This blog is Part 2 of 2.

You can find Part 1 here.

We have been looking at the practicalities of becoming a teacher.

Now, we can explore the nuts and bolts of the job. Working with children and young adults, working with colleagues, and making use of your soft skills as you do.

Working with Children and Young Adults

We move now to the crux of what you will be doing as a trainee teacher: learning to work effectively with children and/or young adults.

The age group with whom you work will be determined by your decision to train as a primary teacher or a secondary teacher.

The first thing to be aware of is that we all bring a series of assumptions and preconceptions to our training, with these predisposing us to view children and young adults in a certain light.

For example, you may retain an idealised view of the teacher’s role.

Through rose-tinted glasses you might imagine that with a little bit of creativity and ingenuity, any child can be won over to the joys of learning and hard work.

Alternatively, you may have a perception that only some children can pay attention for extended periods, and that you will need to do lots of things to support those for whom this is impossible.

Assumptions and preconceptions are often false.

If they do ever turn out to be true (and those above do not), this validation only occurs by comparing them to evidence.

That evidence comes through experience.

Two points follow.

First, you should spend some time reflecting on your own assumptions and on the preconceptions with which you are entering your training.

This is not easy.

You will need to be critical and objective, viewing your own thinking with a sense of detachment.

The task is worthwhile, however, as it will give you an insight into how you are thinking, prior to actually working in the role of classroom teacher.

Second, you should question any assumptions or preconceptions you identify.

They might be correct, or they might be wrong.

You do not yet know.

You will need to test them against the reality of teaching.

If they prove incorrect, be prepared to let them go.

Failing to engage in this process makes becoming a really effective trainee teacher more difficult.

This is because you will find yourself in situations that feel dispiriting or off-putting.

Having the assumptions through which you think challenged can be a difficult experience.

This is compounded if the experience is unexpected – or if it happens and you do not have a conscious understanding of what, exactly, is happening.

Let me give you an example.

Imagine we enter our training assuming that all children want to learn and look forward to coming into school.

This assumption then informs our thinking and, crucially, our expectations.

When our expectations are not met, we feel uncomfortable and frustrated.

And if we are not consciously aware of the role the assumption is playing in our thinking, we may struggle to understand why this is the case.

Often, the consequence of such events is that relationships between teacher and learners can become strained, or less positive than we would like them to be.

Now imagine we identified the same assumption before starting our training.

We would not necessarily reject it, but we would be able to question it and to wait and see whether the experience of being in the classroom confirms or refutes it.

Operating from this position, we are less likely to become uncomfortable or frustrated.

This is because our expectations have been tempered by an acceptance that our beliefs, prior to being tested in the arena of the classroom, may not be accurate.

In conclusion, managing your own expectations of what the job entails and what it is like to work with children and/or young adults will help you to avoid negative emotions.

It also makes you more alive to the information your experiences provide, helping you to avoid hanging onto ways of thinking that run counter to these experiences.

Of course, I am not advocating a rejection of ideals!

Rather, an acknowledgement that they are just that – ideals – and will not necessarily be reflected by the reality you encounter.

(If they aren’t, how you bridge that gap becomes the next question you need to answer.)

A Lengthy Period of Development

The second thing we must consider when working with children and young adults is that they are passing through an extended period of development.

This encompasses physical, emotional, social, intellectual and psychological development.

Not only is the period of formal schooling a period in which learners develop their understanding of thought and the world as defined by the curriculum, but so too is it a period in which many more developmental changes occur.

From here, we can note that, to be an outstanding trainee teacher, it is well worth becoming acquainted with the developmental journeys learners go through.

You should tailor your investigations to the age groups with whom you are working.

So, for example, if you are training to teach at secondary level, you will place yourself in a strong position if you gain a basic understanding of the changes the brain goes through during the teenage years, as well as the role of hormones in shaping and influencing behaviour.

Similarly, if you are training to teach much younger children, becoming expert in the psychology of child development, including the development of cognition and the stages through which all children are expected to pass, will be of great benefit.

Being able to interpret some of the behaviour and thinking in which learners engage will help you to make better decisions.

The simple fact of being able to explain – even if your explanation is only partial – why certain things are happening, places you in a better position than if you have no clue.

Working with Colleagues

As well as working with learners, you will also work with colleagues.

Here there are few things we must say.

First, colleagues are a source of information and experience.

Asking for support, help and advice lets you to tap into this.

While teachers are generally busy people, gilding any request for support with a reference to the status of the individual in question should help matters run smoothly.

Compare these two requests as evidence of this fact:

• Can you tell me what you think about this lesson?
• In your experience, do you think this is a good way to engage learners?

The second statement represents a subtle recasting of the question.

The aim is not to mislead, but simply to oil the wheels of social interaction in a busy environment.

Earlier, we explored some of the roles that exist in school and considered their relative importance.

Understanding what colleagues do makes your life easier.

Primarily, this is because you then know who to go to for different matters.

This improves the likelihood you’ll get the information or support you want and makes you look professional.

If you are not sure who is responsible for a given area, or if you want to know who to speak to about a certain topic, ask your mentor.

Observing Others

One of the best ways to quickly develop your understanding of teaching and learning in a classroom context is to observe colleagues teach.

Aim to observe a wide range of teachers as soon as you can.

This will help you to establish a sense of what is possible, what works, what doesn’t work, what you would like to try yourself and what you would, perhaps, like to avoid.

The process lets you add detail to the conceptual map you hold in your mind concerning the nature of classroom teaching.

As time progresses, this map will develop considerably, not least because of the teaching you do and the response this engenders from learners.

However, at the start of your training, the map will, inevitably, be sparsely populated.

Giving yourself a wide range of observation experiences at the start of your training is therefore a good way to speed up your progress.

It is always worth seeing teachers who are known in the school as being particularly effective.

It is also worth observing teachers who have specific strengths – behaviour management or questioning, for example.

Another useful option is to see two or three teachers who employ contrasting approaches to achieve similar ends.

Taking behaviour management as an example, you might see one teacher who creates a positive environment through remaining strict, another who works hard to build and maintain rapport, and a third who takes on more of an explicitly caring or nurturing role.

In this case, we have three approaches that are all equally valid.

It will then be for you to decide whether you want to copy one, take aspects from each, or go your own way.

You may also want to compare the approaches of newer and more experienced teachers.

Both will offer ideas from which you can learn.

Crucially, as you observe more lessons and then combine this with your own experience of teaching, you will be increasingly able to discriminate between what is effective and what isn’t, what is good and what is outstanding, and what suits you and what doesn’t.

Turning back to wider notions of learning for a moment, this point offers a contextualisation of the ideas we looked at concerning knowledge and understanding.

By conducting lots of observations and pooling the acquired knowledge with that which you derive from teaching your own lessons, you will be able to create an ever-stronger base from which to develop your understanding.

Constructing such a base early on will make it easier for you to trial new ideas, develop a sense of what your teaching style is and, of course, plan and teach outstanding lessons.

Soft Skills

Our final category here is soft skills.

These are the skills that employers of all types look for in prospective staff.

They are also the things business leaders are forever deriding universities for failing to teach.

The term includes things like teamwork, communication, independence, problem-solving, creative thinking, showing initiative, time management and decision making.

Considered another way, soft skills are tied up with an individual’s emotional intelligence – their ability to read and understand situations, manage themselves and manage the interactions they have with other people.

When it comes to soft skills, it is worth remembering that a school is a place of work just like any other.

The soft skills that are required to be successful are broadly like other workplaces, even if their application may differ given the unique context in which we find ourselves.

So, what do you need to do when it comes to soft skills?

The first thing is to be aware of them.

Think about how you present yourself to the people in your training school – in terms of dress, manner and demeanour.

Consider whether you are sufficiently proactive, whether you expect others to do things for you or whether you get on and do them yourself.

Ask yourself what you do when problems arise, whether you look at these as an opportunity or a difficulty.

Question the extent to which you pay attention to the verbal and non-verbal signals given out by colleagues, as well as the signals you convey to others.

The next thing is to consider the image you want to present to those with whom you work.

Take time to think about this before entering your first training school.

And remember, this is a chance to present yourself however you wish.

They do not know you, or what your professional manner is like.

So, decide what you want people to see and what you want people to think of you and then work hard to act accordingly.

Further down the line, when you are applying for jobs, being able to give concrete examples of your soft skills in action will put you in a strong position.

Employers always prefer claims supported by evidence to those supported by waffle or those simply asserted but for which there appears to be no support.

With that in mind, here is a list of examples of things you can do during your training to demonstrate competence in various soft skills:

• Teamwork

Plan lessons or a scheme of work with a colleague; team teach a series of lessons; offer your time to support members of your department or year group team; create and share resources with others.

• Communication

Offer to deliver an assembly on an inspiring topic; create YouTube videos for your learners communicating key pieces of content; attend parents’ evenings and take part in report writing; plan a whole-school event (or get involved in the planning of one).

• Problem-Solving

Reflect on why lessons don’t go according to plan and then implement changes; create resources that solve a particular problem either for you or for your learners; call on members of the pastoral team to help you deal with a behavioural issue; find innovative ways to personalise learning for individual learners.

• Independence

Plan a visit to another school to observe and talk to teachers working there; get involved in an extra-curricular activity; put on a workshop or series of workshops for learners; write an article or blog post for an education media outlet.

• Showing Initiative

Critically reflect on your own lessons – don’t just wait to be told how to improve; call on the expertise of others to help you improve; ask senior colleagues to observe you and give feedback; attend education conferences or events; take part in online learning.

• Time Management

Plan your year in advance; demonstrate you have managed your time effectively by using the excess you create to do other things (such as create excellent resources, develop your subject knowledge or take part in extra-curricular activities); develop systems for marking and planning that allow you to do both of these activities more quickly.

• Decision-Making

Take on responsibility for planning a unit of work and then give examples of how you chose what lessons to create, how you chose to order the topic and how you decided to assess learning; critically reflect on decisions you make in class and use this to inform future decision-making (you can then use these experiences to illustrate relevant points you make in an application).

Here we reach the conclusion to our practical overview.

The aim has been to introduce some of the key things you will need to do and think about as you start to become a teacher, and to indicate how you can approach this in a way that helps you to become an outstanding trainee.

I’ll finish things off with some reflective questions and activities, both of which will help you to think critically about your practice and your training.

Questions

• What assumptions do you have about teaching and learning? What assumptions do you have about children/young adults? What will you do if these assumptions prove to be false?
• Can you create a summary of what a trainee on your course needs to do to achieve the highest grades? If not, what do you need to find out to be able to do this?
• If you were planning a curriculum for the age group you are training to teach, what would be on it and why?
• Does a curriculum need an aim or a series of aims to underpin its content? Why? And, if so, what should they be?
• What were you like as a learner and what were your classmates like? What do you think caused you and your classmates to be like this? What insights could this provide for you now?

Activities

• Audit your subject knowledge and compare this to the curriculum you will be teaching. Identify areas of strength, areas of weakness and any complete blanks. Think about what you can do to improve your knowledge.
• Observe a series of learners in different lessons. Pay attention to their behaviour, their body language, how they interact with others, how they interact with the teacher and, of course, the learning they do. Consider how learner behaviour differs – both between learners and between lessons.
• Ask three or four senior colleagues in your training school to give you their golden rules for teaching success. Then, ask them why these are so important. Try to get a sense of what their experience has taught them.