Starting to Teach in the Secondary School

A Companion for the Newly Qualified Teacher

Susan Capel, Marilyn Leask, Tony Turner, Ruth Heilbronn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781134304110
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Seventy per cent of newly qualified secondary teachers say that they are well-prepared for certain aspects of teaching their specialist subject - such as planning, selecting resources and assessing their own teaching - and yet feel very much less prepared in other professional areas.
This second edition tackles all the issues that new teachers find difficult. It builds on the skills and knowledge they will have learned on their initial teacher education or PGCE course and offers a planned process of professional development and includes chapters on:

• managing yourself and your workload
• working as part of a team
• developing teaching and learning strategies
• challenging behaviour in the classroom
• assessing, recording and reporting
• values and Citizenship Education
• the school sixth form and the growth of vocational qualifications
• continuing professional development.

The book can be used either as a stand alone companion for newly qualified teachers, or as a follow-on from the editors' successful text book, Learning to Teach in the Secondary School, also published by Routledge.

Part I

Being a Teacher

1 From Trainee to Newly Qualified Teacher

Your Immediate Professional Needs

Ruth Heilbronn

As a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) you already bring many skills to your new profession from your previous experience and from your initial teacher education. You may be embarking on a period of formal induction training and assessment, with an established induction tutor, or going through your school’s in-service training programmes. The foundations you lay down for your professional development will support you throughout your career. As an NQT you should be attached to a mentor who supports you at this stage of development.

In England and Wales all NQTs have to complete a statutory induction period amounting to a school year if full time (or the part-time equivalent) in order to be able to teach in state maintained schools. Some form of support for the induction period is also in place in many countries, for example in most states in the United States of America (USA) and in Australia and New Zealand. At the time of writing, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar follow the regulations for England and Wales. Scotland has a two-year probation period and Northern Ireland has an induction stage in their teacher education programme. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) with Induction in these countries is recognised in England and Wales and vice versa. The requirements to follow these regulations in the countries stipulated will henceforth be referred to as ‘statutory induction’.

The statutory induction policy has two main principles:

• a national entitlement for NQTs for support and professional development;
• assessment of NQTs against defined national standards.

The statutory induction period is intended to provide NQTs with a ‘bridge’ between initial teacher education and the role of an established professional (Department for Education and Employment [DfEE] 1999a, para.1). Evaluation of the first two years of the policy showed that it has helped NQTs to become more effective teachers in terms of their own feelings of confidence in their growing professional expertise (Department for Education and Skills [DfES] 2002d).

At the end of the statutory induction period NQTs are assessed against induction standards and have to show that they still meet the standards for QTS, which is awarded at the end of the initial teacher education period. These are part of a larger framework of standards which go through the various stages of teaching. They can be viewed on the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) website, which includes a range of support materials (TTA http://www.tta.gov.uk/induction).

Whether you go through a period of statutory induction or not it is essential to understand how to manage your professional development opportunities and to build on them throughout your career. Researchers and experienced mentors have stressed the importance of keeping a balance between professional development for our own growing skills and the assessment function of training programmes (Simco 1995).

This chapter introduces some basic notions relating to your professional development as an NQT and situates this development in the context of your teaching career. It explains how you can work with your induction tutor, or other school-based mentors, to support this development.

OBJECTIVES

By end of this chapter you should understand:

• the importance of the role of professional development and the place of the newly qualified period of training;
• how to work with your induction tutor or mentor to achieve your professional development priorities;
• the role of a Professional Development Portfolio in structuring your development;
• the benefits of reflection and evaluation in this developmental process.

YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

As a teacher you exercise your professional judgement many times throughout the school day. The teacher’s job is multifaceted and embodies many skills, and a wide grasp of subject knowledge, knowledge about how to teach, and about the pupils.You are constantly learning, which is one of the reasons why many people stay in teaching.As a responsible professional you will keep these skills and knowledge up to date, and extend their range. So being in charge of your own professional development is itself an important skill, to enable you to grow and extend as a teacher.The process you begin at this point will benefit you throughout your career and start you off on the right path, in charge of your own progress. Understanding ways in which development can occur is especially important for you as an NQT, because a great deal of your learning occurs this year, building on what you have already achieved and consolidating and progressing throughout the year. It is advisable to be actively monitoring progress and steering it in a preferred direction.

You may find it helpful initially to read the section ‘Transition from student to newly qualified teacher’ in Learning to Teach in the Secondary School, 3rd edition, as a way of thinking through some issues of induction and support in your new post. It might be helpful to think about some of the phases you might go through during your first full year of teaching, and beyond. These might be:

• Early idealism: strong identification with pupils; idealism and the rejection of the image of the older cynical teacher.
• Survival: shock at the reality of the classroom environment – the complexity of the situation is overwhelming, and both individual pupils and many lessons are a blur. Resort to the quick fix and tips for teachers approach to development, which provides some respite from the constant demands on the teacher’s knowledge, judgement and sympathy.
• Recognising difficulties: an awareness of the difficulties and their causes; an appreciation of the limitations of what teachers can do to alter situations; over-concern, but an understandable concern, about personal performance; the question uppermost in the teachers mind is ‘Will I make it?’.
• Reaching a plateau: beginning to cope with the teaching situation and achieving some success; anxious to establish routines which work and a growing resistance to trying new things; success has been earned and the teacher does not wish to upset routines and behaviours which work; the focus is on successful management, less on pupil learning.
• Moving on: a recognition of the need to pay more attention to the quality of pupil learning – without support and intervention by successful, experienced teachers this process may not blossom. If unsupported there is a danger of ‘burn out’ by committed teachers trying to cope alone, or of the ‘moving on’ grinding to a halt.
  
  (Adapted from Maynard and Furlong 1995: 12–13)

This support is vital and can be gained from experienced teachers in the school. You can also do a great deal to help yourself, and this chapter aims to give you some ideas in this direction.

WORKING WITH YOUR INDUCTION TUTOR OR MENTOR

One essential element of support will be your work with an experienced mentor. If you are working in one of the schools which follows the statutory induction regulations referred to above, an induction tutor supports and assesses your progress throughout the induction period. The precise recommendations are laid out in Circular 90/2000 (DfEE 2000) (available online at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/).

There are also books which can help both you and the school to understand your entitlement and responsibilities if you are undertaking statutory induction, (e.g. Bubb 2001 and Bleach 2000). We recommend that you gain a clear understanding of the whole process so as to achieve the maximum benefit from this crucial period. The Teachernet website has good links for useful information on induction (available online at http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/). This site is also useful for any new teacher going through a probationary period or just wanting tips and advice.

Briefly, statutory induction should comprise:

• a 10 per cent lighter teaching timetable than other teachers in the school;
• a job description that doesn’t make unreasonable demands;
• meetings with your school ‘induction tutor’ (mentor), including half-termly reviews of progress;
• an individualised programme of support, monitoring and assessment;
• objectives, informed by strengths and areas for development identified in the Career Entry Development Profile, for you to meet the induction standards;
• at least one observation of your teaching each half term with oral and written feedback;
• an assessment meeting and report at the end of each term that is sent to the local education authority (LEA) which acts as the regulatory ‘Appropriate Body’; procedures to air grievances at school and at Appropriate Body level.

You may also be able to draw on the following whole school support:

• a school induction programme in which you and other NQTs share experiences and/or receive in-service support;
• a self-help support system for NQTs in your school or in the local area – you may have to organise this yourself;
• an in-service programme for NQTs run by the LEA;
• in-service courses for NQTs run by the local higher education institution – some courses may be free if associated with initial teacher education partnership arrangements.

We use the title ‘induction tutor’ to refer to the formal role for support and assessment as outlined in Circular 90/2000 (DfES 2000). However, the need for an experienced guide or mentor to act as both support and assessor is crucial throughout your period as an NQT, whether or not you are undergoing a period of statutory induction. Precisely who this person is varies from school to school.The role may be taken by the officially designated induction tutor, or another member of staff, with the induction tutor being in charge of the formal aspects of monitoring overall provision and overseeing the assessment process.

It is very important that you sort out from the beginning of your NQT period who will take these various roles, if they are taken by more than person.What should be common to all the titles is the underlying process of mentoring.Your professional relationship with the primary mentor, whatever his or her title, is essential. One feature of that relationship is openness. As an NQT, you should examine your capacity to ask for, and your willingness to receive, advice. We suggest that you also think beyond the person designated as your primary mentor and think about how you can develop a network of support from within the school and from within your department, from peers across the school.

Previous NQTs have said that the whole school culture has a great impact on their development. Schools with successful induction practice had a shared understanding and ethos of a learning environment for all staff and pupils. Where schools were supportive, NQTs recognised the input of a variety of staff: for example, one secondary NQT talked about receiving ‘invaluable support’ from heads of year over behaviour issues. A primary NQT said ‘the whole staff ’ helped her. Several NQTs explained how the staff as a whole, together with good LEA support, can make for a positive induction experience (Heilbronn et al. 2002: 383).These schools have a ‘learning culture’ and induction is an integral part of the wider professional development of all members of staff. Research continues on what constitutes an effective professional learning community (EPLC) and the relationship between the EPLC and the other areas of learning, e.g. work-based, informal and continuous professional development. McMahon et al. (2002) have pointed out that ‘interest in the concept of a professional leaning community and its perceived importance stem from the belief that when teachers work collaboratively the quality of learning and teaching in the organisation improves’. Such a community has ‘the capacity to sustain the learning of all professionals and other staff with the collective purpose of enhancing pupil learning’ (McMahon et al. 2002).

It is worth remembering to draw on the expertise within the whole school and to seek out advice because ultimately your progress depends on your taking initiative for your own development.You have experienced the support of a mentor, or designated tutor, during your initial teacher education course. Clearly, as you are now a qualified teacher, this new relationship ought to be different as you take more responsibility for your own development and are more proactive in identifying and setting targets and drawing up agendas for meetings with your induction tutor/mentor. In the following comments we use the term ‘mentor’ to refer to the primary support and assessment role, with the understanding that this role is usually, although not always, taken by an induction tutor.

It is both your responsibility and that of your mentor to direct your attention to areas of strength and weakness and to ensure that progression in teaching takes place. Importantly, your mentor should ensure that you increase your understanding of pupil learning, which is at the heart of good teaching. Nevertheless, you should have a stronger and more active role in setting the agenda as the year progresses. In addition, as your concerns as a NQT move beyond subject work and look to wider school involvement, questions about your pastoral role and other prof...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• ILLUSTRATIONS
• CONTRIBUTORS
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• PART I: BEING A TEACHER
• PART II: ESTABLISHING YOUR TEACHING ROLE
• PART III: CONSOLIDATING YOUR TEACHING ROLE
• PART IV: MOVING ON
• APPENDIX 1: USEFUL ADDRESSES AND WEBSITES
• APPENDIX 2: GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY