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Your placement

placement

The road ahead may appear a little daunting right now but don't worry.

By the time you finish your course you'll have all the skills, knowledge and confidence you need for that first step into the classroom.

To help you get there, these pages feature lots of advice and information to help you through your placement. You'll find everything here, from advice on behaviour management to suggestions about how to build up a good working relationship with your mentor.

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School placements are a vital part of your course
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School placements are a vital part of your course, bringing together knowledge of children and their learning, of schools and different educational settings as they are currently organised, and the knowledge gained during the taught course.

While on placements, the expectation is that you will show yourself to be as hard-working and committed to teaching and children’s learning as the practitioners you work alongside.

Support from your university while on placement

Each university will have established strong contacts with many schools and nurseries/early years’ centres. They are very dependent on the ability of the schools and nurseries to take students at the stipulated times; there are many reasons why accepting students may not be convenient; something to bear in mind when allocations to placements are made. Some universities may have a strong emphasis on preparing students for each particular type of setting, e.g. multicultural, urban schools, and will therefore try and ensure a placement in each setting.

Whilst this may vary from university to university, the following are some of the topics likely to be included:

  • an outline of roles and responsibilities of the student, class teacher, mentor/tutor
  • procedures for problems/difficulties – who to contact, necessary paperwork, etc
  • attendance procedures
  • guidance notes and/or checklist for your files
  • examples of planning formats
  • assessment procedures
  • examples of observation forms
  • information on university resources specifically for placement, e.g. the ‘Teaching Practice’ section of the university's library.        

Whatever setting you are in, you will have a university tutor to support and advise you. This may be an internal tutor or an experienced external, part-time tutor. Increasingly schools will have a mentor; an experienced teacher who will have undergone training from the university, and who will play a significant role in supporting and guiding you throughout your placement.

Distance travelled

There will usually be a form to complete prior to placement giving details of your term-time address, nearest public transport and any personal circumstances that affect your ability to travel.

However, you should understand that you might have to travel to your placement and you should expect a journey time at least equal to the time it takes you to travel to university. You should make the journey first to ascertain how long it will take before voicing any concerns. If you feel the journey is unreasonable, this should be stated in writing to the person responsible for placements.

Attendance on placements

The expectation is that there is 100% attendance for all school experience placements across the year. If you are ill or unable to attend nursery/school at any time you must:

  • contact the nursery/school as early in the day as possible indicating how long you think you will be away
  • inform your university/supervising tutor of your absence
  • inform your university/supervising tutor when you return.        

Please note that there is a requirement that PGCE students have a minimum of 90 days in school across the year and you may have to make up extra time in school if you are absent for more than three days.

Observations 

Observation and assessment of students in nursery/school is a vital part of the whole course, indicating that you are on the way towards meeting the Standards required for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Much of this is carried out informally on a daily basis. However, there are, of course, formal observation visits, made by the supervising tutor, mentor or class teacher, which are recorded on the appropriate forms, with written recommendations and advice for you to follow.

The number of observations may vary according to the course and to the placement.  It is important that formal observations take place at an agreed time between the student and the observer including time for prompt feedback afterwards.

Observations will be based on meeting the Professional Standards appropriate for the placement with a particular emphasis on the following:

  • appropriate relationships formed with children, all staff, parents and carers
  • demonstration of progression from teaching small groups to large groups/whole class with employment of successful management strategies
  • growing insight into and understanding of the ways in which children learn and of the role their languages play in this
  • progression in monitoring and assessing children's progress, both intellectual and social
  • understanding of the importance of reflecting on and implementing equal access to the curriculum, taking into account the issues that may adversely affect learning and progress
  • completion of all tasks required by the taught courses
  • a final reflective review, which addresses your own professional development, shows your growing confidence in planning, teaching and assessing and which draws on relevant learning and curriculum theory.        

Feedback

Feedback should take place as soon as possible after the observation and offer:

  • a two-way process where you reflect on the lessons together
  • a copy of the actual observation - notes and a short overview of the lesson’s content, resources and successes
  • non-judgemental statements
  • constructive feedback
  • advice - offered and received sensitively and professionally
  • alternatives and solutions to emerging problems
  • a clear indication of strengths, setting clear targets for development.        

Importance of your file

You will be required to keep a file/s throughout the course, in which to record your teaching experiences and your professional progress. These documents are a significant source of evidence for monitoring your school-based progress and the ways in which you link the taught courses to your own teaching. They therefore need to be clearly organised, professionally written and maintained.

Writing and maintaining your file can seem a very onerous task. Writing and evaluating session plans, reflecting on your own teaching and curriculum provision, recording and analysing observations and evidence of learning, developing children’s profiles, incorporating relevant theory are all part of the file and are all time-consuming. But the aim is that by the end of the course you will have internalised many of these processes by constantly refining your thinking and writing.

Maintaining your file will support your progress as a reflective practitioner as you develop:

  • critical insight into educational settings and of being a learner in such settings
  • professional skills in planning suitably exciting and investigative activities which build on and extend present knowledge
  • the ability to evaluate what children have learned and what you need to do next to enhance their learning
  • self-analysis, identifying and confidently building on your successes and identifying and remedying 'failures'
  • the links between theory and practice which lead to your becoming an intellectually informed teacher
  • your understanding of what constitutes an appropriate curriculum for children and to match tasks to children
  • detailed records of required tasks (from the taught courses) carried out in nursery/school.        

Suggested further reading

  • Devereux, J and Miller, L. (2003) Working with Children in the Early Years ‘Working in teams in the Early Years setting’, ch 3 and ‘Observing Children’, ch 17
  • Pollard, A (2000) Reflective Teaching, ‘The teacher and others in the classroom’, ch 7 and ‘How are we developing our strategies?’ ch 14
  • Jacques, K. & Hyland, R. (2003 2nd ed.) Professional Studies: Primary Phase, ch 4      

 Download ATL's free publication for students, Into the classroom, for further advice on how to get the most out of your studies.  

Help and support 
For further advice on this issue, ATL members can speak to their school rep, their branch secretary or their regional official. They can also call the London (020 7930 6441), Cardiff (029 2046 5000) or Belfast office (02890 327 990) or email info@atl.org.uk.

For out of hours enquiries, call the out of office hours helpline on 020 7782 1612 (Monday-Friday, 5-8pm during term time).

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