Simple quick tips to impress as an NQT
Robert Aitken, ex-teacher and education technology specialist at ONVU Learning, has some advice for the NQT in your school… Step one is complete; you’ve found an NQT job for next year. It’s only natural to feel a little scared by the prospect. You’ve spent the last year training and now it’s just you at the front of the class, and there are 30 students staring back. There’s no need to panic though. Here are eight ways to build confidence as an NQT and to be your best self. 1. Get to know your new school before your first day Once you know you have a job with a school try to visit several times and learn as much information from the team. Gather as many resources as possible. If you’re based a long way away, try to visit at least once and then follow-up with some probing questions. That will allow you to spend your time over the summer holidays planning effectively and gaining confidence in your approach. 2. Learn and follow school policies from the outset Each school has its own way procedures and it is vital that you follow them wholeheartedly as an NQT. Reading them carefully is the task number one, but if you can spend time shadowing a class or a student before the summer break you’ll get to know how such policies and approaches are delivered by teachers in the classroom in practice. That will make all the difference in your ability to assimilate and thrive in the new environment. 3. Look for respect, not to be liked There’s a saying: “You shouldn’t smile until Christmas”. That’s a pretty big challenge. A smarter version is to look for respect. Don’t fret about telling students off when needed, but at the same time you can laugh when the situation comes up. Just remember who is in charge and the goals everyone is there to achieve. 4. Stick to the basics of teaching – explain, model, question Alex Quigley’s book ‘The Confident Teacher’ has a tip: Don’t think of trying to deliver overly complex ‘wow’ lessons every lesson every day. Just ensure that you have a core process of explaining new ideas, showing how they work in practice, and then using effective questioning to assess the learning delivered and if it has translated into understanding. 5. Look after your voice A study by Greenwich University found that 50 per cent of NQTs suffer from voice loss during the year. What a problem to have! The NUT2 advises teachers to take a range of steps to avoid this, from warming up the voice at the start of the day to finding a comfortable range of pitch to drinking enough water. It’s a real problem, so take steps to address it so that the risk is minimised. If it should happen, do the right thing right away so the episode passes as fast as possible. 6. Don’t agree to do too much too soon – even under pressure It’s easy as a new member of staff in a school to want to throw yourself into a wide range of new activities. Everyone wants to be respected and relied on. But everyone needs time to prepare lessons, do their household chores, sleep, AND have a life beyond teaching. As you become more experienced, teaching and preparation will take up less time and you can take on new roles. A teaching career can last over 40 years! Don’t try to conquer the task at the expensive of your life. 7. Use networks for help and support early and often As an NQT you’ll have a network of people within your school to help you – usually a mentor and an induction tutor as well as a peer network of NQTs and RQTs (2nd year teachers). You may also be part of a wider network through a multi-academy trust or local authority – and you’ll probably be in touch with fellow students from your initial teacher training programme. It’s important to use them – and to remember that no question is too silly to ask! Ask the question before you run into the problem. 8. Take time to reflect on your lessons in a positive way Take a moment out of each day and reflect on your lessons. Notice the critical incidents within them, and use reflection and external coaching to continually improve. Some schools make this easy with technology and structured techniques that improve the effectiveness of such self-reflection. Certainly think back after each lesson and ask ‘what would I do again?’ – identifying the key things that you did right. If anything could be better, think about what happened to drive that outcome, the internal and external factors. It’s an exciting time, and as in all aspects of life, proper planning prevents poor performance. Every student deserves a great learning experience and every NQT is able to deliver one, with the right attitude, training, and support. Self-reflection and a growth mind-set focused on continuous professional development will get a committed NQT through day one, week one, and year one, and onwards for a rich career.
Being a Primary Deputy Head, This Much I Know…
Laura Knight When I was 11 years old I knew that I wanted to be a primary school teacher. It wasn’t just the influence of having parents as teachers (they didn’t put me off!) I just knew that I liked doing pretty much everything. I loved learning and I loved the day-to-day variety of being busy doing different things at school. It’s this sense of being into ‘everything’ that has seen me progress from class teaching into my current role as a Deputy Headteacher. Being a Deputy Head is an ‘everything’ job. Teaching commitments aside, not that this is in any way a small part, the sheer range of tasks that a Deputy may be required to perform means that the role is a very unique one indeed. Spinning Plates The job title signposts that on some occasions, when the Headteacher is out, you have to do all of the things they do. And then some. I have worked with a number of Heads who say that the Deputy Head role is harder than their own. Whether this is accurate or not, it is certainly true that as a Deputy you have your fingers in a great many pies. First and foremost most Deputies teach! Teaching children and the reward you gain from watching them learn is central to why we do what we do. It’s what stands teaching apart from so many other run of the mill jobs. I no longer have a whole class teaching commitment. Instead I continue to interact with the children through cover, intervention groups and mentoring. Now the highlight of my day can follow a tentative knock on my office door, when a small person brings me their best work to celebrate. I know that when you are a Deputy, balancing fuller teaching responsibilities alongside your leadership role can be a demanding and challenging task. Maintaining high quality planning, preparation and marking whilst ensuring you fulfil other strategic and supporting roles as well as the day to day business of helping to lead the school can require skill, organisation and a persistent drive. In many schools it can be the Deputy Head who is on the ground, involved in developing effective practice, focussed on improving teaching and learning. As such, much of a Deputy’s time can be taken up with coaching, support and discussion. Working with staff can be as rewarding – and frustrating! – as working with the children. After the children the school’s greatest resource is the teaching staff and the relationship you develop with them is fundamental to the success and happiness of the school. I know that a crucial part of a Deputy, or any Senior Leader’s role, is nurturing the staff, training them and facilitating development opportunities and trusting people to do a great job. Taking the time to reflect upon and appreciate the positive impact you make as a Deputy is important whether that be with the progress children or other teachers make. “Have you got a minute?” ….And the answer, although sometimes I dearly wish to say ‘no, sorry’, is always ‘yes, of course.’ As a Deputy you find yourself in the middle of everything, the go-between, bridging the ‘gap’ between the teaching staff and the Head. This can be quite an interesting place to be to say the least. At times, in any school, hard questions have to be asked and you can find yourself having challenging conversations. Finding the best way to deliver a difficult message takes diplomacy and sensitivity, the more constructive you can be the better. Remembering to temper tough issues by reinforcing the positive and using praise can make the difference when trying to support others. Sometimes this can make you popular and sometimes, well, not so! You have to resolve yourself to the idea that you cannot always get everything right for all people but I know that you always need to have an open door, a box of tissues and a listening ear. I once worked with a Head who explained to me the 80:20 rule. In schools this translates to the way in which you spend 80% of your time focussed on 20% of children, staff or parents. For example I spend 80% of my time supporting 20% of our teachers, specifically the NQTs. Sometimes it means that I don’t always get to see all staff regularly and out of the classroom this can be quite isolating. Popping into classes, getting into the staffroom and being a presence around school or the playground can be important to ensure that you are accessible and approachable for all. The one person you can probably spend more time working with and have a far greater understanding of than anyone else in the building is the Headteacher. Now I have worked with many, many Heads in my career and they have all had their special foibles, talents and quirks. The reciprocal relationship between Head and Deputy is a distinctive partnership in any school. With a great Head you can learn what can make a really great school and be cultivated into a great senior leader yourself. The place of a Deputy Head to support and challenge the Head can also be an exceptional position to be in. And whilst you can be the buffer for the staff to share their worries with, it’s important that you and the Head are there to back each other up too. Relieving tension by having the occasional moan can be supportive, as can be finding things to laugh about. As a Deputy I know that from listening to woes, to answering questions, to sharing jokes and relaying tricky messages being a good communicator really helps. To do or not to do? Like many teachers I love a good to-do list – I have long handwritten ones, colour coded ones with deadlines on my iPad, collections of scribbled Post-it notes and even a bedside notebook or two. In truth, at my school, my Girl Scout preparedness and slightly OCD organisation is a cause for