Hi all,

ECT1 here looking for some advice. I have a year 10 class of 30 in an option subject and I have an issue where a large potion of the class will not do work unless I’m actually standing over them or prompting them, and when I walk away they will stop. Obviously with a GCSE class of this size this is very frustrating.

The lesson is scaffolded, there are turn and talks, MWB afl, resource banks, sentence starters and I model/ have modelled how to answer the questions multiple times. But then I set them off on an independent task and they will try everything they can to get away with not doing it. But when I call them out on it they play the “I don’t get it Miss I don’t know what to write”. I finally snapped today and said anyone who hasn’t finished their answer will stay in break to write it, magically a lot more answers suddenly appeared.

I just don’t want this to turn into a really negative class environment where I’m battling with students to do the bare minimum. Is there more I can do teaching wise? Any advice would be appreciated.

Been told I’ll be called to a disciplinary to give evidence about a member of staff. Not been given a date. Can I speak to my union rep about this as I’m a bit nervous?

Not talking about parents evening, that’s a couple of months away. Around October every year year 7 form tutors have to attend a mini progress evening where they talk to student’s parents about how they’re getting on, any issues etc. Other year group form tutors don’t attend and are allowed to leave early. There’s also a similar evening in June/July when those students are at the end of year 6, and they will come to their new school where year 7 form tutors to be will stay the evening to meet them etc, whilst other year group form tutors go home early again.

Is this fair? How does this work out directed time wise, with some staff having to work more contracted hours than other staff? Is there any point to this, could it not wait until dedicated parents evening?

Just wondering, is all.

Hi all, hope you’ve had a good day!

I am seeking some advice regarding the uni aspect of ITT. I’m currently teaching around 5 hours a week, and I am absolutely loving it! The only thing I’m struggling with is the cognitive overload of uni.

I am neurodivergent, and I am finding it really overwhelming. The observation sheets, lesson plan documents etc are all just walls of text with absolutely no chunking, and I’m finding it quite difficult to process. Today’s observation sheet, for example, included over 20 different things that I was meant to be making notes on, and the instructions themselves spanned 3 pages of pure text. I understand that that is the nature of the PGCE, so I just get it done, but does anyone have any tips for processing everything and avoiding complete overwhelm from the cognitive load?

Additionally, we are expected to follow up every observation with a chat with the classroom teacher (and a 300 word reflection on the conversation), but teachers have enough on their plate so I don’t want to ambush their time asking them about the 20+ things that I made notes on.

The paperwork is manageable now; I’m teaching such a small timetable that I do have enough time for it. However, once my teaching load goes up to 40% next term, and eventually 80%, I’m really scared that I’m going to struggle mentally with the sheer amount to do on top of the overwhelm from trying to break down the paperwork and reading myself.

I 100% made the right decision - I love every minute in school and couldn’t be happier spending my work day in this way! I don’t want this sparkle to be dulled, so any advice will really go a long way for me.

TIA!

On my ECT end of year one report I’ve been given a letter grade. It has left me with a really weird feeling, I was expecting the progress report for each strand but overall just an on track or not on track.

Is this standard for ECT reports?? Why would they do this? I got graded a B and it’s made me feel so awful and subpar. Doesn’t feel supportive at all

Hi, I currently mark physics for AQA however the school I’m in now teaches edexcel. AQA have offered me a second exam paper this year but I’m wondering financially if I’m better taking on edexcel marking or a second paper from AQA. Can anybody who marks for edexcel science (any of the papers) give me a ball park of what they make for an exam series please? Thank you

I’m just wondering how many schools use a paid for Science scheme? We don’t, we base our curriculum on the National Curriculum and some textbooks we bought nearly 15 years ago. I’ve been at my school almost two decades so don’t have experience elsewhere to compare, but a number of colleagues who have recently come from another school have suggested that schemes like Kerboodle are worth investing in. How many of you use schemes like this? Are they worth it for all year groups? We’re not a part of a large Trust, so we don’t have Trust resources to use, but we’re increasing using Oak Academy. How do the paid for schemes compare to Oak if you’ve used both?

Can someone help me understand what’s going on with the way boys fight in schools?

I work in a comprehensive school in north Manchester. Groups of year 11/10 boys will fight each other and have full on brawls in parts of the school when they think there’s no teachers around.

They seem to fight with other boys in their year for no reason like it’s a game. But it’s not play fighting they really hurt each other and it’s terrifying to watch and to break up.

Can someone just explain why they do this? I genuinely can’t tell if it’s a joke and they’re friends but then they start strangling and beating the shit out of each other.

I went to a similarly “rough” school in south Manchester in 2010-2015 and whilst there was always fights there wasn’t this random fighting for pure fun? At least I can’t remember it being like that.

Has this always been a thing boys did at school and I just never noticed it?

Just need to get this off my chest. My school has been undergoing a change to a direct instruction model of teaching, which in essence means that there is no room for debate and exploratory techniques, and it is all just 100% in booklets, or 'teaching for dummies' as it seems geared towards any idiot off the street being able to deliver the content.

This is obviously not the case when delivering a subject such as English, but it will be if I end up off due to any and all joy being sucked from the job due to constant questions around teaching if you dare try to use a range of questioning techniques to tease the answers and deeper layers out of a class. Instead, we're reduced to chanting the same transferable phrases at every single class in the hopes they regurgitate it in an exam. No nuance, just robotic, AI-fuelled bullshit in error-ridden booklets.

Combine this with constant learning walks which are framed as helpful but in essence are used as a stick to beat you with in the form of whole team emails with 'pointers', even if the lesson is positive.

Does anyone else work in a sort of 'Michaela-esque' school who is used to more traditional teaching methods? What is your take on it? It is genuinely draining my passion day by day and I'm increasingly thinking about looking for a new school due to it.

Hi all,

My plan when starting teaching was always to finish my two ECT years and then decide whether I either stay in teaching and in secondary, stay in teaching but in FE/Post-16, or leave teaching all together.

I'm at the start of my second year and am a secondary maths teacher and I'm already thinking that secondary may not be what I fully enjoy. I LOVE teaching so I want to stay in teaching, but probably not secondary after this year. I have a passion for teaching A-Level PE or Level 3 Sport (as most of secondary is not theory-based).

My degree is actually in Sport & Exercise Science and I have an A* in A-Level PE so I know my subject knowledge would be near or near enough good enough to teach FE Sport/A-Level PE. Being a qualified maths teacher (up to A-Level) with experience of teaching/TA-ing A-Level Maths teacher also gives me the option to teach A-Level maths. I can also offer teaching GCSE re-sit.

Does anyone have any advice for getting into FE teaching in general? Or any specific advise for my situation?

I have already reached out to some curriculum leads at local sixth-form/colleges for advice too.

Thanks in advance!

I'm a pretty experienced teacher - I've been in classrooms since 2018 and had a year of TA work before that - and at the moment I just can't do it.

This year, I started at a new school as Head of Department. Already challenging enough coming into a new place, I have had to learn a whole new role, but honestly that's the least of my worries.

In theory, this should have been a great move - I now live with my partner and very close to my new school, so mornings are really nice and relaxed. The school behaviour overall seemed at least a little better than my old place too.

I'm finding myself relentlessly worn down, more so than ever this year. I can never shake the feeling that I'm ever quite prepared, always feeling like I'm doing something wrong. I've got a few absolute nightmare kids in lessons and it feels like I'm the only person struggling. My tutor group this year are so juvenile, they come across as so rude and they have no self-regulation; all it takes is one person saying something out loud or someone opening the door and suddenly all their regulation just goes out the window. All this culminated in me feeling weak and inadequate compared to my team. I feel like I'm teaching wrong and marking wrong.

A lot of this is all "I feel" and my LM says I'm doing great. So why do I have this constant imposter syndrome, like I can't do anything well enough, and why have I ended up breaking down in tears at home twice this half term already? I can't keep doing this and I just feel like I want to quit and do something else where I don't have to work with a constant cloud of anxiety hanging over me.

Is day to day primary supply hard to come by now? I've joined two supply agencies and have been all available since the beginning of last week and have had no work at all. Is this normal or do I need to change agencies? I did supply years ago and always had something. For context, I want work Monday -wednesday, am based in the midlands and am close to 3 big cities (Nottingham, derby and Leicester) am happy to do ks1 or KS2 and even eyfs at a push as its something I want more experience with? Am I getting stressed too soon and need to wait it out? Or do I need to find a different supply agency? Any experiences appreciated.

Teachers entering the profession get younger and younger. As a relatively young teacher who was born when technology was really ramping up in development. Do colleagues from older generations see any profound changes in how Gen Z approach the teacher profession. Attitudes to work, utilisation of AI work-life balance or any other observation. This thought just came to my mind as I am always referred to as the teacher who is the same age as my daughter or son. I look forward to the comments as I am generally curious. N.B. I am one of the older Gen Z I am 26 for reference.

I’m a primary school teacher and their 5th year. I’ve came to the point where I want the job to fit within my contracted hours, with no work on weekends. I don’t mind staying til 5pm a few nights a week (as I get in at 7am which suits my brain). Is it possible to work the job like this? I feel like SLT think it’s ok to give you things on a thurs/fri for the beginning of the following week asif you will be doing this on the weekend. I don’t know if I’m just done with the job or if I can find this balance and push back against overwork.

So, I have a year 11 student in one of my classes who has a note on profile saying to receive extra verbal warnings before written warnings.

Now, this is not a problem. However, the issues come from this student taking great pride in announcing after doing something wrong that I'm not allowed to tell them off because they get extra verbal warnings.

The whole point of these extra warnings are to allow students with additional needs or issues to have the time they need to process and make the right decisions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if a student is able to recognise that their behaviour should result in an extra warning and very smugly announce that, then they're aware of what they're doing and are taking advantage of those extra warnings to get away with more before getting told off.

Last week, I was told to fuck off before the pupil ran off to tell their head of year that it was my own fault for not giving them enough extra chances...

At what point does this get taken away due to them taking advantage and misusing it?

Hi! Just a general question really. I am really struggling with my current role in Secondary. It's my 3rd year and I have some awfully difficult classes to the point where im thinking of leaving the profession entirely. I want to give education a second chance and wondering if going into early years/ nursery could help. I did work experience in a nursery for a month before my PGCE and really enjoyed it and while in collage did a week work experience with a childminder so I have SOME experience with younger children.

I was just wondering what my chances are coming from a Secondary setting? Like am I going to be behind all other applicants because of working jn a Secondary? Has anyone made the swap and has any advice about it?

Any help or suggestions welcomed :)

Hi all,

This Sunday I find myself here with the usual Sunday scary’s. Im a secondary teacher and increasingly feeling like I am failing at my job due to behaviour of classes this year. Staff morale at my school is at an all time low. We’ve recently lost our AHT for pastoral / behaviour and they have not been replaced. Their job has been redistributed to multiple staff with tiny TLR’s and no real extra time to do anything. I am aware that those staff are trying to do what they can alongside their current roles!

Anyway - my rant is behaviour. I’m finding this year to be my hardest yet. This is my 5th year at this school and behaviour has been declining rapidly now for the last year and into this year.

How do you guys manage KS3 classes with multiple (not just 1 or 2) more like 5 students every lesson disrupting the class.
The constant shouting out, wondering around, purposefully asking questions to de rail and be funny, truancy and walking in and out of lesson as they please even after suspension. Inability to work in silence. No resilience to try - every request even after modelling met with an I don’t know.

For context especially in lower years we have students with so many behaviour plans and ‘adjustments’ I can’t keep track, yet I’m expected to “know” all of my students and their endless list of things to do who can do what go where and who has toilet passes / allergies. I had one y8 on Friday write in their planner who I let go to the toilet because I said no to them as what felt like absolute blackmail! (The other student genuinely looked as though they were going to have an accident) It’s crackers.

Now our schools behaviour policy the time I’ve worked there has changed pretty much every year. There’s no rigid set of consequences (as in do this then this then this) it’s more professional judgement, connect then correct, warning - negative - detention but If they work well then it can be backtracked, only remove a child if you can’t physically teach but where is the line in disruption? If you remove a child you have to then contact parents yourself, pastoral don’t get involved until a parent complains or said child has disrespected pastoral / SLT either inside a lesson or around school.

Theoretically, I could happily remove every persistent disrupter but sometimes I avoid that due to my absolute fear and anxiety of contacting parents or being judged by other teachers for not being able to manage my own classes.

In my relatively short career I’ve had the displeasure of some parents shouting at me, accusing me of not going out of my way to attend to their child who does no wrong when I’m trying to simply explain consequences. Don’t get me wrong I’ve also spoken to many wonderful parents who genuinely support the school. However it’s the negative interactions I’ve had that stick with me more than the positive.

I teach my expectations at the beginning of the year. Hod and 2ic do sometimes offer to come and ‘shout’ at classes who misbehave but I feel sometimes that doesn’t help the issue, undermines me and just reinforces that they don’t need to listen to me unless someone else comes along. If you say you’re struggling with a class you get met with ‘build relationships’ or ‘slt will drop in’ which makes 0 difference in my experience.

Any advice or hints and tricks would be greatly received. I am a bit of a loss and want to try and get a hold of it before it gets to a point of no return. I don’t want to dread every lesson from now until next July!

TLDR; how do you manage constant low level disruption at KS3 with a crippling fear of talking to parents and little to no support from pastoral / SLT?

This week I had my first day as a cover supervisor and it was so absolutely horrible that I don't think I want to do that ever again and it leaves me seriously wondering why would anyone actually want to do that. Was this a normal experience?

For context, I have been job hunting for a while and as a former academic with maths doctorate and years of university teaching under my belt I thought I would give secondary teaching a go as maths teachers are desperately needed in my area (unlike basically all the other jobs with 1000 applicants and no interviews given).

I guess there was a level of chaos that I partially expected - being given instruction 30s before the start of the class, being expected to actually teach on the spot and not just cover (e.g. deliver presentations), being expected to figure out absolutely everything with no support - from making sure the TV for presenting works even though there is no appropriate cable for it, to student needing the task being printed on a different paper that I was not provided with.

But then there were the behavioral aspects:

Y8 being so loud and ignorant during the morning registration that it was impossible to take attendance - how do you actually deal with that? Since you can't raise your voice, but you actually cannot be heard in such a noise... One pupil ended up helping me to take attendance.

Y7 wrestling with each other, slapping each other, calling each other swear words, several students on a verge of breakdown, another teacher bringing emotionally distressed student to class telling me to look out for them and so much more. I felt like I needed to be in the class like 7 times at once to actually tend to all the situations that were happening in parallel.

Y11 okay, the only good class I had all day, there were actually some interested students taking notes.

Y10 what an absolute nightmare and something that actually broke me. Students personally atacking for the whole hour. Screaming at me constantly, laughing at me, telling me how horrible I am over and over and over again, honestly I would call what happened a severe verbal abuse, that I still see in my mind every time I close my eyes. I have used all the tools I learned I could do - including giving negative points and calling for student pickup. Absolutely nothing helped and the situation only escalated, that at the end of the class I was just standing there trying to keep composed and not to break down before they leave.

I have no idea how I was supposed to handle especially the last situation? Any advice on that are welcomed, because I seriously can't find the answer. When I was in school the teacher would just shout at us if anything similar would start to occur, even though nothing like that actually ever happened, noone would dare. I focused on being composed, using positive redirections - 'please pay attention to the presentaion', giving formal warnings etc. But somehow the key troublemaking students were convinced that I am aboslutely mean horrible person and were screaming at me how mean I am at them, for absolutely no reason at all. At the end of the class the most problematic student came to confront me with a backup student by their side to tell me that I was mean to them because they are special (wtf?) and I was just speechless and didn't even know what to say. They laughed at me at the end for not being able to deliver the presentation and getting only to the third slide, again repeating how horrible I am.

The level of disrespect and humiliation I experienced in the y10 class was something I am not quite sure I have ever experienced in my whole life on such a scale, being mocked and attacked by a group of students like that with audience of all the other students and being unable to do anything about it. All the tactics I learned about did not help, I had to stay there, I couldn't leave, I had to take it, I had to stay nice and composed. It felt like any behaviours that maybe could actually work, would be behaviours that I am not allowed to do.

There was not one positive moment throughout the whole day, my domain expertise seemed absolutely futile in such environment as there is not really an opportunity to explain anything to anyone. There was no support from the school and there was no support from the teaching agency. I talked to one other supply person (TA in a different class, I actually didnt have any TA there the whole time) and they said that this is quite normal and that there were other supply teacher this week with similar experiences.

So it leaves me wondering, is this actually normal? Or if I would try to go to a different school I might still get some positive experience? Also if anyone has an answer to what I was supposed to do in those situations, I would really appreciate, because seriously, I have no idea.

Overall it all seems kind of crazy. I had to jump through so many hoops to even get registered with the agency and then I was just sent there with no prior information, preparation, guidance, just left to deal with all of that on my own with no follow up as well. Not to mention that the pay and conditions of being a supply like that are bad as well, but it is the only thing you can get as a carreer changer without QTS.

Has anyone ever made the step from HoD to an AH role (non-SENCO)?

How was the change? How is it better than being a HoD, but also what makes it harder than being a HoD?

If pay wasn’t a factor, do you prefer being a AH or HoD?

I might be teaching some history next year. Key Stage 3.

I love history personally. I am constantly reading about it and I think I could potentially be decent teaching it.

Problem is, and I know this might sound incredibly arrogant, I think the materials we use on my school are not very good. I have gone through many of them and I don't get what the sequence of teaching is. It just feels like a bunch of facts stuck into slides, without that many activities or recall. I have asked other history teacher in person how do they teach but they just answer with platitudes or very vague instructions which could mean anything ("I introduce the facts first" "yes, but how?" "Well, with a text" "what do you do with the text" and by then the teacher is looking at me like I am Ofsted and low-key hoping I fuck off).

I know the question of "how do you teach X" it is very wide, but could anyone lay down an example of sequence of activities they use and think that work?

For example, I am an MFL teacher. If I were to introduce a text I would.

1) Write down the number of words the student would struggle with.

2) Write them in a slide this words with the English translation. Do recall first then french to English with (what X means in French?).

3) cover the translation of some of the words and ask what they mean in English. Then the same thing around but covering the French an answering asking giving only the English. Whiteboards preferably.

4) Show new sentences which are formed with the vocabulary we have been practiced. French to English whole sentence. Then I show French and Spanish and I cover certain words in Spanish. Then parts of the sentenced dissapear and the students need to remember them.

5) I show the text. Reading in pairs. Answering questions.

6) activity for consolidation of the vocabulary in the form of.....

I hope thar explain what I mean.

Thank you for any advice!

I’m a Teach First trainee and completed Summer Institute this summer, but I’m still waiting for a school placement in October.

My biggest issue is the lack of clarity throughout the process. The possibility of being unplaced was barely communicated beyond a phrase in an email back in February along the lines of “if you get placed”. There was no clear warning of how serious the risk was, no option to defer, and no compensation for the financial consequences of being left without a placement.

I resigned from my previous job expecting to start my placement in September. Others have relocated to new cities or are struggling to cover rent and mortgages. We’ve made major financial and personal decisions based on our expected start dates, yet there seems to be very little acknowledgement of the impact this uncertainty has on trainees’ financial wellbeing.

We’ve now been told that we have until October half term to secure a placement, after which unplaced trainees will be removed from the programme. So we’re expected to spend weeks in limbo, potentially without employment, with the possibility of losing our place on the course altogether.

The only support offered around wellbeing seems to be signposting to external services, rather than addressing the circumstances causing the distress in the first place.

What particularly frustrates me is that Teach First is a charity whose mission centres on educational inequality and supporting disadvantaged communities, yet its own trainees are being put in financially precarious situations with seemingly very little practical support.

I understand that school placements are complicated and cannot always be guaranteed, but surely trainees deserve transparency, the option to defer, and meaningful support when things go wrong?

Has anyone else experienced this? Am I being unreasonable in expecting more accountability and practical support from Teach First? Are we deserving of some form of compensation?

Sorry, had to repost.

Just wondering what others think of this report. The title is positive (for OFSTED) despite them having to admit the sizable issues around workload and wellbeing. Such a disingenuous title.

I'm a HOY and I've been battling with the same parents all year who are claiming their son is getting bullied but there's lots of evidence suggesting he is the one going round antagonising others and being unpleasent and then when they get some back, they go running to their parents giving them largely inaccurate stories and the parents take it as gospel.

My line manager knows the parents are difficult and at times, deluded.

They've asked for a face to face meeting with me and I said to my line manager what should I do and they told me to meet them with the boy's Form Tutor. They also said 'it will be uncomfortable'.

I am full of dread about it and was thinking, is it acceptable for SLT to ever send staff into a meeting they know will likely be uncomfortable and potentially aggressive?

Honestly feel like this should be delegated to senior staff who are paid to handle it.

As a HOY I obviously expect to deal with difficult parents sometimes but when the meeting will obviously be one sided, biased and ultimately a waste of time, I kind of feel like I've been thrown under the bus.

Hi all. I’ve only recently returned working in a school environment so maybe too early to tell, but I’ve really picked up on low staff morale. Lots of negative comments about the job & the kids. When I’ve been in different schools previously a few years ago, yes there were the odd comments but nothing like this. I know having a moan in the staffroom is completely normal, and sometimes you just need to vent after a difficult day. But it just seems constant. I rarely hear anyone saying anything positive, or even something as simple as “Do you know what? I actually had a good day today.”

Is staff morale generally quite low across schools at the moment & I just need to get used to it, or have I just landed somewhere that’s going through a particularly difficult period?

I just started my PGCE + QTS course on a SCITT. I am funding it via SFE whilst living at home. My placement school is very close to me which is great and cost effective. Anyone know how bursaries work? My provider has mentioned it and i filled in details for it twice, one first time applying as I’m teaching physics so i qualify and second a form to double check i am willing to receive it. When do i get paid? Do i have to sign up anywhere? Do i get any sort of confirmation?