ITT - day in the life

[inthewoods4]

Hi, I’m currently a cover supervisor in a lovely school. I took the job as a way to get a feel for working in a school as I’d like to train to teach. I really enjoy it, especially talking to the class angels helping where I can. I’m sure I’d like to teach, I just need to decide on the best time to start and I’d really appreciate more of an idea of how the training works- ie hours etc. The provider locally doesn’t offer salaried and I would be paying tuition fees.
It’s a secondary school. Thank you!

Before I go into the training, your reference to 'class angels' stood out to me and not in a good way. Be careful here - you will need to teach/help all pupils, whether they are 'angels' or not!

Anyway, on to training.

Training courses start in September. Depending on subject, you probably still have time to apply for this year.

You can either do a SCITT or a uni based PGCE.

SCITT trainees are in their home school from the start of September. Usually 4 days a week at first with one day in centralised training, but it can vary a bit from time to time.
Uni based PGCE usually do a few weeks in uni before starting their first placement in schools.
Both courses include a contrasting placement in a second school and both would build you up gradually with the teaching.

The SCITT I do some work with starts trainees off with observations, then doing small parts of lessons and then teaching a full lesson by week 4. In placement one, they usually end up teaching around 7 full lessons per week.
Placement 2 (Jan-Easter) builds quite rapidly up to a 60% timetable.
Final placement is 1 week observations and then 80% timetable.

You will also usually be attached to a form group, shadow break duties, be involved in the wider life of the school, attend INSET days/department meetings, parents evening etc.

As much as I love the job (I'm a HoD now) it is tough and the hours can be long and the workload high. Everyone manages this differently but most people either get in early or stay later or both. It's a full on and very demanding job, so just make sure you are prepared for that!

That was a typo! I meant to say ‘and’

Thank you! I’m trying to decide whether to start this year or not, the HoD in my subject is keen for me to start this year and I’m excited about it but it feels less scary to do it in sept 26!

The other thing to think about is which subject will you apply for and what is your relevant experience? How will you get up to date with subject knowledge?

We have had 3 trainees in our (English) department this year who all had vaguely relevant degrees but had no relevant school experience and really struggled with getting up to date subject knowledge - one failed and one is close to failing now at the end of the year. Would it be possible for you to apply for Sept 26 if possible and use the next year to work with the relevant department at your school to improve your subject knowledge? It will massively help with your training.

Typo or not, generally 'talking to the class and helping where you can' isn't teaching. While supervising set lessons will give you some insight into certain elements of the job, it's largely different.

You'll need to be knowledgeable in the curriculum of your subject and the training will focus on how pupils learn. You'll build up responsibility for planning, delivering and assessing, while managing the classroom.

If you're being supported to train through the school where you're employed and they're keen for you to get going, you could ask for a bit more observation or involvement in the summer term. It's usually lighter on cover, due to gain time, so maybe where you are naturally freed up you could sit in some lessons or even attend teaching staff CPD.

I'm hoping to teach History. I have a 1st class degree in History, and it's a passion of mine. I have had a successful career in the media industry but have always wanted to teach. I think that's a good idea about starting in 26 and spending the next academic year getting up to speed!