Training teachers

This week's ukedchat is going to focus on - 'What should be taught to the next generation of trainee teachers?  http://ukedchat.com/

I am particularly looking forward to this as I have a trainee working with me in my class and do some tutoring sessions for the GTP and SCITT in the county.

School based training is where teachers learn the skills of working with others, with classroom management to name but two. However, as a class teacher I find my time being stretched to the limit (and beyond) as I try to support and guide my trainee as well as maintain a teaching role.

I'm not sure what the answer is- more funding to allow teachers who are involved with trainees to be able to fit in their feedback/paperwork in directed time would be a bonus. The strength of training in schools is that the person central to the training is actually doing the job on a day to day basis as opposed to the lecturer who knows all the theory (and may still teach  children to some extent) but is not immersed in the same way.

The pedagogy of learning , at the time of my training seemingly boring, but now often referred to, is as important as spending time in the classroom and ideally trainees need to spend their time both in college and in school. The SCITT course I am involved with http://www.dttpscitt.co.uk/ will be changing next year to 24 weeks in school. This is 2 more weeks than at present which will require a big change to the timetable.  Inevitably, some of the centre-led training will go . On a personal level I am saddened by this as I have led a DT session for the last 4 years. Feedback often indicates that the sessions from practising teachers are especially useful as they can share so many aspects of the subject.
I applaud the importance of the extra time in school, but wonder how this will impact on the overall experiences for the trainees.
So , Thursday's ukedchat I am hoping will provide some useful insight into effective training.

Strike on 30 June

I feel extremely frustrated with the proposed changes to our pensions, but at this time do not support the strike planned for next week. I stress the "at this time" most strongly. Having commented on Creative Edu's blog recently: http://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/06/strike/  and being shot down in flames by my expression of concern as to how this could affect the reputation of teachers, I sat down and thought very carefully about it.


Reputation is, of course, not the most important issue here; however, as teachers, dare I say almost more so than other professions, we set an example to the children we teach and our actions are going to be challenged by our children and their parents.


I was therefore gladdened to receive notification from my union yesterday (NASUWT) about their success to gain the High Court's permission for a judicial review of the Coalition Government's decision to change the index-linking of public service workers' pensions, including teachers' pensions, from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).


http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/Whatsnew/NASUWTNews/PressReleases/HighCourtSetsDateForNASUWTsPensionsJudicialReviewClaim/NASUWT_008006


The NASUWT (along with other unions) took the decision to go for a legal challenge first. If this proves successful, the strike will have been a meaningless exercise which will have done little good to the profession, caused divisions and unrest...


If the review does not prove successful, then of course action is most certainly necessary to protect our pensions- particularly for those who are nearing retirement and stand to lose the most.


Is the strike really the right thing to do at this time? Does the profession stand to lose even more? Is it not possible for it to be called off to wait to see how the judicial review goes?  


Maybe I am being naive, but I would like to be optimistic and go explore all avenues before resorting to strike action. 


This comment on the creative edu blog : 


RW 06/21/2011, 9:02 am:

As parent in a family of 2 working parents who have had their pay frozen and pensions adapted in the private sector I feel this is appalling. I am even a governor of my daughters school – something I do for no pay and I lose my free time and I will find it hard to justify carrying on with this.

83% of 40% anyone ? Certainly never a majority.

The extra cost of childcare – or lose a days pay. These are tough times for ALL of us. Teachers you have lost any grain of support you had from me.

You have all worked so hard to bring teaching up to be such a noble and respected profession – with this strike you will drag it back to the 70′s.

RW

does nothing but affirm my views that striking at this time will not achieve anything positive. Let's go through the correct legal procedures and see what that brings.  We are in a difficult financial time at the moment and both public and private sector workers are facing uncertain futures. I like to think that a moderate approach will ultimately be the most beneficial.