At a recent conference, a seasoned RE teacher expressed to me the conflicting feelings that the arrival of an RE NQT often brought. First, feelings of celebration, that reinforcements have finally arrived, enthusiastic new blood has entered teaching, an injection of new ideas into perhaps tired schemes of work, someone to share the load... Then some feelings of frustration that the person does not know more, seems to be not as experienced as one might expect after PGCE / GTP training and seems to need a lot more help than the last one did. And they'll probably get promotion and move on in a few years' time! So how can we get the best out of an NQT in RE?
1. Be reasonable!
There is a big down side to the current requirements that two thirds of PGCE courses should be school based and that in GTP work nearly 100% is school-based as 'apprenticeship'. What both routes lose out on is 'theory'. 'Theory' is an unattractive word to many teachers and trainees, because it has associations of irrelevance, of divorce from practice, of the 'ivory tower'. (We should remember that in the Song of Solomon 7.4 an ivory tower is dead sexy!). Rather than talk about theory I'd prefer to talk about a thorough intellectual foundation for professional practice, one which incorporates work on pedagogy and subject knowledge extension. For some GTP students, this can be nearly non-existent as they may simply parachute into occasional classes in a training centre as their school timetable permits and they seem to be expected to absorb the rest by a sort of classroom osmosis. For a PGCE student in a small training group, the training sessions may be generic rather than RE-specific. Even in a large PGCE cohort, say of 30 RE specialists, the maths can't alter - a maximum of 12 out of the 36 weeks of the course is spent in in-house foundation laying. So the NQT you get is not massively different from the pre-PGCE student in 'theory' - but hopefully light years advanced in terms of their experience and awareness of teaching in general and RE in particular.
2. Playing to strengths
This means that the NQT year should play to strengths. Use the NQT's subject knowledge to develop new ideas / resources / lesson plans. If they have the same subject knowledge strengths as you, because you went for the best candidate rather than one who could fill your department subject gap on Hinduism, plan with them how you're going to develop the department's teaching in two religions, one for each of you, to take you both out of the comfort zone and allow the NQT to share your experiences. Concentrate the NQT's teaching into key areas - if possible give them the first year off from teaching at least one year group, to reduce their lesson preparation time. The cachet of possibly small group numbers in AS/ A2 teaching is offset by high preparation time, so think carefully how much you give to the NQT, if any, in the NQT year. As a department, carry out an audit to see where your 'gaps' are in terms of syllabus in-depth subject knowledge and determine corporately how you're going to fill them. This is not something to off-load onto the NQT except as part of an agreed plan that takes their overall workload into account. At the same time, delegate one thing to the NQT to lighten your load - something that they can carry out with minimal help and thus gain in professional confidence. It may enable them to repeat - in the light of revision - something they did in their training year.
3. Taking time out
You might be able to consider a term out on a Farmington Teacher Fellowship for yourself (see the Farmington Institute website - www.farmington.ac.uk) - with your supply cover and course fee paid - preferably not while your NQT is in their first year. But they aren't yet eligible for this. So what can be done to help them? A simple matter is to approach the timetabler to see whether your NQT can have their non-teaching periods allocated in such a way that they can have one complete half day off, protected for them to be off the premises, time earmarked by agreement for preparation not marking. For the seven years I worked as a comprehensive school deputy head, I went home for lunch on one day of the week. It made such a difference to be off the premises and served as a real oasis. That one hour enriched the week. The NQT needs an oasis without the distraction of the school site or marking in order to consolidate subject knowledge gaps and to try to develop innovative lesson plans. It can happen for no cost apart from the timetabler being willing to raise it on their list of priorities.
4. Observing good practice
In some ways observation is wasted on the beginning PGCE student. The ideal time to observe is when one has learned all the basic skills of teaching, but is then facing the impending isolation of one's own classroom with only one's own evaluations for most of the time. The NQT year should provide an opportunity to visit other RE departments and to observe the best teachers (in any subject) in one's own school. Most NQT supervisors make arrangements for this to happen. What doesn't always follow is how the department picks up what the NQT has 'found' and helps them and the department to learn from the experience.
5. Watch out!
All of us involved in teaching know how demanding it is, not least physically. The NQT year is a very demanding year. We need to keep the proverbial eye on our NQTs. Pride or a fear of referral or failure may mean they don't tell us how pressured they're feeling, or tired, or about their 'dark night of the soul' with 9Z every Friday afternoon, that has their stomach in knots from Thursday midday onwards. We all know that a word of praise goes a long way - even if some senior managers forget that! We must never forget that with our NQTs judicious praise mixed with a sharing of our own disasters may make them feel less pressurised. You might be able to provide helpful pointers with 9Z. Then you can both enjoy the presence of the NQT and their contribution to the department. If they're happy, they'll stay longer and you won't have to repeat the process all over again!
Terence Copley - November 2007
