Preparing to Teach

Learning from Experience

Jeff Battersby, John Gordon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780415300964
• eBook ISBN: 9781134118755
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book gives student-teachers the chance to learn from the experiences of students who have just completed a course in preparing to teach. They offer all manner of insights, from the amusing to the cautionary to the thought-provoking. Course tutors provide additional commentary, identifying key themes and structuring chapters and the whole book to mirror the process of learning to teach.

Each chapter takes a different facet of learning to teach, and issues covered include:

• observing experienced teachers
• interaction with pupils
• discussions with mentors and new colleagues
• exploring the concept of 'subject knowledge'
• what this means in practice.

Later chapters consider the many frameworks in which student-teachers will find themselves working, the Qualifying to Teach Standards included, but also acknowledging tacit frameworks such as the 'hidden' curriculum.

Students who are thinking of learning to teach, applying for a course or just starting one, will find voices here that give them a sense of how it feels to work through that process. The book is a companion; its tone friendly, conversational, and relaxed. Even at the most testing times in a course, you can turn to Preparing to Teach: Learning from Experience and find voices that say 'yes, I've felt like that too'.

Chapter 1
Wanting to teach

Penny Lamb

This chapter examines common motives people have for wanting to teach, and describes how student teachers arrived at their decisions to join a course of teacher preparation. The influences and factors are diverse, from parental role models to disillusionment with other careers. The chapter not only presents the experience of student teachers, it also draws on recent research into why people choose to make a change from another profession to teaching.

Training to become a teacher is not so much an apprenticeship as a journey of personal development, in which skills such as classroom management develop alongside an emerging understanding of the teaching and learning process. Learning to become a teacher, and all that this entails – being the sort of person who can command the respect and interest of children and facilitate their learning – is a very different phenomenon to that of learning about teaching, the genre many of us are most familiar with.

The process itself is ostensibly a practical one, though steeped in both theoretical and indeed moral justification. Courses of teacher preparation combine practical experience, personal reflection and theoretical rationale, creating an understanding of how youngsters learn to underpin classroom practice and contributions to whole-school communities.

This chapter explores the factors that may inspire individuals to want to teach, and the decision-making processes guiding people into realising that they want to learn about learning. Some of the thought processes experienced by students on a PGCE programme will be shared, representing a wide range of subject areas, and highlighting the often complicated and not so straightforward reasons and experiences which contribute towards making the decision to apply for a course of teacher preparation. The vignettes will trace personal journeys, sharing with you the factors that have influenced the decision-making involved in the application process. Such narratives also reinforce the fact that many individuals still want to return to an institution of education that years earlier they had so eagerly wanted to leave. ‘Almost all intending teachers will have had much experience of being taught as pupils in a school. Without doubt, this will be the single most important influence on their knowledge about teaching’ (Kyriacou, 1995:9). This perception is endorsed by a PGCE Mathematics student, who commented that everyone has preconceptions about teaching:

‘Everyone’s an expert at teaching because they’ve gone through at least twelve years of education so everyone knows exactly the best way.’

Kyriacou (1995) reiterates that the experience of being taught certainly provides a broad framework for thinking about how to teach, but once the teacher’s role is taken on, it becomes very evident that a whole range of teaching skills needs to be developed. These personal anecdotes and reflections, often diverse and far ranging, all appear to share common features, such as motivation and a desire to be a part of the education process. You may find that you relate to such experiences and reflections, or you may find reassurance or even some answers to questions you have as you read about other people’s aspirations, dilemmas and, sometimes, even struggles. ‘Like father like son’ is a colloquialism, and when it comes to discussing one’s chosen career choice our destiny may already be decided for us, for example taking over the family business and following in our parents’ footsteps. Such a scenario certainly appears to be a strong pull to the profession for some students, as the following history student’s comment demonstrates:

‘I am here now partly because my father is a teacher and I had an idea of the lifestyle.’

Similarly, the experience of a science student:

‘My mother was a teacher so I think that planted the seed. I had imaginary classes and pretend registers for many years! I have always been good at explaining things, and helping friends out with exam revision at university often brought the response ‘‘you are a great teacher’’, so that was a big incentive to follow the dream.’

The family influence is further reinforced by another history student:

‘I have four teachers in the family who enjoy teaching and who would talk to me about it – this made me think that I might enjoy it.’

One student mentioned the support of his teaching parents when making his career choice:

‘My parents warned me of the pressures that teachers face on a daily basis, but remained supportive of whatever decision I made. After talking to people in a range of professions, I realise everything has positives and negatives and that teaching will provide me with more positives than any other career.’

Likewise, another student stated:

‘With having teachers as parents and being a close family, it was inevitable that my parents would influence my decision to become a teacher. The fact that my brother, uncle, both aunties and two cousins are also teachers probably had an influence too. Christmas-time is like a teaching conference.’

Such a background can, though, work in reverse, as the student went on to say:

‘There was always a desire to be a PE teacher, but a part of me wanted to break from the family tradition and do something different. However, when you are sport orientated there are very few jobs that will give you the satisfaction that PE teaching can provide.’

A Mathematics student offered a slightly different angle on the family influence:

‘At school if anyone had said you would be a teacher, I’d have said no because my mother was at the time and there were connections all the way through – three aunts, uncle, cousin, wife, so it’s really in the family. And because of that I think I was nearly scared off but could sympathise with it. And when I was put into a pool of teachers and discussed it they were amazed I could put up with all their whining – for want of a better word! – because essentially there is a lot of pressure a lot of people do not understand. They think you just stand up and talk, get great holidays, get paid well for it and it’s a walk in the park. Whereas, having been brought up in it, having watched my wife go through the PGCE course and her NQT year and starting to find her purpose in school, I knew that it wasn’t a walk in the park and it’s not an easy option.’

This stance is also supported by a History student’s version of how he came to choose teaching:

‘Almost everyone told me not to do it! A persistent nag in the back of my mind kept bringing me back to the idea. It’s a clichée but it has been something I’ve always wanted to do, however disguised it has been at various stages of my life.’

Finding out about teaching

Being brought up in a household of teachers does appear to impact on the decision for some individuals to continue in others’ footsteps. However, for those of us without the insider information, the starting point is to actually research what the job entails, and what it is all about, as demonstrated by a Mathematics student:

‘I did a lot of talking to friends in the profession so I knew what to expect.’

and reiterated by a student learning to teach Religious Education:

‘I spent some time observing in a secondary school so as to get a real picture of the job. This was what convinced me that this was the job for me. I shadowed the physical education (PE) teacher and helped out in lessons. It was real ‘‘hands on’’ straight away and it just came naturally. I also went into a primary school so I could decide which age range I wanted to work with. The little ones did my head in and I was shattered by the end of the day. This was a useful exercise though because it confirmed that the secondary age range was right for me; and I could concentrate on my subject specialism without having to worry about so many other subject areas as well. I certainly recommend people going into school to shadow teachers; it was a real revelation for me. I don’t remember being as naughty at school as some of the kids I saw. Something else that surprised me was the style of teaching I saw. When I was at school I hated our PE lessons, as I wasn’t very good. I hated having to go out in the freezing cold and do sports I was useless at, with the teacher just reinforcing how useless I was! Our regimental PE teacher was no fun at all. But the PE I saw was really different and innovative. The kids were involved in the lesson, coaching each other and evaluating each other’s work. Even those that were not that good seemed to enjoy getting stuck in. I wish it had been like that when I was at school.’

An English student found himself being sold on the idea of becoming a teacher after completing a period of school-based observation. His decision for training to teach English was due to inspiring English lessons at school and university, but it was confirmed once he had made the effort to return to secondary school to complete some voluntary observations:

‘I had found A-level English and my university experience quite inspiring, but I was also aware that I had very little recollection of my high school days. School was something that happened in the background while listening to rock music and mumbling sullenly. Revisiting the school environment confirmed for me that this was where I wanted to be, on the other side of the fence, so to speak.’

A History student also supports the idea of spending time in school prior to applying:

‘I originally applied for a primary course as the end of my university course approached and was put on a waiting list. However, I quickly changed my mind and applied for a secondary PGCE after spending time in a primary school and not liking it.’

Gaining an insight into the job cannot be recommended enough. After all, this is the best way to make an informed choice concerning a career move, especially when you may not have a realistic idea of what it entails apart from memories from your own school days.

The influence of your own teachers

It is not only immediate family that seems to be so influential in drawing people towards the profession. It is well documented that teachers are strong role models for youngsters, and carry a great deal of power in their actions. Time and ti...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Wanting to teach
• Chapter 2 Learning about teaching
• Chapter 3 Learning about your subject
• Chapter 4 Learning through observing
• Chapter 5 Learning about pupils
• Chapter 6 Learning while teaching and with teachers
• Chapter 7 Learning from ‘the hidden curriculum’
• Chapter 8 Learning to work within frameworks
• Chapter 9 Learning about yourself
• Chapter 10 Learning from experience
• References
• Index