Kate Aspin (Senior lecturer at Huddersfield University): Supporting new teachers

In this episode, Claire speaks with Kate Aspin, a former deputy headteacher and now a senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield. Kate begins by explaining her teaching journey, how she progressed three times in three years from class teacher to deputy headteacher and subsequently acting headteacher. During this time, Kate supported several Newly Qualified Teachers – including some who were finding the year a challenge - in Calderdale. This led to an interest in further developing her role in teacher training. Kate talks in detail about the different routes into teaching, the benefits of each route and the suitability for prospective students. She highlights the importance of gaining experience in schools and selecting a route that is best for you. She also mentions the challenges trainee teachers face, getting behaviour management right, the role of a mentor and working towards a LIFE/work balance. She notes the introduction of the new Early Career Framework that is due to be trialled in some local authorities - including Bradford and Greater Manchester in September 2020. This will then be rolled out nationally in the following year. The framework aims to provide continued support for Recently Qualified Teachers to help tackle teacher retention issues. Her conversation with Claire also covers the new Ofsted Framework for Initial Teacher Training and how it now mirrors the framework used within schools including ‘Deep Dives’. Kate was pleased to find that students are no longer graded but explains that this creates a ‘grey area’ around what constitutes as a ‘good’ standard and how this can be rolled out across all age ranges. KEY TAKEAWAYS Mentors are an invaluable resource.Mentors have a crucial role in a trainee teacher’s success. Trainee teachers need good mentors. Mentors should model good practice and verbalise how they got to a certain point and provide scaffolding for the trainee. Make the implicit explicit. Prepare for the NQT year.Trainees should use the final teaching placement to reflect on what worked well and what they would do in different situations throughout the year. For instance: queries with parents, changes with the curriculum etc. Think about organising the classroom to make it work for you and to make it your own. LIFE/work balance for trainee teachers and Newly Qualified Teachers.It is important to remember that Newly Qualified Teachers and Recently Qualified Teachers are still developing and still need support. Encourage trainees or NQTs to adapt resources for what they need and not reinvent the wheel. Good is good enough. They need space to reflect and think. Have regular meetings with induction tutors as NQTs and continue this support in the RQT year. Behaviour management is key.Children who are misbehaving are not learning. Therefore, new trainees must get on top on behaviour management from the outset. The first target for new trainees must relate to behaviour management. Trainees should become familiar with the strategies used in their placement schools and develop strategies that work for them. Be certain that it is the job for you.Get experience in a school to see ‘behind the scenes’. Understand the theory behind planning, get involved in meetings and understand that teaching is a full-on job. If you know what you are getting yourself into, the rest of it will come. If not, it can be a massive shock. BEST MOMENTS “You have to be certain it is the job for you. It has to run through you like a stick of rock.” “I’m looking for passion, realism, resilience, understanding and awareness of the subject knowledge that is involved [in teaching].” “I am willing to fail somebody. Children don’t get a say in who teaches them. They are the only people who don’t get a say. I’m not putting somebody out there who isn’t fit to teach my children or anybody else’s kids. It’s not fair on the children or the person.” “[Trainees] see an amazing teacher but they don’t have the skills to unpick where that all comes from. They don’t know what that magic is until they see it.” “We should be continuously developing ourselves as professionals but we need space to do that: space to think [and] space to reflect. I think this is greatest gift you can give your NQTs, is that space to say, ‘What’s not working in here?’” “The joy of the NQT [year] is you get to shut the door and if you haven’t got a TA, then it’s just you and the children. If you do have a hideous lesson that is a disaster then you reflect on it, pick yourself up, dust yourself down and you do it better next time.” “I think you have to be optimistic when you work with children.” “All schools need good teachers.” “I am not a big fan of governors walking into school and doing lesson observations on teachers… people in industries and from all walks of life, they don’t know what they are looking for. We need to rely on the senior leadership team.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Get into Teaching website: https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-optionsThe Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/  ABOUT THE HOSTClaire Riley Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend. The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.