This guide is for anyone joining BA (Hons) Primary Education, BA (Hons) Secondary Physical Education, or one of our PGCE Primary and PGCE Secondary courses. You'll be in a classroom sooner than you think, so a bit of preparation over the summer goes a long way.
Reading and research
Start with our Education and Teacher Training blog, where our trainees and tutors write about placements, subject knowledge and life on the course. The Teachers' Standards Read the
Teachers' Standards
Read the Teachers' Standards. This is the document you'll be assessed against throughout your training, and it will shape how your mentors talk to you about your practice.
Read it once for the content, then read it again asking yourself what each standard would actually look like in a lesson you were teaching.
Framework
The Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework sets out what every trainee teacher in England is entitled to learn, and it's what our curriculum is designed around. Most applicants have never heard of it, so reading it now puts you ahead. The useful thing to understand is that it doesn't stop when you qualify.
The ITTECF covers your training year and your first two years as an early career teacher, so the ideas you meet in September are the ones you'll still be building on in your second year of teaching. It's a long document. Skim the structure, then read the sections on how pupils learn and on classroom practice more thoroughly.
The National Curriculum
Download the National Curriculum for your phase and subject. Get familiar with how it's structured, what's expected at each key stage, and how one year builds on the last. Primary trainees, look at all subjects rather than just the ones you feel confident in.
Education Courses
Find out more about our courses
Your subject knowledge
Your own subject knowledge needs to sit comfortably above the level you're teaching. BBC Bitesize is a quick way to audit it. Work through the key stage above the one you'll be teaching, and be honest with yourself about the gaps. Everyone has them. Finding them now is far easier than finding them in front of a class.
Join your subject association
Every subject has one, and student membership is usually cheap or free. You get journals, teaching resources, conferences and a network of people who teach what you teach.
For PE it's afPE, the Association for Physical Education. For science it's the ASE. There's the Mathematical Association, the Historical Association, the Geographical Association, the National Association for the Teaching of English, and so on. Find yours and join before you start. It's the single most useful thing on this page for secondary trainees.
Wider sector knowledge
Two organisations worth knowing before you arrive:
- Ofsted for inspection reports and subject reviews. Read the most recent review for your subject.
- Department for Education for policy, guidance and statistics
Safeguarding
Keeping Children Safe in Education is statutory guidance, and Part 1 is written specifically for people working directly with children. You have to read it before you set foot in a school, and you will be asked to confirm that you have. Read it over the summer rather than in a rush during induction week. It's reissued every September, so make sure you're reading the version that applies to the year you're starting. Part 1 covers what to do if you have a concern about a child, what to do if you have a concern about a colleague, and the categories of abuse you need to be able to recognise. It's the most important thing on this list.
Other legislation
It's also worth having an awareness of the legislation that shapes school life, starting with the Equality Act 2010 and what it means for how you plan and adapt your teaching.
Time in school
If you can arrange any time in a school before you start, do. Even a few days observing gives you something concrete to hang the theory on when your course begins.
Watch
Our YouTube channel has videos on university life, our teaching facilities and what training with us involves. Keep an eye on BBC family and education too. Education policy moves quickly, and knowing what's being argued about will help you in seminars and in interviews.
Listen
A few podcasts to try:
- The Creative Educator for classroom practice and creative approaches to teaching
- The TED Talks Education Podcast for wider thinking about learning
- The Early Years Edit if you're heading into primary and want a stronger grounding in early development
Social media and who to follow
A professional LinkedIn account is worth setting up now. Teaching has an active online community, and you'll find subject associations, researchers and teachers sharing resources and ideas you can use on placement. Keep your professional identity in mind from day one. As a trainee teacher you're entering a profession with clear expectations about conduct, online as well as off.
Start by following us on Facebook and Instagram for news and events across the University.
