Trainee

[slyoldfoxystoat]

Hi I am a trainee on my second placement. My first was lovely really supportive etc, however my current one is soul destroying.
I have had to have 2 days off genuine illness and they have said anymore and they won't accept me back in. This would effectively fail me, as no other school to go to.
The Hod is extremely critical (he is the one who said the above) rips me to shreds.
I am an absolute bag of nerves. It's Saturday and all I want to do is cry. Am in uni on Monday but they so far haven't been helpful for others so not hopeful.
I am a parent too so what happens if a child is ill. My husband is the main earner so can't take too much unpaid time.
I am so shocked at how I am being treated as a trainee, my mentor is lovely but as there is only the 2 of them I have to deal with him the same if not more.
Any advice would be welcome as my mental health is about shot.

You do have to complete a set number of days on placement to gain QTS, but two days off sick is not anywhere near putting this at risk, and that’s why most PGCE courses finish in June, to allow mop up time for anyone who is cause for concern or needs to make up days.
What is your school ITTCo like? Approachable? You said your mentor is good - have you spoken to them about how you are feeling? Part of my job as a mentor is to speak to the other teachers in the dept about giving effective feedback to our trainee, and that includes the HoD.
Speak to your uni tutor. I know you say they have been unhelpful to others, but they are your first port of call. Unis don’t want to lose trainees at this stage as it looks really bad for their retention.
What specifically is soul destroying about this placement? They are meant to provide contrast. Is it planning support you need? Is behaviour challenging? If you can go to your mentor with specifics, that is sometimes easier for us to unpick. But we are there to be a shoulder to cry on too, so please use yours.
With regard to childcare, it is tough and you need to make sure you have robust plans for this in place if teaching is going to be for you. That said, a decent school is understanding.

Also... these people are amazing

www.educationsupport.org.uk/

Thank you for your response. The ITT co-ordinator is wife to the man involved 😖. I am just overwhelmed by how horrid and uncaring this school is compared to my last one!
Thank you for the link have signed up and may call them if things do not improve.

I had a horrific final placement, truly dreadful. My mistake was to ask for additional help with behaviour management as I was struggling with the class (I was a student so not unexpected) They did have an interesting rep amongst the support staff in the school just to add it wasn’t purely my inexperience. Sadly, the head took this as a personal slight, was very defensive with my uni mentor and criticised me to breaking point. Any positives observations was down to the fact they had done it before etc. What would I advise in hindsight, talk to Educational Support Partnership as suggested, contact university to speak to personal tutor, any support reps on the course, reach out to students on course for peer support.

I stayed for entire placement as I am stubborn, got an awful pass grade which sucked as first placement was so much better. You know you can re-do a placement, if it is making you that upset and you have a family who rely on you then it isn’t worth it. Yes, we are meant to be resilient as teachers but we’re not robots. So many will say the right school makes a difference and it is true to an extent. You can can signed-off and repeat if things don’t improve. No job or placement is worth tears.

Thank you for your response.
I am the only student there they don't have students normally.
I am talking to fellow students on my course and unfortunately there is another who is going through similar and thinking of leaving.
I suppose I am just shocked at how toxic this person can be towards a student!

Did they tell you the thing about being off ill in writing? If not, ask for it in writing so that you can query it with the university.

He told me he was going to email the placement office about our conversation including that.
He said it's not meant as a threat but that if I were to have any more time off then they would ring uni and cancel my placement

It’s not up to him though. Schools are paid money to take trainees, there’ll be a contract and I’m pretty sure taking a couple of sick days isn’t in the contract as a deal breaker.

This happened to me at my second placement. Very unfriendly, hostile staff who told me my teaching was inadequate, I was an inadequate teacher and there wasn't even any point at applying for the job at X school because I wasn't good enough and X trainee was going to get it. (I ignored them and applied and got the job over X trainee.)

There were so many issues stemming from their sheer unprofessionalism that I used to sit in the car park each morning and cry before I went in. I had gone from being so supported and confident at placement 1 to feeling really alone and down-trodden at placement 2.

In the end I called my provider and listed all of the things that had happened and they removed me from the school straight away and put me back in placement 1 school. They told me to clear my desk, speak to no one and just leave and they'd deal with my awful mentor. Same happened to another person on my course at a different school and they did the same for him. If you don't want to speak to the coordinator in the school, go above their head and speak to your university / course director and they will support you.

All the above advice is perfect. All I would add is, please remember this is short lived. You just have to get through the next few weeks. Some people are stuck in their actual job working with people like this. When you’re looking for jobs, although you will need a job, you need to be fussy and withdraw from the interview if you get a sense it might not be a supportive or happy place to work. Good luck.

Ask your Uni to find you another placement if possible. This one sounds horrible. Bullying even.

Thank you for all your advice. I am in uni today and have a meeting with my mentor so will see what happens.
I think they thought they were going to get a nearly polished trainee but they got me!
Woke up this morning in a panic and I am not there until tomorrow!
Uni have already said they don't have anywhere they can move me too .
The way the HOD responded to my lesson for tomorrow with a 'we need to talk about this!' Because he wasn't happy with it makes me think they want me out already.
Just the impression I am getting.

Hope your meeting with your mentor was useful. Have been wondering how you were getting on.

No school should expect a 'polished trainee'. The whole point is you're there to learn. I think you need to push this with the Uni. You're paying them a lot of money for this course! Best wishes.