Stress and the SAS

I phoned up one of the local schools yesterday, to try and see if they would accept me on my SAS placement. Went well, gave my number and they said that when the Head of Science was free, she'd ring me.

Well I didnt get a call back yesterday, but I assumed she was busy, and would call me back this morning. I wake up, I turn on my phone. "Sim Cannot connect to network"

FUCK

I cancelled my contract a month ago, but thought I had another week left before my number was dissconected. But no, it happens at the worst time it possibly can. Cue an hour of stress as I run into town, goto the mobile shop, get a new Sim, realise I've lost the number, phone up my friend to get it for me, and then call the school. Luckily they were understanding, took my new details down, and now i'm waiting for a call back.

And i'm not even in the door yet.

Student Associate Scheme

Well, I said I'd write about the SAS scheme I mentioned from the "Train to Teach" post, so now I've had time to digest the information, here goes.

The scheme basically entails 15 days of work in a school, this can be anything from observing lessons, to helping teachers, and maybe even doing some teaching yourself!

Its designed to give you you're first real glimpse into a teachers life. OK, so you may have been to a school for a day or two to observe some teachers in action, but with the SAS, you actually get really involved with the preparations, and actually working with students.

Of course, its not as simple as applying to the scheme and getting sent somewhere for 15 days, there is much more to it than that.

First off, you need to have an interview, just so they can get an idea of if you are the sort of candidate they want, and whether or not you would be able to cope with it. Now let me tell you, I was almost shitting myself beforehand, I was that nervous, yet when it came down to it, it was a piece of cake. Perhaps "interview" isn't the best way to describe it, as I got to sit down, and have a nice long chat with the woman who runs the scheme. She started by just going through a list of the things I've wrote on my application form, what I enjoy, what experience I've had etc. Then before long we were just talking about just random things to do with teaching, and I came out of it with the stamp of approval! Of course, if you are doing the SAS at a different institution, then you may just get something completely different. Looking around some of the web forums in the time beforehand, I found a number of different places having group work, having to make presentations for 15 minutes, so I reckon I found a good place to go!

When your interview is done, you have a number of different things that you will need to get organised. Although some places will choose the school for you, I'm expected to go through the whole thing myself, finding a school, contacting the member of staff responsible for the science department, and organising a meeting with them and my SAS tutor. I'm pretty pleased that its worked out this way, as it lets me approach schools myself, and really find one that will suit me (i.e. Close so I don't have to get up too early!)

Then when this is all sorted out, you need to go to a number of days where you prepare yourself for the actual school work. This is mainly talks and workshops on how to deal with students, how to work with special needs, or deal with bad behaviour.

In the placement, you basically get to choose the sorts of work you do. Although you wouldn't be able to get away with 15 days of observation, they wouldn't ever push you into something you don't feel you could cope with. Whilst you are there, you also get a number of tasks and a project to complete, which all goes on your final report. Obviously, this gives you a huge boost to a PGCE application, so I'd really suggest that you give it a go, and make the most of it if you get the opportunity.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, you get paid £600 to do the course, not bad, is it?

If you want to find out more, check out the TDA SAS website

Train to Teach

Been a long time since the last update, but then nothing much has happened apart for one event I went to.

This was the "Train to Teach" event. This was kind of a mash between what you do in year 12, in that going to a hall somewhere, "talking" (i.e. Just picking up prospectus's) to a bunch of Universities, and a careers day, where people come talk to you in the profession, you get presentations on how to proceed and so forth.

Yet as we are no longer just a bunch of bored teenagers (OK, Teenager still, but only for 6 months!) we actually paid attention this time. Started first off getting there as early as possible, which I really recommend . You needed to actually sign up to the presentations, as there was limited seating, so its important you get a place on what you want to go to.

The presentation I went to was entitled "What its like in a PGCE" and very useful to go along to. We were spoken to by the head of admissions for one of the local Universities, and gave us some great advice of what to expect, and what we can do to help ourselves get a place.

Here is some of his distilled wisdom

Expect to work hard - The actual time in University is relatively short, only about 40 days give or take, with the rest of the year spent in a couple of placement schools. So even before Christmas, you'll be thrown into actual teaching, but there will be a lot of prep beforehand, so you wont need to worry about this!

Apply Early - This he couldn't stress enough. Applying early can be the difference between getting a place, and not. The GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Register)is the equivalent of UCAS for those wanting to do a PGCE, but works in a different way in a number of key areas. You apply to 4 universities to do your course, and rank them in order of which you prefer. Your application is then sent to the number one choice only, they will take about a week or so to decide to give you an interview or not (which will happen fast) and if you get a place,that's it. If you don't get one though, the application will go onto your second choice.

This is why it is absolutely imperative to get it in as early as possible. Places tend to fill up before Easter of the coming year for Science, although for the more popular courses like P.E or English, these can go before Christmas. So if you get it in come September, when applications open, you'll have a much better chance (and will also impress the admissions, as it makes you seem more committed!)

Get experience - Another highly important thing to do. Experience shows both commitment, and just the fact that you have the experience counts for a lot. This can be through working at youth groups, going on school visits, or the SAS (Student Associate Scheme, I'll talk about this in depth later) The places you are applying to for your PGCE will look highly on these, especially the SAS.

Sell Yourself - One thing that some people do badly, and others do well. You need to make your application stand out from the crowd. Include any relevant experience you've had with either Teaching or working with Children. This should be covered in Yr12 when you start looking at undergraduate courses, yet its still something that needs to be remembered. Reflect on the experience you have had, especially if its been done in a school. How has it informed your choices?

The Interview - Unlike the majority of undergraduate courses, you WILL be interviewed for a PGCE. I wont go through the obvious things, but specifically for the PGCE interview, there are a number of useful points to consider. Don't hesitate to ask them questions, especially about the structure of the course, what the schools are like, how you will be inducted into teaching.

Make sure you do research on how the curriculum is taught, and what you would be expected to do. Look at recent advances in teaching, getup to date on any recent news, a good example of this would be the diploma system. How is it going to effect your subject, how is it run, how does it differ from the standard A-levels? Research the document "Every Child matters", and find out how it would be like to work with a variety of other professions, such as police, social workers and carers.

There is also the chance that you wont have just the interview either, there is the possibility (quite high) of having to prepare a presentation in 5 minutes, group work and more.

Then there was the session going around the university stalls, chatting to the people who run these courses. Speaking to them was so worthwile, as it gave me a greater understanding of how the course is run, and what would be expected of me.

I went into the event, looking to be just a straight forward Biology teacher, concentrating on just that. Yet as a trainee teacher,I'd be expected to undergo some level of teaching in the other Sciences, Physics and Chemistry too. Now, as someone who was never really that great at physics, only doing it to GCSE , and a A-Level in Chemistry, this first had me worried a bit. "I wont be able to teach these!" Was one of the thoughts running around my head. Yet thinking about it, there are going to be many people in the same situation as you are. Its just a fact that you will unlikely be able to teach just one subject at the start. Yet having spoken to a number of people there, they all assured me that training is given, an "audit" of your knowledge (don't worry, not as scary as it sounds!) is given, and they give you both directed and self directed learning to help fill any gaps you may have.

Another thing that those running the stalls drilled into us, was the importance of the SAS as a way of getting experience, as the time you spend in the school, along with directed feedback about it will really bulk up your CV, and make your application stand out just that little bit more.

Finally, when you are researching universities for PGCE places (of which the GTTR website is an excellent place to go, having a course search option, like UCAS) have a look at the ofsted reports for them, especially on the long distance learning, off site support and management sections. As you will be spending a lot of time out of the actual university, you need to know you'll be supported, both through your tutors, and the school you have placement at.

So, Train to Teach events, make sure you attend these if you can! They place a number around the country each year, and really worth your time.

This may have been a long post, but its all information that I consider important, so I didnt want to condense it down at all.

Additionally, here are some useful Websites

Train to Teach - http://www.tda.gov.uk/Recruit/adviceandevents.aspx

GTTR - http://www.gttr.ac.uk/

It shouldn't happen to a teacher - http://student-teacher.blog.co.uk/2005/09/16/

The last one I found especially illuminating, a Blog written by a Maths teacher from the start of his PGCE year, it covers the side of things that you dont tend to read about in the prospectus! Highly reccomended to read from the start. As he has gone from his PGCE year, to NQT (newly qualified teacher) and now is in his first QTS (qualified teacher status) year.

I know I said i'd write about the SAS scheme, i'm actually going to an interview/meeting about it today, so hopefully i'll get a place! I'll write about it when I get back, so I can talk about what information I glean from it.

Beginnings (aka. cant think of any sort of witty title)

Well, here it goes.

I'm currently a 19 year old Biology student in his second year, at one of the big UK universities, and i'm looking to become a teacher. More specifically, through the PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate of Education) route at the same uni i'm at now. You may think this would be a bit early to start looking at this route, but like AS students, i'll need to send off my applications at the start of next academic year, which is only 8 months away! And I just know that time will go flying by, it still seems like yesterday I even started here!

So, the idea of this blog is to basically keep track of everything that goes on in my quest to be the one who hands out the detentions instead of recieving them. Anything from letters to schools (and their responses) the application process, school visits and any general advice I get/can give to others in my position.

The idea of this came from looking around the web, finding a good number of teacher blogs (mostly American) a few student teacher ones, but none really from those people who havn't even started the process yet. I hope that even if just one person reads this, and is inspired to do somthing they havn't yet thought of, or helps them with the process that I go through, then it will be well worth it. Or maybe it will just end up a mildly funny/interesting read on exactly just what happens in English schools. But most likley, no-one even finds this, and, it gives me somthing to read and look back on when i'm winning awards for my highly prized teaching skills.... or not.

Right now its a pretty daunting experience, researching the info, reading about it, trying to find web forums for people like me. Even this second, about 40 20(crap, time flies) minutes before my afternoon's practical, i've got Word open and am writing a draft letter to schools in the local area, trying to find someplace that will have me for the day to watch and bug the teachers there. I'll probally even post a copy when its done and sent out, it will most likley of been posted at least half a dozen times on different websites by then anyway, frantically searching for some advice on the matter.

This project may be slow going for a while, with only the occasional post every so often when things actually happen. But hopefully, if i do get pretty successful, and end up being accepted onto a course, and start going into schools a few times a week, or god knows, actually end up working in one, then they will become much more frequent. But thats a good few years away yet!

But thats all for now.