PGDE secondary Bio/Chem

As nice as it is to sit and chat with the teachers in your free lessons and breaks, if you want to leave earlier after school, or not have as much planning/marking on I take home, you need to forgo work friendships 😅😅 I loved my teacher friends but honestly now with a baby, I would absolutely have a zero chatting policy for my free lessons, lunches, and the hour or two I stay after 3.30. Same for during the course! Very easy to want to discuss all the issues that come with the job but it’s not worth it in the long run! X

Oh wow to the above comment, hadn’t considered that side - my colleagues are a huge part of my enjoyment of the job. That’s why I work in schools and refuse to tutor. I’m a Chem/Bio teacher but I qualified before having my LO so I can’t comment on training with a kid. I know that my colleagues with kids really appreciated being able to chat to each other about the challenges as they could really relate to each other, but I totally understand where Sando is coming from. Your supervisor will have a big impact on your training, make sure they’re supportive etc otherwise ask to change. Mine was brilliant and I loved doing my PGCE. Training is intense. Over the years I have amassed resources and have generally sped up with planning lessons and marking, so I find myself more efficient and having more time for other things. But yeah, try not to be completely put off by how intense and scary it is at the start - with a good school and management you do get into the swing of things! Enjoy!!!

Also, be wary of people that are selfish with their resources. Some people seem to think that when you’re training, you need to make everything from scratch otherwise you won’t learn etc. They also feel that because they’ve put a lot of time into their resources, that others are lazy/cutting corners for using them etc. That is rubbish. You need a generous department that will shoot you their lessons, explain their thinking etc and then let you contribute when you’re confident enough. It will all come back around in the end. It’s all about being effective and efficient and a team and delivering the best possible for students, not about individual kudos for great lessons. I feel really strongly about this as I’ve seen so many trainees being left in the dark wasting their time arduously and pointlessly creating everything from scratch! If you need resources in the future, DM me!

@Kitty thank you! I think I was expecting to do everything from scratch, so it’s nice to hear that there are supportive teachers out there who would be happy to help with some of the resources I would need! And I do think that the friendships I’d make with colleagues would be invaluable, but I do need to remember to try and keep a good work-life balance as much as I can!

@Sando that’s a very good point! I feel I will need to be a little stricter with my free time to keep a good work-life balance!

Absolutely colleagues/friends at work are sooo important and was the main reason I stayed in teaching past those first two very difficult years. It’s just 6 years on now and with a new baby, I simply can’t afford to spend that same amount of time unfortunately. I want to be at home and mentally present with my baby, that’s more important to me personally, and not having a list of things to do in the back of my head. I usually do my socialising at the weekly department meetings haha. The other mums on the team are the same. We do have a quick natter in the mornings when everyone’s getting their teas and coffees, but other than that I have to go hide in my frees and my breaks because I’m a big talker, if someone starts I will not stop 😂😅🙈 And yes regarding resources! Don’t meed to make most from scratch! I got all of mine from TES - Just edit as needed x

If you are training in Scotland... ....uni should give you details of how to join these but there are teacher networks for both biology(Synapse) and chemistry (Strontium) as well as a microsoft team for all science subjects that usually has useful virtual cpd. Most of these will need your Glow email to sign up to prove you are a teacher(you will get that during training). The PGDE year was my toughest year in teaching - please remember the demands from uni are no way reflective of the hours you'll spend once actually teaching. This seems to have got worse in recent years - although that maybe an Aberdeen specific issue with the lead tutor! Have a good support network for placement weeks to care for your little one during and after the school day - you will be working until late each night to complete the lesson plans etc - please don't worry, you'll never complete a lesson plan like those again after the pgde year for secondary! Practice every practical with advice from the technician(your new bestie) or.

....that older teacher no one speaks to but the kids love. The more "fun", outgoing, friendly teachers don't always have the best tips that suit your personal style, check in with everyone! The permanent job situation in the central belt I believe is dire after probation. If its an option consider a move to D&G, aberdeenshire, highlands etc to secure a permanent post faster. The toughest placements are often those you learn the most from. Find a teacher buddy who can offer support and a shoulder to cry on! It's OK to have a melt down every now and then particularly in the early days. Lessons won't always go perfectly. Reflect, be brutally honest and learn from it, we all have off days(us and the kids!). It's OK to change plans midway through a lesson - kids can be unsettled with eg an earlier fight, sometimes a 10 minute video, kahoot quiz to settle them and achieving less is the best outcome!! Feel free to connect/message if you have any questions(I'm also bio/chemistry qualified). Good luck!

Oh and I ALWAYS take my lunch break and don't work through it! That's my time to socialise and switch off, good chance to ask others how they would approach a ertain lesson when you have a captive audience. I'm in school just after 8 and leave before 5. Occasionally take marking home but the laptop remains off! I have been teaching for almost 2 decades though....it wasn't like that in the early days!

Definitely agree with others about not making resources from scratch all the time. One placement made me feel guilty about not making more of my own resources - if only they knew that was the bit I was already really good at, what I needed to practise and get help with was classroom management! I wish I’d requested a transfer because they failed me twice even though my uni tutor passed me on my crit lessons; the school mentor was very unsupportive. If you feel a school isn’t treating you right, definitely ask if it’s possible to move (or at least not end up doing two placements at the school!). I would also agree with taking a proper lunch break, and chatting with colleagues then. You do learn a lot from others that way. But guarding your working time during free lessons and at the end of the day etc is definitely wise!