A year on, do I think School Direct was the right choice for me?

This week I have realised that it is only through talking to someone else, or more often than not in my case through writing, about your experiences that you really start to think things through.  Earlier in the week I found myself talking to someone that had some decisions to make about their route into teaching.  After listening to the decision he had to make and what he was thinking about it I told him everything about the course so far, warts and all.  We're told constantly that we have to be 'reflective practitioners' and the 40 minutes I spent talking to him about it certainly ticked that box.  A few days later and I realise it is something worth getting down in writing.

This time last year I'd applied, been selected for interview, taught my lesson and been offered a School Direct place for 2013-14.  I'd not yet graduated, I was still living up in Lancaster finishing off my degree and working part time for the Students' Union.  I'd applied for a million and one other jobs in other sectors from the Civil Service to British Airways, from Tesco to TUI.  It seems a million years ago from today...

I'm not ashamed to admit that I wasn't 110% convinced that teaching was going to be for me.  It was certainly something I'd considered on many occasions, and I was always pretty sure that teaching was something I could do well in and would enjoy, but for some reason I had never fully committed to the idea.  I  knew that I didn't want to do a university based PGCE, which, as far as I knew at the time, left me with Teach First (who had already turned me down) and School Direct.  I applied for School Direct on the basis that it was worth a try and I didn't have anything to lose other than the time it took to write the application.

Prior to my application I'd not had a huge amount of recent experience in school, I'd worked with 11-18 year olds on a Widening Participation programme in my first year, but the last time I'd spent an extended amount of time in a classroom was when I'd been there as a student myself.  This was actually one of the reasons I didn't apply for a university based PGCE, I was positive that they wouldn't accept me, the requirements always sounded pretty rigid.  I didn't have the free time to get this experience until later in the year, spending a week in a Boys Grammar school whilst I was still at university and another back at my old secondary school.

I came onto the course in August 2013 with the attitude that I would complete the year, no matter what, probably do my NQT year and then re-evaluate if teaching was for me.  The government bursary certainly made this a more appealing and possible idea than it would've been if I was in another subject area.  As I write this in March 2014 I realise that this 'no matter what' attitude was never realistic.  The first term was make or break.  I'm certain that someone who did not enjoy teaching and wasn't at least slightly good at it wouldn't make it through that term.  By the end of the first half term I'd already made up my mind that I'd made the right decision.  If you didn't truly see a future in teaching you wouldn't put yourself through this course, it's as simple as that.  Especially when the nature of School Direct is that the school dictates a lot of the programme and has a lot of flexibility in how your time is spent.  This has meant that their expectations of me have taken quite a jump since I left for my second placement.  It's a challenge to say the least, but one that I'm rising to and being supported with.

It's at this point that I realise how much better for me it has been to do School Direct as opposed to the 'traditional' PGCE.  I have to say though,this is a very personal choice and certainly wouldn't be for everyone.  For all the flaws that people can point out about School Direct I am certain of one thing - so far it has been fantastic preparation for my NQT year.  In fact, to roughly quote an NQT at my current school in a text to me recently: 'With all this going on you'll be able to cope with anything in your NQT year!'.  Some people might describe it is a baptism of fire, or being thrown in at the deep end.  Undeniably this year has been tough so far and isn't showing any signs of letting up until my final assessment is over sometime in June.  Balancing the PGCE assignments with the increasing teaching timetable is certainly the hardest part, something we have in common with those on Teach First at this time of year (although I acknowledge they have been on a higher timetable since day one).  There have definitely been days/weeks where I've been very jealous of PGCE students that are in and out of schools and have more time to focus on their essays, even if it's only a little more (I'm not sure of the numbers here).

There are still many question marks out there that hang over the future of Initial Teacher Education and teaching qualifications in general.  It is only now, a year on, that I really appreciate the variety out there.  All of these courses have their benefits for different people and I don't believe that any of them are turning out a different quality of teacher to the next.  It's a highly individual choice and you only get out of it what you put in.  Personally, I wouldn't have chosen a QTS only route as the academic side of things was important to me and still is as I am considering continuing my studies to Masters level at some point in the future.  One persons idea of their ideal route into teaching will vary wildly from the next and it takes a different type of person  to get through Teach First to that of a university  based PGCE.  I think School Direct, or a SCITT programme with PGCE award, falls somewhere roughly in-between the two.

Writing this blog this afternoon has been my 'break' from planning and assignment writing.  A social life hasn't been something I've had this year that's for sure!  I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in June and cannot wait until September, as long as I get my summer first!

School Direct: Reflecting on every breath, or so it seems!

The key to teacher training, or so I am lead to believe so far, is reflection.  In fact, it would seem like I have to reflect on every waking breath!  For anyone that doesn't know, these reflections are used as evidence that I have met 8 standards to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).  In the past there used to be something like 32 of these, each requiring a folder full of evidence.  Some training routes still require a folder per standard, which can be confusing when trainees within one school are on different programmes.  As I'm doing a PGCE I will just need one folder at the end of the year, this includes my weekly journal, a reflection on each of the standards and yet more paperwork and forms.  As well as this I will complete 3 assignments over the course of the year, they are Professional Investigations: Professional Studies, Enhanced Studies and Curriculum Studies.  I only really know anything about the first one at the moment and that the Enhanced Studies will be researched whilst I am on a two week non-teaching placement at another school.  I'll also be doing a teaching placement for four weeks at another school, this has to be a contrasting school to my main placement so I presume it will be a grammar school.

Over and above my training requirements I'm trying to get involved in other things going on around the school.  So far these have centred around my own department, I've gone along to after school sessions, marked some primary transition work and even been out to a primary school to talk about how the school can work with them on some MFL sessions in year 6.  This week I get the chance to be involved outside of my department when the students are off timetable for the day, working on activities in their form groups and colleges (or houses).  As far as I know this event is to start off some competition between the colleges for the rest of the year and to encourage what has been described as a family feeling.  I'm really looking forward to it and think this has to be one of the main advantages of School Direct as it is allowing me to be part of the school from day one and really get involved just as any other member of staff.

In terms of the school/PGCE balance things are going fine so far, but I can already see that changing as I start to take over starters and parts of classes bit by bit from this week.  I'm conscious that there is going to be so much to do and so little time to do it in, but I knew that when I applied for this programme so it's just something I'll have to deal with.

On a less personal note, the ITT figures for this year have been released recently.  They show that whilst there were many many more applications for School Direct than places available there were many places left empty, I think it was around 45% or something similar.  It seems that this comes down to the schools involved in the process.  As schools have a much bigger say in the selection of trainees than they would with PGCE placements they are applying the standards that they would in selecting their own staff.  Unfortunately, this seems to mean that there are many unfilled places for teacher training this year, as less PGCE places were available.  Although the quality of School Direct training is high, there won't be enough Newly Qualified Teachers around at the end of it.  What worries me is that the mistakes made this year are going to tar what could've been a very successful programme in the future.

It's been a long time coming...

I acknowledge that this blog has been a long time coming, I've not written in more than a month and then every time I intended to write this week and last I drew blanks.  It's not that I've got nothing to say, more that there has been so much going on that I'm still trying to make sense of it all myself!  Since last Monday I have been on a summer school before I start at school next week.  As anyone who has been reading these blogs from the outset will know it's been very much a step into the unknown for all of us on School Direct.  To be totally honest there is still much to be found out, the more we find out the more we realise we don't know.  But that goes for many things, doesn't it?

Our University partnership is the only one in the country to be running things this way with a summer school, and we're one of the biggest too.  The partnership is made up of the university, two sets of students from academy chains and a consortium schools from my local area.  As well as providing an interesting variety of people from different backgrounds this has caused some confusion at times.  We're all working towards different goals, some with a full PGCE and QTS with 60 Masters level credits and some QTS with 40 Masters level credits, and that's just our partnership, countrywide there is even more variation.  As well as this, the students from the academy chains seem to be expected to do a lot more from day one, regardless of whether they are salaried or non salaried, they will be teaching their own classes from the beginning.  One thing this week has made me realise is the role our schools will be playing in our training, a lot of the responsibility is in their hands as opposed to the university or even the lead school.  I guess maybe I could've deduced that from the name though, couldn't I?

Being one of those people that likes to be in the know and in control I'm pleased to have the details of my first assignment, the deadlines of all assessments and a rough idea of what I'm aiming for at the end of the year.  The content of the sessions has been elements of Professional Studies and Curriculum Studies to prepare us for the classroom, much as with the usual PGCE I believe.  This has been a good kick start to get our brains into gear, but I need a context to put it in and try it out before I'll really learn it's value.

I have to say that one of the most valuable parts of the summer school has been getting to know the other trainees.  There are 26 of us in our consortium from a range of subjects and across nine or ten schools.  This has been really good as we've all got to know different people and attended different subject sessions but we've had sessions together as well.  During the year we'll be meeting weekly for our Professional Studies sessions so it's important we get on, and luckily we have.  I've read enough articles, blogs, forums etc now to know that we're going to need each other to keep ourselves sane this year!

I'm starting in school on Monday with two INSET days, looking at the timetable from school it looks like it'll be pretty intense but I'm looking forward to getting to know the other staff and getting settled at school.  Unfortunately Wednesday is our first training day so I won't actually be at my own school for the first day of term.  I'm still unsure of how much observation I'll be doing before I start teaching, hopefully this will become clear on Monday.

For now I can only apologise, my brain is frazzled and I've just written my thoughts as they come out of my head.  I've not left myself time to read it through so I imagine the spelling and grammar is appalling but I'd rather post something than nothing.

Wish me luck, I'll blog again at the end of week one if I'm still in one piece that is!

School Direct: Criticisms and variety, don't tar everyone with the same brush.

About a month ago I wrote this post about School Direct and the unknown aspects and misconceptions.  Since then there have been many more articles that only seem to further these misunderstandings.  The coverage of School Direct in the news is overwhelmingly negative and I believe that a lot of this is due to misunderstanding as opposed to criticism of the facts.  I am going to use this opportunity to give my views on some of the criticisms I've seen around:

1) Trainees will not see the same variety of schools that they would via a university-based PGCE route.

As much as this may be true to some extent all School Direct trainees will be expected to spend time in more than one school as required for obtaining QTS.  In fact, some school consortiums are able to provide their trainees with experience in a greater variety of schools.

2) Trainees won't get the important reflection time away from school that they would if they were following a university based training route.

I don't know how this will work for those trainees not gaining a PGCE, but I know that one day a week I will be training in curriculum and professional studies away from my school with other student teachers.  This will give me the opportunity to meet with other students, like I would do had I been at a university, and discuss issues and share experiences with them.

3) There won't be a strong enough focus on theory and academic study.

Again, although I don't know quite how this will work for non-PGCE trainees (presumably in a similar way to the non-PGCE GTP route) but so far I am under the impression that there is still a strong academic focus to my course.  I will be attending university for 2 weeks next month with full days of curriculum and professional studies.  I will still be required to complete academic assignments in order to gain my PGCE and I am still expected to study the same texts as the university based PGCE courses.

As far as I can tell so far, many of these criticisms of School Direct would also apply to Teach First, SCITT or the previous GTP.  

I understand the concerns related to applications and the knock-on effect this is having for university providers and this is certainly an issue that can't be ignored.  That said, in the cases where the School Direct training route also leads to the award of a PGCE I don't see the downside or the risk to teacher quality.

The variety of provision for School Direct across the schools and universities involved is yet to be seen, some with PGCE, some without, some with a wider variety of experience than others.  I guess what I'm saying is when making judgements about School Direct this variety must be kept in mind and we mustn't tar all of the training providers with the same brush.

When things start to get real...

Applying to School Direct back in January seems a distant, distant memory now, it all moved so fast!  To bring you up to speed on it all if you don't know, School Direct is the new version of the GTP which is teacher training based at a school as opposed to a university.

With School Direct you apply directly to a school which is the Lead School for a group in the same area.  I heard back from my first school very quickly and headed back home to go to the interview, travelling from Lancaster to Chelmsford comes at a cost may I add!  The first stage was over 2 days, a presentation followed by some literacy and numeracy testing on one day and an interview with the training provider the next.  Having passed this stage I was then asked to teach part of a lesson the following week, another trip up and down the country!  It was all worth it though, because despite being told that I wouldn't find out until the schools had all met up in a fortnights time after the half term break I was emailed just a few hours later to say that I had got the place!  I went from first hearing about the scheme to being accepted onto it within just a few weeks!

The next thing to do were the QTS skills tests, I had 6 weeks from the date of the offer to pass them so the pressure was on.  Previously trainees have done these tests during their training year rather than beforehand and so have a few more months to get ready for them.  That said, they're not that difficult, it just means dusting off the skills from GCSE Maths and putting a few commas in the right places.  Luckily the uni right near where I live in Lancaster is a test centre so it wasn't too much fuss and I got them both out of the way with on the same day.

I've also got myself onto a Subject Knowledge Enhancement course run by the uni that will be awarding my PGCE (Note: Not all School Direct schemes lead to a PGCE, they're all different in what they offer) which means I have an online French tutorial once a week and I'll get a bursary that I wasn't expecting at the end of it, not bad!

I've been trying to get myself as prepared as I can, so as well as buying all the books they say I'm going to need, hunting down Criminal Records checks from Spain and Belgium (One being significantly easier than the other...), paying a small fortune for a doctor I've never met to sign a form to say I'm fit to teach and getting myself a week in a Primary school and a few days in a Secondary...(pause for breath!)....I've also been trying to build up a set of contacts and a load of resources that I hope are going to help me hit the ground running, I hope it's worth the effort I'm putting in!

I'd never thought that Twitter could be so useful, but I've been following the hashtag #mfltwitterati which is used by a group of languages teachers and trainee teachers to talk about issues and share resources and articles etc and it's really good!  I've discovered some real gems on Twitter recently when it comes to education related stuff, just goes to show you find things where you least expect them!

Here we are now in May and just as I was starting to think I might have dreamt it all up I've had a letter from my school inviting me to the New Staff Day in July.  I was surprised to get it as I'm not technically their staff, but I'm really looking forward to it!  I don't know much about the way it's all going to work yet though in terms of days in school / at uni and all that sort of stuff, I have to spend 2 weeks in Canterbury in August though so hopefully I'll find it all out then!

As I'm nearing the end of my time at Lancaster things are getting real with what is coming next!  Scary yet really exciting!