As a trainee what are the rules around having a class?

[fluffyslipper1]

Am I correct in thinking as a trainee we must always have our lessons supervised? As in we can't teach a class without supervision? I'm just wondering what the rule about this is as no one really ever says that's a clear rule but i assume it is right?

I think PE needs to be supervised for insurance purposes but other than that as a trainee I think you're allowed in class alone? Why wouldn't you be?

It depends on the training provider. Some like trainees to always have someone in the room with them, but I find that doesn't help trainees learn classroom management. I remain in the room to start with and then over time might go and take a long trip to the printer, or arrive part way through if they want to work on getting classes settled, and eventually would be working close by but not in the class.

As a rule of thumb, a trainee should not be solely responsible for a class. Teachers shouldn't ne going into meetings where they cannot be disturbed, the trainee shouldn't be without support, and the class teacher shouldn't be used for cover or intervention as they are still the group's teacher with overall responsibility.

@LolaSmiles

It depends on the training provider. Some like trainees to always have someone in the room with them, but I find that doesn't help trainees learn classroom management. I remain in the room to start with and then over time might go and take a long trip to the printer, or arrive part way through if they want to work on getting classes settled, and eventually would be working close by but not in the class.

As a rule of thumb, a trainee should not be solely responsible for a class. Teachers shouldn't ne going into meetings where they cannot be disturbed, the trainee shouldn't be without support, and the class teacher shouldn't be used for cover or intervention as they are still the group's teacher with overall responsibility.

Yeah basically we had no idea where the main teacher was as we'd seen him in the morning meeting. Tried searching for ages and ages by sending emails out then I just asked one of the teachers who was free in the opposite room to supervise. I didn't think I could do the full lesson start to finish alone? Just because he was the teacher responsible and if not surely they should supply a stand in? Right??

In my school, unless you are salaried, there will always be a teacher responsible for the class.
They cannot be used elsewhere if you're teaching and, if they're off but you're teaching, cover will always be provided.

If they're not formally observing, they can work elsewhere - but it must be in the same building and the trainee must know where they are are, and be able to contact them in an emergency.

You can teach the lessln without someone in the room, unless the school has a policy otherwise, but the teacher or a nominated person should always be assigned.
If for whatever reason he wasn't available, you should have been told who the point of contact is. When I've had meetings, one of our experienced cover supervisors would be on call or in the room.

With the benefit of hindsight, in case it happens again, if I'd been in your situation I'd probably have asked the teacher in the opposite room if they would mind being a point of call in case you needed backup, rather than asked them to sit in your lesson (unless the class were a particularly challenging class, but those shouldn't be given to trainees).

@LolaSmiles

You can teach the lessln without someone in the room, unless the school has a policy otherwise, but the teacher or a nominated person should always be assigned. If for whatever reason he wasn't available, you should have been told who the point of contact is. When I've had meetings, one of our experienced cover supervisors would be on call or in the room.

With the benefit of hindsight, in case it happens again, if I'd been in your situation I'd probably have asked the teacher in the opposite room if they would mind being a point of call in case you needed backup, rather than asked them to sit in your lesson (unless the class were a particularly challenging class, but those shouldn't be given to trainees).

Lol yep it's a really challenging year 10 set, the teacher was a supply who was just on her phone and she said she was free till 4 so I just asked her to step in

When I trained, my mentor got up and left the room one lesson after a couple of weeks and was only seen again in the room for observations. I was actually grateful for this as it really let me get to grips with classroom management and boosted my confidence.

Make you you mention this in your mentor meeting then, or depending on your relationship with the class teacher you could send them a quick email giving them an overview of what happened and asking them what you should do should they not be around in future.
Whilst hopefully it will be a one off and you'll have a great time with that class, it's good to have things like this noted in case later on the class teacher starts raising concerns

@LolaSmiles

Make you you mention this in your mentor meeting then, or depending on your relationship with the class teacher you could send them a quick email giving them an overview of what happened and asking them what you should do should they not be around in future. Whilst hopefully it will be a one off and you'll have a great time with that class, it's good to have things like this noted in case later on the class teacher starts raising concerns

I was happy to be alone just wasn't sure if the procedures

OK, if you're happy with it then leave it be, but do find out where the responsible teacher would be in future. They should tell you, but sometimes trainees have to ask. Being alone can be a good confidence boost

Our primary trainees (School Direct) from next week will be leading the class for minimum 75% of the time, including three full consecutive days each week, with what is called 'indirect' supervision ie. no other teacher in the room, although they will usually check in from time to time.
So you certainly could be expected to start and finish a lesson alone, if our trainees can start and finish the day.

But it obviously depends on how far through your training you are. Our trainees are expected to finish by early June.

@Scarby9

Our primary trainees (School Direct) from next week will be leading the class for minimum 75% of the time, including three full consecutive days each week, with what is called 'indirect' supervision ie. no other teacher in the room, although they will usually check in from time to time. So you certainly could be expected to start and finish a lesson alone, if our trainees can start and finish the day.

I. The nicest way I think primary students aren't too disruptive. A bunch of year 10s on the other hand. Back Up can be necessary

I'm a mentor for an ITT student at the moment, secondary, and we've been told not to leave the classroom at any point.
I can see that I'm needed there in case if emergency, but at the same time, it's almost impossible for her to develop her own classroom management.
I do worry about how she'll manage in September in a new job with no support at all.
It seems kinder to me to gradually withdraw, but be close at hand if needed.

You absolutely can be on your own but the issue is that this wasn't communicated to you. In my second placement of my training year, the member of staff I was linked to went off on long-term sick. I was the full-time class teacher from January through to April. However, I knew that was going to be the case.

Please don't fall into the myth that primary children are sweet and easy darlings. Many SEND issues are undiagnosed, or in the diagnostic process (and unsupported) during this time. This includes children that you'd never even see at secondary because they only remain in mainstream during primary. There can also be deep emotional issues that they simply cannot deal with. I've worked in both secondary and primary but it's only primary where I've had, for example, a pupil brandish a sharp blade at me and threaten to stab me and the rest of the class.

Please don't fall into the myth that primary children are sweet and easy darlings. Many SEND issues are undiagnosed, or in the diagnostic process (and unsupported) during this time. This includes children that you'd never even see at secondary because they only remain in mainstream during primary. There can also be deep emotional issues that they simply cannot deal with. I've worked in both secondary and primary but it's only primary where I've had, for example, a pupil brandish a sharp blade at me and threaten to stab me and the rest of the class.

I'm glad you said this. Primary isn't as easy as you might think, OP. I've been bitten, punched, and scratched in my six years as a primary teacher, by children with a wide range of different undiagnosed problems. Colleagues in UKS2 have been threatened with sexual violence (both male and female colleagues). My school is not exceptional, nor particularly deprived compared to some inner city schools.

Genuinely, primary students can be extremely disruptive!
As a PP has said, in primary we have children who are undergoing assessments and will not be in mainstream secondary.
A couple of primary NQTs I met up with this week were talking of the difficulties of providing appropriately for all children in their class - between 30 and 35 kids, including children with diagnoses of ADHD (a couple unmedicated, a couple on medication, administered by the teacher), autism, and various medical needs, children brand new to this country with no English, one of whom had never been in a school before - all this on top of the full ability range from four years behind ARE to G&T. Only two of the five NQTs had any access at all to a TA at any time during the week.
Primary can be extremely challenging.
But that wasn't the point of my post. It was to say that trainees would not be expected to usually be under direct supervision on a PGCE course by this stage in the year.

We had a pupil yesterday who threw his table and chair across the room, hit and punched his teacher, walloped another pupil across the back of the head when passing, threw a book at the TA, yelled and shouted across the classroom and absconded from the lesson at least half a dozen times during the day. And he's 4! Give me year 10s any day!

I'm really surprised by the replies on here (except Scarby9 's)

How is a student supposed to learn classroom management, and to 'handle' the behaviour of the students if their usual teacher is there the whole time ?

I realise I trained decades ago, but you were expected to be able to teach classes, dealing with behaviour as well as delivering the curriculum.

It's come from the training providers BackforGood and, dare I say it, seems to correlate with a more variable quality cohort.

I've worked with some amazing trainees, but have also worked with some who were not cut out for teaching in the slightest.
Hypothetical example: Trainee gets told what the behaviour policy is and has a copy of it, has been given targets and support on behaviour management, but the trainee ignores this and tells classes they can earn minutes early for lunch despite being explicitly told a few days ago that this was unacceptable and not in the policy. When concerns are raised about this, trainee claims they were poorly supported by the school and they had no idea they were doing anything wrong.

@LolaSmiles
Does that, by chance, coincide with the time that ITT providers were told that they should change their process and accept all applicants unless there was a significant reason why they shouldn't?

I remember an applicant saying in interview that if they personally disagreed with a policy or instruction from subject leaders or SLT, they'd just find a way to do what they think is best without getting 'caught'. Still got their place in training.

Doesn't surprise me Lola, sadly.

I'm close to someone who is a lecturer, and hear a lot of things about demands of some students that seem unbelievable if I didn't know this person well, but that link in with the "rights" but without "responsibilities" section of society.

Totally am not lumping all students or all of a generation into this, just see it being more prevalent than perhaps it once was.

I noticed starting around the same time that the Cambridge History PGCE was badly affected by the government cap as other providers were accepting anyone to keep their numbers. Quite a few universities that had rigorous recruitment and selection strategies were affected that year.

It seems to go hand in hand with more questionable subject knowledge as well. When I trained I read widely around the schemes I was teaching, because there wasn't a fully resourced scheme of work and we had the importance of subject knowledge drilled into us. My course had people with literature backgrounds, language backgrounds, linguistics backgrounds and media/journalism, and all of us were told we needed to swot up on the other areas. I'm aware of trainees not reading the GCSE text they're teaching to Year 10 before teaching it, and showing so little knowledge of context that they couldn't even discuss the bullet points on Litcharts or Bitesize.

There's definitely been a shift more towards spoon feeding and hand holding in some areas, and I don't think it helps the stronger trainees as their stretch and challenge relies on them getting placed in a school that will bend the rules in order to help them fly.

I have experienced colleagues who don't bother to read the texts first... it's not just trainees!!

Oh me too MrsHamlet, but you would think that when you've never stepped foot in a classroom, have a mentor telling you to and giving you prep time, and a training provider saying it, that it might seem like a good idea when you've got almost zero pedagogical knowledge to wing a cold reading.