Often people have pointed to how learning to teach is like learning to drive a car.  It is all very well understanding the theory, but it is only really through time in the driving seat (working with real children in classrooms) that effectiveness grows.

Experience supporting Scholars into employment over the last three years has shown us that those Scholars who seek out additional opportunities to develop often thrive more easily in their first year as an initial teacher trainee. Alongside this, getting additional more extended experiences can be a real help in interviews and during applications because it will give you more to talk about in your application letter and when asked about teaching during the interview.

Below is a list of suggestions based on things that Scholars already in employment have found useful:

• Contact the school you went to and ask them if they would like you to help out as a teaching assistant in maths or physics lessons – the school you went to will be very likely to be enthusiastic about you deciding to become a teacher and may well need more help following the Coronavirus health emergency.  A really valuable way to spend a couple of weeks after your finals and once you are back home before the end of the school summer term.
• Talk to your Regional Training Centre co-ordinator to see if there are schools in their teaching school alliance that might value teaching assistant support.
• Look for opportunities to do tutoring of individual students.  The government is rolling out a major programme of tutoring to support catch-up in schools following the health emergency.