Teacher training - advice please

[whatstheproblemguys]

DH decided last year he needed a career change from technical sales, and decided to teacher train. He started off strong with his teaching, getting good feedback but he said he got a weird vibe from the mentor he had. I told him to brush it off and crack on and he did.
Lots of positive feedback but a few negative comments about not submitting lesson plans 48 hours before the lesson (something he says the others weren’t being made to do). He took this on board and made sure they were in, but behind the scenes she had already complained to the uni and he ended up on a support plan. The only grievance was submitting lesson plans with 48 hours notice but she’d spun it in a way that made it look like he was totally unorganised. There was never any issue with his planning and she never changed anything and he was always ready to teach the lessons!
He completed the support plan time and passed it and went off to his second placement, which he loved and smashed! Great feedback and really positive experience.

Fast forward to after Easter, he’s back at placement 1 and although the teaching feedback was fairly positive, a few comments about ensuring there wasn’t talking while he was talking etc, things were positive.
Had a great observation with the uni course director before half term, although he’d voiced concerns to the uni about how he was struggling with the increase in teaching hours and keeping up with the planning for 48 hours before the lessons but he thought he was on the home straight with 3 weeks to go…
That’s where we were wrong. The uni lecturer booked a teams meeting with him today after school, we thought it was just as catch up following their meeting before half term where he’d said he was struggling with the workload where the teaching had increased, and he was finding the mentor not very supportive. Well the uni tells him the mentor has reported him as a cause for concern, and he’s unlikely to pass this placement, meaning that he won’t pass the course.
It’s really surprised us both and the uni aren’t being very helpful. Is there any chance at this late stage that he could change their minds? Can the uni say his obs with them were good and he passed placement 2, so they’ll pass him anyway?
His confidence has taken a huge knock and he doesn’t want to go back in on Monday, and his mental health is in the gutter. He’s passed the PGCE but won’t get QTS without passing placement.
The uni say his options are to crack on and finish the next few weeks (not sure if they were saying that he could pass but they did say there wasn’t time to do another assessment). Or take a break and try again in September in a new school to do one more half term, just to pass. He said they seemed to be pushing for the latter.
I’m obviously hearing all this from him, and he’s feeling very negative, so I don’t know if there is a chance they would still pass him.
I’m a teacher of 10 years myself but this has genuinely thrown me and I don’t have much to do with trainees or the process, so I really don’t know what I’m looking at. Please support ☹️

That sounds tough. I have no experience with teacher training though I do support medical students in training. I’m surprised the mentor has allowed things to get to this stage. They’ve should have been discussing any issues as they went along and suggesting how to fix any issues. As you say we don’t know what’s gone on as we weren’t there but it doesn’t sound fair when hes done well on placement 2 .
my husband is going to start teacher training and I worry about him hitting these kind of blocks as he is older and has a lot of life experience and I think he will struggle with criticism unless it is constructive. He is from a business background and feels criticism is fine if done properly . I hope he goes in on Monday and can speak to his mentor constructively ideally with someone from uni present - if he is paying for his rating that’s the least I would expect.

I'm sorry to hear your husband is going through this! I work with SCITT trainees but don't have huge knowledge- hopefully Mrs Hamlet will see this thread!

My first thought is that cause for concern should not come as a surprise!
We had a trainee this year that we went through the process with.
The feedback we had given was overall not positive (lots of concerns). We gave detailed feedback and additional support.
Our induction tutor then met him and said we were worried about progress and to focus on X, Y,Z - again, lots of support given.
There was then a period of 2 weeks implemented by the SCITT to try to improve and a further 2 weeks on 'cause for concern'.

Is your husband in a union? He needs to contact them.
He needs an urgent meeting with the uni - what are the grounds for cause for concern? What specific targets does he need to meet and by when? How will he be supported to meet those targets?

He should be able to resit the final placement but it seems very late to be saying he is failing after passing the first two placements and receiving positive feedback in this placement.

I'm here!

Have they given him a new action plan?
Is he in a union?
When is he due to finish?

No, no action plan.
hes in a union.
3 weeks!! He’s literally got 3 weeks to go!!!

It’s come as a huge surprise. His uni observation before half term went well, I read the feedback. He’s come back to school and the school has created a new timetable with year 11 leaving, so he knew he would be light on teaching this week as they wanted the actual teachers to teach them for the first week, but he commented that she was actually being nicer to him this week, and that maybe the last few weeks would be okay.
Its been a total shock!

My husband was in a similar boat. Came from a business background, needing a change.
fFom day 1 she’s had an issue with him. The in house co-ordinator has been useless. The uni said at Christmas after he raised the issue with the mentor and them having a personality clash,, go off to 2nd placement and see how you get on. He loved it and got glowing feedback but it was a middle school, so could only tick off ks3.
She’s waited until 3 weeks to go to raise causes for concern. He had no idea this was coming. Total shock.
It’s crazy when he’s compiled his evidence, his official observation before half term with the uni went well!
He raised with the uni before half term that she wasn’t being supportive, constantly not picking things, trying to trip him up on things that she never mentioned but expected him to do. Also, gave him the worlds worst laptop and then criticised him for being ‘unprepared’ when the thing crashed multiple times a lesson.
it’s just bonkers!!

He needs to contact the union now.

He needs to ask for the new action plan.
He needs a meeting with the uni, the school and his union rep.
With three weeks to go, everyone needs to be throwing everyone they've got at getting him through - and if not passing is realistic, they need a plan for resit placement.

I'm responsible for this in my school - if he was failing, he'd have known well before now. And there would have been a plan.

Thank you Mrs Hamlet! He genuinely had no idea this was coming. He had a support plan in the first half term for planning, as he wasn’t meeting the 48 hour deadline before the lesson, but there’s been nothing since and no hint of that from the mentor either.
Do you think he should go in on Monday? Keep working? Or wait until he can get a meeting. He’s really against going back in September, as really we can’t afford him to!

I have seen this so often. The main problem in teaching is that progress individual lessons and ability is generally measured on one person’s opinion. I have seen this being abused many times. Impact cannot be measured in terms of results and student progress over such a short period of time so it is down to the perception of the person making the judgements. A mentor decides that they don’t like a trainee for whatever reason and that’s it, they will find fault to suit their own narrative. I do know of a few people who experienced similar and opted to resit the final placement elsewhere in the September. They went on to have successful teaching careers afterwards. As you are a teacher I am assuming you had already warned him about the fact that this sort of bullying is common? I have to say I’m amazed that they can get anyone to apply for teacher training these days! You’d think they’d be keen to make sure he passes!

Yes he must go in on Monday. If I was his mentor, and he didn't turn up on Monday, I'd wash my hands of him.

If he fails, that's it. There's no chance for him to do it again. September may well be his best chance.

But he needs to ask for a meeting urgently.

Okay, thank you, I appreciate your response. I will try and convince him to go back. She’s made it quite clear she doesn’t really want to work with him though, so I think she already has washed her hands of him ☹️
He’s been told he’s passed the PGCE bit. If he doesn’t go back, and doesn’t pass the placement, and walks away, will he still get the PGCE qualification, just not the QTS?

Yes but that's really neither use nor ornament.

There needs to be a clear plan. The mentor and the uni should write it together, with clear milestones.

Okay, thank you. So frustrating.
He’s said this morning that he feels like a total failure and doesn’t know how he can walk back in there in front of a room of kids when those who he is supposed to be supported by think he is too. ☹️
If he goes back in Monday and can gathers evidence for the things she says he’s not doing/can’t do, is there a chance the uni will still pass him?

That'll be up to them - but "gathering evidence" is not about paperwork.

If I, as the person who sees the trainer every day, says they're not meeting the standard, a uni tutor who might see one or two lessons isn't really in a position to disprove that.

Does he know what the problems are?

She said his subject knowledge for KS4 wasn’t good enough, but he won the IOP scholarship for his physics knowledge, did A level physics and has worked in a related industry for nearly 10 years and nobody has ever said anything about his subject knowledge before.
His planning and preparation, because he doesn’t always send her the lesson plans 48 hours before the lesson, but is always ready to teach the lesson. His argument with this is that none of the other trainees are having this demanded of them, so how is this failable? She never changes anything in the lesson plan or offers any feedback and has never said his actual plan or delivery is a problem.
She also said something about ensuring resources are booked, but despite asking numerous times they kept forgetting to set him up on the booking system, so he was having to arrange it via email, and they didn’t always see.
His feedback about his classroom management and progress in lessons has been fairly good. The odd class he’s been reminded about not letting students talk over him. I’ve read a lot of his observations and most things are positive.

Subject knowledge and teaching that are not the same though - I've had supremely well qualified physicists who simply can't explain it well.

It needs to be clearly set out in a plan with SMART targets, so that's what he needs to ask for.

Okay, thank you so much for all your information and time.
We’ll have a chat when the kids are in bed and go from there with a plan.

Hope your dh is feeling better today. Just wanted to say that I once had to put a trainee on a support plan as the Covid lockdown was getting on top of her and she was trying to juggle small children as well as the teacher training. She went back to her first placement and passed with flying colours and has been thriving ever since in her job. I hope your dh does the same, but MrsHamlet is right, there needs to be targets or both the school and uni are failing in their duty of care to their trainee. Wish you all the best.

Thank you, he is in a better frame of mind today. He’s in the process of writing an email to the university with his concerns over everything that has happened, and asking for a plan moving forward as he hasn’t received any paperwork or any targets.
I know of lots of people who have been cause for concern but come out the other side, which I’ve told him. I think his main frustration is that in doing it at this point in the course, means he will have to come back in September, which we as a household really cannot afford him to do.

Does he have a job lined up?

I totally understand the financial side. He is paying for the course with a plan to start work asap. It’s very different for him than a 21 y old student potentially with no dependants though even for them it would be a nightmare financially. We would be in the same boat as you…… with the med students we sense they have greater power to insist on high quality training since they started paying uni fees (quite rightly).
hope he is ok tomorrow and gets things sorted.

Thank you!
Yes it will be a huge issue for us, and will leave us in a very problematic situation. He currently gets a bursary each month, with I assume he may not now qualify for the final payment of in July.
With 2 young children and a mortgage to think about, it’s not as easy as it was when I trained. I was living at home with my parents with very little outgoings as a 20 something student, so had I had to return for a term, I would have.

@MrsHamletno he doesn’t, he had already decided that he was going back to engineering, so won’t actually need the QTS bit but I just don’t want him to have nothing to show for this year.

So he's taken 30k, you've wasted people's time online, and he doesn't have any intention of actually ever teaching?

Well that's just marvellous, isn't it?!