#can you confirm what induction date i should attend? thanks’

[mimmerr]

How has CV-19 impacted teacher training?

The outbreak has affected everyone and everything, I need not say more. One of those areas touched by school closures is Initial Teacher Training and Newly Qualified Teachers’ inductions. We all can remember the anxiety in these formative years of our practice and unfortunately for this year’s cohort, there is an increased uncertainty about the future.

Being the curious person I am, I wanted to find out what schools and ITT providers are doing to support their trainees and NQTs. But, before we start looking at the data, what I what to ascertain is that no mentor, school or training body has experienced something like this before. I hate the idea of striking people with numbers and research when they’re down and scrambling to try and fix things. What I do what to do is highlight good practice and point out how we can easily inform our trainees to reassure them about their future. 

I also understand and recognise that there are far more pressing issues at stake here and do not want to glance over this. This comes from a place of wanting to contribute, research and create, to help and advise and to remind us that school is still there and will be there after this passes.

I digress. Let’s look at who participated: 54% of my 56 participants were Primary based and the other 46% were Secondary. Sadly, no one who filled in my form was from a PRU or Special School. 

Who felt more informed, Primary or Secondary teachers?

I asked my lovely volunteers to rate how informed they felt on a scale of 1-100. The average number for Primary was 48 whilst Secondary trainees felt much more knowledgeable. Their average number was 66.  

Which provider had informed their students well?

You would think that the training route the trainee is on would affect their level of information. However, there were no vast differences between the feeling of being informed and training routes. All training routes’ average number were between 50-60 except Teach First at 79 but only 3 people were surveyed from this programme.

Those who were mainly in school (e.g. those in their NQT year, Teach First, School Direct) showed marginal higher levels of being informed. Perhaps this is because they could gain information from both their school and university, rather than just one of them. This also could explain why Primary based volunteers felt less informed as more of these volunteers were on programmes with intermittent placements e.g. BAs.

So what exactly have trainees and NQTs been told? 

26% of the participants had been told they would pass, as long as they followed stipulations from their ITT provider. These directions varied but included:

No concerns about their placement/essays

Additional evidence uploaded.

Final assignments completed.

Virtual meetings attended.

These participants’ responses are in line with up to date government advice:

Trainees making adequate progress towards the teachers’ standards, where the ITT provider judges that the trainee would have completed their ITT course successfully, should be recommended for QTS at the end of their course. Further guidance will be provided as soon as possible for those trainees not already meeting the teachers’ standards or on a trajectory to meet the teachers’ standards by the end of their ITT course. ITT providers must inform trainees of their trajectory and keep them informed for the remainder of their course. ITT providers should confirm at the end of a trainee’s course whether that trainee is going to be recommended for QTS based on their trajectory. All trainees are expected to continue to engage with their course over this period.

The assessment and recommendation for the award of QTS will remain solely at the provider’s discretion and providers are able to undertake such assessments based on their professional judgement and expertise. These allowances do not, under any circumstances, give trainees a ‘free pass’ and ITT providers should not make any recommendation for QTS without giving full consideration to a trainee’s progress and available evidence.

However, another 26% said they hadn’t been told much or weren’t sure about the information given or didn’t know what their next steps were.

What are trainees being asked to do at school?

Schools are shut, meaning many trainees’ placements have been stopped. Or, they haven’t been asked by their schools to do anything. 51% of trainees said their school didn’t expect them to do anything. Elsewhere, 14% were asked to help plan.

What are trainees being asked to do from their ITT provider?

All providers are advised that ITT courses should continue where at all possible, even if the original programme of training cannot be followed. Providers may wish to make more content available online, conduct sessions via video conference, or involve trainees in the organisation of any online educational activities schools are organising.

Some of this is in place. 43% of participants said they are completing assignments and 9% said they were completing CPD. But 9% said their ITT provider hadn’t asked them to do anything yet.

What are trainees happy about?

The majority of trainees and NQTs who said they felt happy, had clear next steps given to them. These did range in the reasons why but included:

An indication that they would pass.

Clear work set i.e. final assignments, supplying evidence.

Supportive and understanding mentors/ITT trainers

Regular updates from their ITT/school via email

What are trainees concerned about?

Not observing enough good practice.

Not being able to get a job because they feel there will be a demand for more experienced teachers because children would have fallen behind

Not being apply to find a school to work for

The unknown.

In regards to observing good practice, the government advises:

You may wish to consider offering a virtual experience for candidates, such as videos of lessons, digital conferences or online training materials for candidates to use. Should you plan to offer these or similar in the weeks to come, please get in touch with us via [email protected] and we will happily make your school active again.

Going forward, there are clear, achievable steps:

1) Reiteration of next steps for all trainees and NQTs, following government advice. This is especially for those who are not linked to a school. This means sending out the government link again to these people and ensuring they understand it.

2) There is discrepancy in what trainees are being asked to do. Some are writing essays and planning but others are doing nothing. In the coming weeks, we’ll hopefully see more clarity and parity on what is expected to be completed at home.

3) As there is lost observation time, trainers could provide videos and literature demonstrating good practice. This does not mean filming now but using what is already available online for the public. This will help trainees feel a bit more confident about their school experience.

For the time being, I cannot advise on recruitment, both in terms of interview/application and preference for experienced teachers.

So there we have it. A mixed bag at best, and one of anxiety, understanding and optimism. This cohort are respectful and kind, accepting that their ITT providers are on new territory. But they are also critical and justly want to know what is ahead, both in terms of their QTS and future careers.

Thank you to my participants. 

Click here to see the government advice I cited from.

#education #ITT #training #research

[rocknutsvibe]

Radiohead will not attend Rock Hall ceremony

This year’s inductees to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame haven’t been announced, but if Radiohead gets the nod as expected, they’re apparently not planning on being at the induction ceremony.

Speculation started earlier today when Radiohead announced shows for a 2018 South American tour. One of them, the April 14 date in Buenos Aires, is on the same date as the induction ceremony.

Later in the day, Stereogum reported that a representative of the band confirmed they would not be in attendance at the ceremony.

The band has made it clear on multiple occasions they’re lukewarm at best at the prospect of being inducted into the Rock Hall. Most recently, guitarist Ed O’Brien expressed the band’s ambivalence in an interview with Esquire.

“As a British band, it’s one of those things that it’s very lovely to be nominated, but we don’t quite culturally understand it,��� O’Brien said. “It’s a very American thing. Us Brits are very bad at celebrating ourselves. One of the things I’ve always loved about coming over to America is American bands you can always have a really good chat with and you could talk. With British bands, there was a lot of hostility. It’s in our DNA to be a little ambivalent with award ceremonies. We haven’t had great experiences. I would never want to disrespect anything because obviously some amazing artists have been nominated. But if I’m honest I don’t understand it. It’s just kind of a British person going, ‘Okay, thanks, what does this mean?’ It’s a little bit thin on black artists and hip-hop artists. I’m just speaking as a fan of American music, I would have thought that Dr. Dre should have been in there two years ago. His name should be first on the list way ahead of Radiohead.”

This year’s inductees will be announced in December. It would be a surprise if Radiohead weren’t among the winners, even if they don’t have much interest in being one.

Photo credit: By Tim Cochrane from London, UK (Radiohead) [CC BY 2.0 (http://ift.tt/o655VX)], via Wikimedia Commons

from Rocknuts http://ift.tt/2AkxhAe via IFTTT

#Rocknuts #rock #music