Teacher Training in Tough Times (III)
Teacher Training in Tough Times: A PGCE Course Leader’s Experience
Teacher Training in Tough Times: A PGCE Course Leader’s Experience
As the subject leader on a Secondary PGCE English course, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the trainees under my supervision. Here, I endeavour to offer a flavour of the challenges and triumphs that have arisen for our PGCE course and trainees in the wake of the pandemic.
March-July 2020
Trainees had been on their second school placement for four weeks when the UK Prime Minister announced that schools would shut indefinitely (GOV.UK, 2020a).
As a result, trainees were expected to remain at home to complete the remainder of Placement 2. This also meant that all University teaching, communication and meetings were to be delivered online. Fortunately, we were already using the virtual platform Microsoft Teams, which allowed for a smooth transition to online communication and remote teaching.
With schools closed, trainees were expected to work towards the Teachers’ Standards (GOV.UK, 2011) by teaching online, preparing resources or assessing student work remotely. Where this was difficult to achieve, trainees were asked to complete a range of pedagogical enhancement activities and complete a weekly log, where they also rated their health and wellbeing on a scale of 1-10 thus enabling us to offer support where needed.
The initial uncertainty of their ability to complete the course alongside the health implications posed by Covid-19 meant that trainees’ stress levels naturally increased. Nonetheless, trainees continued to work hard to meet the Teachers’ Standards and pass the course.
September 2020-April 2021
In September, schools and universities reopened and a new cohort of enthusiastic trainees arrived.
For me, teaching face to face was a joy: all trainees could participate equally; questioning was easier; materials could be distributed, and I was able to read the room, gauging understanding and identifying problems. Trainees could build on each other’s comments and discuss ideas– even if they were sat at socially distanced desks, wearing masks. There is something to be said for the social nature of teaching and the support needed by teachers from their peers (Harris and Jones, 2020).
In school, teachers were expected to find new ways of teaching that adhered to social distancing (GOV.UK, 2020b) but trainees were experiencing different versions of the new Covid-19 rules: no two schools approached the so-called ‘bubbles’ or social distancing in the same way and the added pressure of Covid testing and subsequent isolation on receipt of a positive result also added to the stress of missing valuable classroom time and experience.
In January, the country was plunged into its third lockdown, with school closures forcing the return to remote learning. In a weekly virtual wellbeing chat, many trainees explained their angst, citing the negative impact of online teaching on their workload, spending twice as long on lesson planning and having to complete Covid related administration tasks to monitor attendance, engagement and behaviour. This left little time to complete the academic aspects of the course, necessary for the PGCE qualification.
Schools were also offering different provision with varying degrees of synchronous and asynchronous learning, with every teacher (and teacher trainer) in the country developing new technological know-how, dealing with digital literacy and access problems and the ubiquitous cry of ‘You’re on Mute!’. The virtual teaching environment, therefore, was more stressful and communication harder, with mentors finding it difficult to assess trainees where opportunities to access some of the Teachers’ Standards were absent, although the DfE’s relaxation of some of statutory requirements aided in this respect (GOV.UK, 2020c). Trainees, however, rose to the challenge, impressing mentors with their resilience and strength, often training other members of staff in their newly acquired IT skills.
The virtual teaching environment, therefore, was more stressful, communication harder and mentors found it difficult to assess trainees, as opportunities to access some of the Teachers’ Standards were absent, although the DfE’s relaxation of some of statutory requirements aided in this respect (GOV.UK, 2020c).
Trainees, however, rose to the challenge, impressing mentors with their resilience and strength, often training other members of staff in their newly acquired IT skills.
On March 8th, schools re-opened and we were once again allowed back onto campus. Nevertheless, trainees requested online sessions, worried about contracting the virus and missing further school time, despite the excellent measures in place at the University. Online sessions, however, became increasingly more difficult with trainees now opting to turn off cameras and being reluctant to participate – largely, I suspect, through tiredness and screen time overload, having spent the previous six weeks teaching online.
At the time of writing, trainees are now face-to-face teaching on block placement, working hard to develop skills they’ve had little opportunity to see, let alone try.
Reasons to be Cheerful
In amidst these difficulties, there have been some triumphs:
the sharing of online ideas and resources;
building a community of practice;
the support trainees have offered to each other,
their schools and students; the development of technological skills;
being able to ‘virtually’ meet trainees when they need help, particularly during school hours which is not usually possible.
In response to the March 2020 lockdown, we also created a poetry project, offering local secondary school students the opportunity to explore their feelings about the pandemic by writing a poem, with trainees promoting, teaching, developing resources and shortlisting star poems for the Staffordshire Poet Laureate to judge. The anthology created was incredible, prompting us to make this an annual event, working collaboratively with Art and Design PGCE trainees to create the ‘Poetry and Visual Arts Project’ from 2021.
The Future
In the future, we know that we will have to adapt our course, revisiting the Carter Review (GOV.UK, 2015), the ITT Core Content Framework (2019) and recent research such as the EEF’s remote learning guidance (EEF, 2020) incorporating blended learning and teaching for a Post-Covid profession.
The more important consideration, however, is how well-prepared trainees are for a career beyond the PGCE. In some ways they are extremely well prepared: resilient, determined, dedicated and able to use technology in ways we didn’t know were possible, while in other ways, they still have a lot to learn. Support from their ECF schools will be of paramount importance over the next few years.
On a final note, one thing remains clear: we need to celebrate the achievements of all trainees who have successfully completed a demanding course in a set of unique, challenging and exceptional set of circumstances.
By Rebecca Sherratt (Staffordshire University, UK)
PGCE English Course Leader Staffordshire University
Twitter: @beccysherratt
References
EEF (2020) Best Evidence on supporting students to learn remotely [Online] Available from: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/best-evidence-on-supporting-students-to-learn-remotely/
GOV.UK (2011) DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION Teachers’ Standards Available from: https://www.GOV.UK/government/publications/teachers-standards
GOV.UK (2015) DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION Carter Review of Initial Teacher Training. DfE. [Online] Available from: https://www.GOV.UK/government/publications/carter-review-of-initial-teacher-training
GOV.Uk (2019) DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION Initial Teacher Training (ITT): core content Framework [Online] Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-core-content-framework
GOV.UK (2020a) Prime Minister's statement on coronavirus (COVID-19): 22 March 2020 [Online] Available from: https://www.GOV.UK/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-coronavirus-22-march-2020
GOV.UK (2020b) Guidance For Full Opening: Schools [Online] Available from: https://www.GOV.UK/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools#attendance
GOV.UK (2020c) DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION Corona virus (Covid-19): initial teacher training (ITT) [Online] Available from: https://www.GOV.UK/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-initial-teacher-training-itt/coronavirus-covid-19-initial-teacher-training-itt Harris, A. &
Jones, M. (2020) COVID 19 – school leadership in disruptive times, School Leadership & Management [Online] 40 (4) p.243-247 Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13632434.2020.1811479
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