Teacher Training what is going on !?!?

Teacher Training what is going on !?!?

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Vron

Original Poster:

2,528 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
Interested in people's comments. I'm toying with the idea of Teacher Training. Reason being I want to - but as a supply teacher as my plan is to spend time abroad so need a job I can pick up and leave when I am back in the UK. I've also been told I would be good at it.

I have been following a teaching forum. To be frank it seems to be full of pathetic girls (but they are in their twenties) panicking about passing the mandatory skills tests.

To give an idea of what these tests are like - they consist of mental arithmetic (12 questions) which are read out down headphones. You have 120 seconds to answer then the next question is read. The questions are along the lines of:

Timmy goes to the shops and buys 5 x oranges at 25p, 6 apples at 18p. He pays with a £5. How much change does he receive?

A car journey takes 1 1/2 hours. The car travels at 45mph. How far is the journey in miles?

To qualify to get into teaching you have to have passed maths at GCSE grade C or above. So, all these on the teaching forum are having hysterical meltdowns about the mental arithmetic. I posted last night that I wondered genuinely why people were getting so stressed over the tests when they had already passed their maths GCSCE to qualify for the course and it is maths you would use in your day to day life.

Boy was I wrong !

That opened the floodgates to about 70 replies of vitriol. I am aggressive for suggesting it was everyday maths. People have dyslexia, dyscalculia (?) people don't like pressure or exams. The tests should be banned anyway ?!?

I was staggered that these people (and the majority have already been accepted for PGCE) are going to be future teachers if they cannot cope with their abilities being questioned. How will these people manage if a Parent has a go or a pupil or if a child stands up and asks what is 6 x 9? (yes there a people who are asking how to learn times tables).

Is this what modern teaching is - snowflakes??

grumbledoak

31,504 posts

232 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
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Snowflakes teaching snowflakes. yes I wonder what another generation of that will produce?

We'll end up doing away with exams, no-one will need them and we'll all live happily ever after on a "Universal Right to Eat" allowance from the government.

21TonyK

11,494 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
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We have tears at least once a day from teachers "unable to cope" with what I consider to be "life". And this is not from NQTs. Problem as I see it is that many teachers have never experienced life outside of academia and have always had the support that environment and working in the public sector provides. Theres a reason so many teachers are off with "stress" or long-term ill. The environment almost supports and encourages it.

Edited by 21TonyK on Wednesday 23 November 17:33

Vron

Original Poster:

2,528 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
That is my concern after 20 years in the private sector.

I mentioned do people not add up their shopping to make sure they are correctly charged / been given the correct change. What if they buy wallpaper and need to work out how many rolls etc. This was met with howls of 'WE HAVE R PHONES FOR CALCULATORS FOR THAT WHICH U WONT HAVE IN THE TEST !

After more name calling in my direction about I have 'no empathy so will not be any good as a teacher' the thread got locked then deleted by admin.

I am honestly shocked. One girl has no Maths A level or dDegree and has been accepted to teach secondary maths !?! She is also one of the ones complaining about the numeracy test.

Edited by Vron on Wednesday 23 November 17:51

21TonyK

11,494 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
Accepted for teacher training without a basic degree? Really?

There's hope for me yet wink

Vron

Original Poster:

2,528 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
Sorry I meant no Maths related degree and no Maths A Level. Currently works as a receptionist at a beauty clinic.

21TonyK

11,494 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
And that, I think, is part of the problem.

Taking someone who is essentially still a kid at 21-22 and sticking them in a classroom as a teacher. It's a tough gig when you can barely look after yourself let alone handle what is a complex and difficult job.

We have teachers who still live at home with their Mum doing their washing and making their packed lunches!

Conversely one of the best teachers I have met is very young and relatively inexperienced but the sheer effort they put in makes up for it and I suspect they will go a long way in education.

FredClogs

14,041 posts

160 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
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Oh go on then...

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/man-thi...

I'm calling BS anyway, I don't think you can get on a PGCE course without a degree.

Vron

Original Poster:

2,528 posts

208 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
quotequote all
FredClogs said:
Oh go on then...

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/man-thi...

I'm calling BS anyway, I don't think you can get on a PGCE course without a degree.
hehe

Somebody has just said they want to withdraw their application. This is one of the replies cut and pasted:

All I can suggest is to contact the pgce admin team, specifically pgce admin team of your chosen providers, explain ur situation and tell them if you can email it to them directly. Most of these guys are really helpful,if u sob story to go with that it's even better smile


So yes that's right. Send your potential employer a sob story to make everything OK. Then go and look at pictures of kittens.. Jeez !!

abucd4

523 posts

143 months

Wednesday 23rd November 2016
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They've only been accepted providing they can actually pass the tests before the course starts.

These muppets never make it through the year anyway, most of them drop out within the first couple of months.

As a maths teacher I regularly get people asking for my help with the tests, my opinion is that if you freak out over a bit of fractions work you shouldn't be allowed to teach.

StuTheGrouch

5,714 posts

161 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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abucd4 said:
They've only been accepted providing they can actually pass the tests before the course starts.

These muppets never make it through the year anyway, most of them drop out within the first couple of months.

As a maths teacher I regularly get people asking for my help with the tests, my opinion is that if you freak out over a bit of fractions work you shouldn't be allowed to teach. out into the real world
Fixed that.

My wife is a teacher and so are a lot of her friends. I hear a lot of examples of not managing workload, having tough times with parents etc. Sometimes it does sound worthy of mentioning, but others it is simply 'life' and they need to just crack on with it!

Frimley111R

15,538 posts

233 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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I too, always thought you had to had a degree to teach anything professionally? (Or has something just gone wooosh over my head hehe)

SamR380

725 posts

119 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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Vron said:
One girl has no Maths A level or dDegree and has been accepted to teach secondary maths !?! She is also one of the ones complaining about the numeracy test.

Edited by Vron on Wednesday 23 November 17:51
If she had a maths degree she wouldn’t be doing something like inspiring and educating our next generation, she’d be doing something actually valued by our society like building trading algorithms to improve rich peoples RoI by 0.0001%.

This is only one problem with our education system.

Johnnytheboy

24,498 posts

185 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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A friend of mine went from industry to teaching aged ~40.

At the teacher training stage he came to exactly the same conclusions as the OP.

Now he is a teacher, at both the schools he's worked at there has been a distinct 'them and us' division between the people that have been teachers for their whole career and the late arrivals. The former are usually stressing about hard done by they are, the latter are just enjoying all the time off.

boxst

3,699 posts

144 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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So can I become a teacher without a degree? I've often thought of it as a 'back-up' career as I've been in IT training for a very long time but didn't go to University. Not sure I could cope with children though, at least teaching software generally people want to be in class and learn.

Edited by boxst on Thursday 24th November 10:34

ReallyReallyGood

1,620 posts

129 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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This is what you get now that we have a culture of safe spaces, microaggression, non-competitive sport, etc in our education system.

It is only going to get worse.

Tampon

4,637 posts

224 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
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Lots of opinions here on teachers, teaching and training for it.

As someone who is now a teacher and in their NQT year you can ask questions and will try and answer them.

I am 36, ran my own upholstery business since I was 20, went back to Uni to study history at the age of 30 to become a teacher (had a epiphany and wanted to do something better with my life), then starting working and training in a school once finished. Now qualified and working as a Teacher in a special needs and behavioural school in South London.

Tamps.

P.S. the Maths and English exams you have to sit aren't just basic everyday maths, some of the questions are simple, but they have a very wide range of topics, you might be good at mental arithmetic but working out 36% discount of a purchase of a wardrobe at £215 and a bed at £340 with a timer in front of you counting down from 20 secs that beeps as it goes down, in your head, might be a touch more pressure), they are timed and there is the pressure of if you don't pass them by 2nd or third attempt you can't sit them again for a year. Maths I was fine on, I did sweat the English one a touch beforehand but passed first time. Is one of the things you worry about as sometimes they are hard to book depending on your centre and you need to pass the before you start training.


Tampon

4,637 posts

224 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
quotequote all
boxst said:
So can I become a teacher without a degree? I've often thought of it as a 'back-up' career as I've been in IT training for a very long time but didn't go to University. Not sure I could cope with children though, at least teaching software generally people want to be in class and learn.

Edited by boxst on Thursday 24th November 10:34
You can try post 16 teaching but you will have to teach people who don't want to be there still, that is part of your job, to inspire them.

You can try to get in without a degree but it is very very hard and you will have to have someone at a school or college think you are great to warrant the attempt to try. You will also be paid a good percentage less for your whole career. Chances are you will have to do it yourself and pay £9k in fees and work fulltime in a educational place. Very unlikely someone will offer you a paid training position.

Try applying for a lower job in a college and tell them about what you can do, probably the easiest way, they might get you doing some teaching (although not paid at that level) and then you can go from there. Definitely don't go and work in a school if you "don't think you can cope with kids" schools are full of them!

Tampon

4,637 posts

224 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
quotequote all
21TonyK said:
And that, I think, is part of the problem.

Taking someone who is essentially still a kid at 21-22 and sticking them in a classroom as a teacher. It's a tough gig when you can barely look after yourself let alone handle what is a complex and difficult job.

We have teachers who still live at home with their Mum doing their washing and making their packed lunches!

Conversely one of the best teachers I have met is very young and relatively inexperienced but the sheer effort they put in makes up for it and I suspect they will go a long way in education.
Yeap to the above.

Some of the guys I trained with were young but they worked silly hours and were really good at putting the time in outside of the class. Some were wet blankets and are now qualified, god help where they go.

One guy was ex army, he was struggling with the workload, he was doing 11hrs a day in school, then marking at home in the evening, and working 8hrs on a saturday and 5 on a sunday just to tread water. Depends on the school you work in and what they expect. His was a horrible school and nearly cost him his marriage. Moved schools now and is much happier.

boxst

3,699 posts

144 months

Thursday 24th November 2016
quotequote all
Tampon said:
You can try post 16 teaching but you will have to teach people who don't want to be there still, that is part of your job, to inspire them.

You can try to get in without a degree but it is very very hard and you will have to have someone at a school or college think you are great to warrant the attempt to try. You will also be paid a good percentage less for your whole career. Chances are you will have to do it yourself and pay £9k in fees and work fulltime in a educational place. Very unlikely someone will offer you a paid training position.

Try applying for a lower job in a college and tell them about what you can do, probably the easiest way, they might get you doing some teaching (although not paid at that level) and then you can go from there. Definitely don't go and work in a school if you "don't think you can cope with kids" schools are full of them!
Thank you for the information. I may have a look as I've been it IT programming and teaching for (gulp, just about to fall off my chair) 30 years! I was assuming that that kind of experience would negate a degree as it does in most instances.