Really not enjoying my 2nd placement😭

[Serena1977]

I'm in year 2 this placement. Year 3 last placement.

*I'm supposed to be co-planning but it's done for me so I don't get chance to learn and improve my planning skills.

*It's continuous provision in the afternoons so subjects other than English and maths are 'experienced' during this time.

*phonics is a mash up of different systems and doesn't seem to follow a pattern.

But my main issue is that the teacher I am with, is really poor (I have seen many teachers teach due to a previous career). They forget slides that they were supposed to use, goes off on a tangent, doesn't assess during lesson or use that info for the next lesson, has 3 or 4 objectives per lesson that are not achieved, doesn't stretch the most able, doesn't scaffold for struggling children.

What takes the biscuit is, they wrote on the board peace of cake and told the children our is pronounced are, as in 'are house'.

I seem to be just another pair of hands not trying to learn to be a teacher.

How do I get through it?

Well unfortunately there are good and bad in every walk of life and you've ended up with what you perceive to be a bad one. All you can do is get through your placement, you're not there to change that teacher or that class.

You do have to plan to meet the standards so presumably you can tweak the planning that's been done? If not, question it with your tutor.

What is your issue with CP? When it's done well it's amazing in KS1. Much more developmentally appropriate than having 30 bums on chairs for 6 hours a day. Granted, it could be being done badly here but a sweeping comment of 'oh they do CP and it's bad' isn't helpful. We run CP full time in my year 1 and afternoons in year 2. Our classrooms are full of so much more buzz and learning since we switched. Have you done any reading on it?

You can't change the phonics 'scheme'. Just ask what you're teaching next and plan accordingly.

It's only a placement school. None of this will matter when you get your own job. You just have to do the best that you can within the parameters they give you for now. Plenty of trainers have very poor placements. It's not good but it's just how it is. My final placement tutor (15 years ago mind!) spent my entire placement search for jobs because she had just been made redundant. She didn't tell me a thing about the school or the class and just walked out as soon I was in the classroom. These things happen. Get on with what you're asked to do and get out once your placement has finished. Keep your opinions to yourself about the school because heads talk when recruiting!