I spent the last two years completing a full-time degree, working a full-time education job and being a full-time Mum to two under-twos. In lockdowns, with REAL second- and third-year degree examinations. I thought coming into teacher training I had it made, this was going to be an absolute breeze.   I was wrong.    I can’t express the multitude of emotions that are experienced on this course. I can’t express how worthwhile teacher training is, and how amazing the experience is, but reflecting now, I wanted to address those lows, and how best to deal with them effectively and productively.      Reaching the half-way point was a monumental moment in our training. Although we were online and together through Microsoft Teams (if you imagine that in time to Together in Electric Dreams, for those of us who are old enough), I remember the cheers and clapping as we celebrated this step. Outside of this though, I noticed across my fellow trainees a ripple of sadnes...

As a provider of Teacher Training we are of course starkly aware of our responsibility to recruit the next generation of quality teachers.    We see it as a privilege and a joy to work so closely with the people who are going to become our next cohort of experts in the classroom, our future leaders, the personalities who are going to inspire, encourage, reassure and guide a generation of children whose education may look very different to our own.     It's always a pleasure to meet our applicants and they all bring something different to the table. We look forward to our interviews and there is always a sense of anticipation in the office on interview days.    We love seeing how enthusiastic the subject staff are who come to help out – they are often even more excited than we are, knowing that this person might become part of their team for the year (or sometimes even longer!).     It is great to be back to face-to-face interviews for a while. Cov...

Woooaaaaahhhh, we’re halfway there! (in the style of Bon Jovi)   Every so often this year I have found myself looking back on the year, wondering how I managed to get so far through the course and, as we’ve reached the halfway point in the year, I am feeling particularly reflective (what a treat for you all).   With several teachers in my family, I knew that teaching and teacher training in particular would be a full-time job and that it would likely eat into my spare time especially as I worked out the strange details that go into planning and delivering a good lesson to around thirty 11-16 year olds. I felt optimistic: I’ve completed two degrees which I worked alongside to make ends meet so I’ve done the whole balancing academia and job thing; it should have been relatively simple right? Wrong.   Starting out and finding my feet   It turns out that after waiting nine months for teacher training to start and attempting to re-learn everything that goes into GCSE and ...