a time that he could come back into school for a meeting, no obligations, but perhaps a way back in if he has acted hastily.

Pick up the lesson yourself, if needed.

Is it just me or is that famous quote from Jane Eyre running through anyone else’s mind?

‘I am a free human being with an independent will.’

‘Oh no, I forgot, I’m a teacher and can’t possibly leave for any reason of my own. I’ll just stay here in a situation that has become unbearable to me, Mr Rochester.’

for him not to have mentioned anything to me at any point about not enjoying the course or struggling more than he could manage with the demands and to email me instead seems abrupt.

Don’t you think that’s actually quite a hard conversation to have?

It’s possible of course, that he went to mark the books, discovered he’d left them at school, and panicked - particularly after a dodgy observation. It might well not have been premeditated. We don’t know. But I’d certainly email him, and suggest talking with you/college tutor. Even if he does quit, it should be after thought,not simply because he’s in a flat spin.

it's a lot of extra work coaching a trainee

But isn't this why in most cases trainees would be released immediately even if they offered notice?

Ah, we’ve all sat there and nodded and pretended we’re OK whilst listening to someone ripping us apart, while inside we just want to cry.

He’s having a crisis, and you do seem lacking in empathy.

Handled well (in fact ‘professionally’), he could be supported not to let this bad feedback scupper all his dreams and ambitions.

I left my PGCE course after the first 2 weeks in school.
I realised that teaching, or as I saw it 'keeping the kids off the streets', was not for me.
My Uni was hopeless.
The school utterly struggling.
The teachers in the school battling a sea of apathy. One in the dept. off on long term leave, mental health problems, the rest treading water.
Good luck to him.
I'm sure this is the best option for him, rather now that later.

I'm sure this is the best option for him, rather now that later.

I don’t think you can know that based on the information given. Lots of students have massive wobbles but come through them with support.

He doesn't need to give any notice and you seem like the reason he has left.
I've walked out of schools too, and I'm a supply teacher that's paid. I don't get paid after I walk out btw.
You're asking too much.

If you want more teachers then you need to support and treat the students better. This was someone who wanted to become a teacher and their time at your school made them decide against it. So either he didn't get adequate support or wasn't treated well.

You need to think really hard where you let this trainee down.

My experience of being in school was that people leaving abruptly is normal, at least not particularly unusual. It definitely happens during PGCEs, but also when senior members of staff just can't keep going and just disappear without warning.

I've worked alongside 6 student teachers. Various routes but not pace. Out of those 7 2 have quit. And gave little to no notice. So it does happen. I think they speak more to the course leader than the mentor about reasons and stuff . We find out very little about the circumstances behind them teaching

One of them a couple of small belongings at the school. The other rang on w Monday morning Thanks but no thanks

Maybe you haven't been in teaching long. It's quite usual to drop the t-bomb and often the only way out.
If you're under contract or permanently employed, you can go to doc and will usually end up off for months with supply covering your lessons. You will not mark or plan and I've never heard of anyone giving notice to do this. It's usually a 7am phone call Monday am. You're lucky you got an email on Sunday.

If you are supply or trainee you just never go back. You can't get in (to the school) and need to drop keys tag eby books laptop etc at reception.
It doesn't usually mean being thrown off uni course. It's put down as clash of personality and they're usually introduced to new school. Fighting this with vengence on your part would be seen as v unprofessional. Sometimes they leave the course entirely and pursue better career.

They're your classes ultimately, you teach them. It's not trainees job, it's yours. Better get on pc and download some ppts.

I think your awful sending them home at the weekend to do your marking. They are ultimately your classes. You're paid and sitting back criticising them while you just watch.

Theyll have their own uni coursework to do as well as your marking.
You should feel guilty.

@crystal1717

I'm not new to teaching, just new to the idea that on a professional placement you just walk out. No one had mentioned being 'thrown off', although after the feedback I do think this was a kneejerk reaction to 'jump before being pushed'. He's not having a new placement, he's talking about leaving the course, and since it's an email expressing this to me, nobody's going to lock him out of thr school building tomorrow.

Funnily enough, they're not my classes to teach, which is why I'm not teaching them. (In any case, I would have no need to 'download some ppts'. Comments like that are possibly why trainees fail or drop out) They are other colleagues', and since I have my own teaching load, I couldn't cover them if I wanted to (as someone unhelpfully suggested).

I should 'feel guilty' that an adult who is training in a professional roleand has minimal workload and responsibilities has had all my time and guidance to learn his craft and didn't have the decency to mention the problems he saw when given daily opportunities to do so? It's not 'my marking'. If you teach a lesson, you give your own feedback. Where am I sitting back and criticising?

Not sure why OP is getting such a hard time to be honest. She has said that the books have needed marking since last Monday, ready for this Monday's lessons. If he has left it until the weekend with a timetable of 8 lessons, then frankly that is his lookout.

She has also said that it is the university policy that plans be emailed in in advance, not her's or her school's. When I was training, I never had to submit plans unless it was for an obs. I would discuss my plans verbally during our meetings.

When I was training (4 year course) there were a number of drop outs near the start of the course who honestly believed that teaching was an easy option. I've also rolled my eyes a thousand times at the number of people i've known who have graduated, not been sure what to do next and said "i might just do a PGCE" . Maybe he was one of them. Who knows?

The other colleagues can teach their own classes then.

Also the expectation to write from scratch every lesson is ridiculous. I wish society knew about the new expectation to reinvent (perfectly great, outstanding) wheels. 25 or 30 ppts per week per teacher, peoples, with no sharing allowed even though you're teaching the same topic and no reusing of previous years ppts or lovely, often perfect, ppts available on tes website.

Teach First?

Otherwise known as The Meat Grinder Route,

Inconvenient for you, but potentially life threatening for him - the rate of attrition is phenomenally high, especially as they work/learn fulltime at weekends as well.

I’d be thinking about whether to make a complaint about the observer.

The PGCE drop-out rate is around 15% so definitely not unusual for trainees to drop out. Teaching is a stressful profession and indeed it’s not unusual for teachers to be signed off work for significant periods with stress, but obviously that’s not always an option for trainees and so an overwhelmed trainee is most likely to drop out. If a trainee is stressed out and drowning to the extent that he’s going to drop out of a course he’s out time and money into then of course he’s not going to come in once the decision to leave has been made. If he was able to force himself in on Monday then it stands to reason he’d try and force himself through the next 6 months, it would be odd to be at a point where the course was so overwhelming a trainee couldn’t see a way to carry on with it but still dedicate a weekend to planning the next weeks lessons and then going in to work a notice period. If he thought he could do that he may as well not drop out!