Photo by Torsten Dettlaff on Pexels.com I began my career in education just after the dawning of the new millennium, when reading and responding to emails involved deliberately logging on at a PC and waiting for the dial-up internet to connect.  Consequently, emails might languish in my inbox unread for days – perhaps even a week.  In school, communications would mostly happen in-person – general whole school announcements were collected and delivered via morning briefing, colleagues would drop by my classroom or catch me in the staff room which was a hive of activity and community ..read more

Photo by Bolarinwa Olasunkanmi on Pexels.com Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about basketball – identifying the potential of a match on the journey to the venue, sat observing on the edge of the court, and analysing the state of play on the way home.  In all these conversations I have been struck by the desire of the players to be able to control the proceedings.  Hours are invested in practising layups and longshots, observing the form of future opponents and team practise of pass drills that might give them the advantage.  However, despite all this effort to ..read more

Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com In the past few weeks, I’ve been asked the question ‘should I apply for this job?’ both by beginning teachers and more experienced teachers looking for a promotion post.  It has led me to wonder why so many seemed consumed by this question, by a fear of making the wrong move.  Is this another post-pandemic consequence born of concerns about becoming ‘stuck’ in a situation?  Or perhaps it’s a reflection of increasingly slick school websites and briefer Ofsted reports making it more difficult to differentiate between schools?  Maybe it’s ..read more

Photo by Binti Malu on Pexels.com Recently, I encountered this tweet passing on wisdom to mentors about to receive a new Initial Teacher Training/ Initial Teacher Education (ITT/ ITE) student for their second teaching practice placement: I have previously talked about why it can be difficult for ITE students when they change placement during their training year: A shape-sorter understanding: Why mentees find changing teaching placements so hard.  I’ve also spotlighted the particular challenge that confronts beginning teachers who have experienced particularly successful first teaching pr ..read more

Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com When you are a teacher everyone thinks they know how to do your job and suspects they could do it too.  By virtue of having been a pupil themselves at one point, the school environment and job of teaching feels sufficiently familiar to be open to conjecture. Every year I listen to prospective teachers discuss with conviction what they think a good education should look like.  Sometimes this is based on experience in school as a teaching assistant or while on work experience but, more commonly, these views are based on their own memories of school.  ..read more

Photo by Nothing Ahead on Pexels.com Recently, as a family, we’ve been watching the classic Mr Bean series.  Now we’re about 8 episodes in, I’ve started to reflect on how my own children are accessing and understanding the programmes from a historical perspective.  The largely visual comedy is both ageless and timeless, but Mr Bean’s world is not.  From the Mini Cooper Mr Bean drives, the prevalence of Reliant Robins on the road, the phone he uses and the 4-channel television that requires him to manually switch over, to the stereotypical depictions (or notable absence) of cert ..read more

Photo by Leeloo Thefirst on Pexels.com Recently I was privileged to see a beginning teacher nearing the end of their ITE year teaching a great GCSE history lesson.  The pupils demonstrated excellent retrieval of subject knowledge from previous lessons.  They were given opportunities to acquire new subject knowledge and make sense of this when combined with their own individual prior understanding.  They were asked to complete tasks which allowed them to thoughtfully apply this understanding to an historical question.  They had opportunities to engage in discussion and under ..read more

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com A number of years ago I watched a lesson where the beginning teacher had been schooled in a set of systematised generic teaching strategies. They had diligently practised and tried to implement these strategies in their lessons, but they were struggling. They were also frustrated. They felt like no one was really able to help them work out what the problem was. Their mentor, who had a background in a different subject specialism, was supportive and generous with their time but they were also frustrated. They didn’t know why the strategies weren’t working ..read more

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com I didn’t intend to become a teacher.  I knew I wanted a career which was, to my youthful judgement, ‘socially responsible’.  I knew I liked people, although I wasn’t 100% sure about young children.  For personal reasons I needed to stay living in my university town.  I also knew I LOVED my subject and would like to continue thinking about it.  Teaching therefore presented itself as the natural answer to post-university next steps but, as I started my Initial Teacher Education course, I did not intend education to become a life-long career ..read more

As a beginning teacher you hear about the necessity of self care A LOT.  It can, however, quickly become yet another thing on your ‘to do’ list and feel like a burden rather than an act to strengthen your well-being.  Mindfulness, exercise classes and sports clubs, religious worship, time with friends, hobbies and time for yourself are all important for achieving a well-rounded work-life balance. When I talk to my PGCE cohort about self-care though, the focus of my thoughts is on small day-to-day actions which can make a real difference to a beginning teacher’s resilience. So, what ..read more