THE CASS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNITIES PROFESSIONAL GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION POST COMPULSORY EDUCATION & TRAINING PGCE (PCET) PLACEMENT HANDBOOK 2011 1
UEL THE CASS SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNITIES PLACEMENT HANDBOOK PGCE IN POST COMPULSORY EDUCATION & TRAINING (PCET) CONTENTS SECTION TOPIC PAGE 1 Introduction 3 2 College based teaching practice 4 3 Who s who 5 4 Teaching practice as an integral part of the programme 8 5 Your first few weeks on placement 8 6 Starting teaching 10 7 Logging your hours 11 8 Wider professional development 11 9 Staff development opportunities 12 10 Handling problems 12 11 Observations of teaching 13 12 The end of your placement 16 2
1 INTRODUCTION A very important part of your training year is your placement in a post-16 educational setting. This may be a sixth form college, FE college or other centre of adult training or learning. In this handbook we have used the term college to stand for any type of placement you may be in, but recognise that placements can be varied and that occasionally some trainees may spend time in more than one placement. We have designed the PGCE programme so that your placement and your day(s) at UEL run concurrently because we want you to have the opportunity, throughout the year, to relate theory to practice and vice versa. It also means that tutorial advice and support is always close at hand and you are able to regularly meet with your peers to discuss issues, strategies and discoveries you have come across in your teaching. Although going into your teaching placement can be daunting at first, you will soon find that you pick up the jargon and begin to get a feel for how your institution is organised. To ease you into the experience, your first weeks on placement will be used for observation and reflection. It is unlikely that you will begin teaching until after the autumn half term (end of October / beginning of November) and you will build up your teaching hours gradually. Because each institution is unique and trainees are all different, we do not stipulate rigid dates for beginning and ending your teaching hours, but guidelines on the number of hours you should expect to teach each term are below. To get a full picture of your teaching placement experience you should read this handbook in conjunction with the Programme Handbook and the Module Handbook. We hope that you enjoy your time in your placement. This is an opportunity to find your feet in the world of FE and to build up your confidence and expertise before embarking on your career in teaching. Make the most of the experience! Warren Kidd Programme Leader, PCET 3
2 COLLEGE BASED TEACHING PRACTICE Aims 1. To provide an opportunity for teaching experience in a college. 2. To enable trainees to meet the student contact requirements of 100 hours. 3. To enable trainees to teach their subject or vocational specialism to a range of learners and at a variety of levels. 4. To enable trainees to experience the wider professional role of a teacher in PCET. Learning Outcomes Trainees will be able to: 1. teach effectively on a range of programmes in the college 2. demonstrate their progress towards meeting the training standards for initial teacher training, and the programme objectives as a whole 3. work effectively with college lecturers and other staff 4. demonstrate a professional approach to all aspects of their work in the college, adapting their teaching as appropriate to meet the particular needs of learners and of the institution as a whole. Requirements of teaching practice In Term One you will attend your placement college for two days each week. This will be two days out of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday depending upon the needs of the college. In Term Two you will attend for three days each week, and in Term Three for 2/3 days each week. This will be two or three days out of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. You cannot arrange teaching on UEL teaching days (Term 1 Thursday and Friday, Terms 2 and 3 Thursday). Before you start teaching you will observe several experienced teachers in your subject area and more widely. We require you to do 30 hours of observation. Some of these hours are needed (along with the evidence and reflective work) for submission in Module 1, in December. You will be encouraged to focus not only on the observation of teaching but on the evidence of student learning. You may shadow a group of students for a day, 4
and will also be expected to shadow a member of staff (probably your mentor.) Depending upon your subject area you may start team teaching or teaching a small group very early in the term, and all trainees are expected to be teaching some classes, under supervision by Week 10 or 11. SVUK requires 100 hours of teaching to be completed by the end of the programme. (We also require an addition 30 hours of observation of experienced colleagues). While this is very approximate and largely depends upon the individual and the placement, we recommend that this is spread as follows: Term 1: Term 2: Term 3 15-20 hours 60-80 hours the majority of the hours 15-20 hours Patterns of practical teaching practice may vary considerably depending upon your needs and the particular requirements in subject/vocational areas at different times of the academic year. Irrespective of the pattern of hours you undertake and some individuals start to teach earlier than others the minimum requirement is 100 hours. However, as this professional programme is about learning, and opportunities for learning, most trainees complete much more. When you are teaching you will be expected to maintain all required student documentation, for example: student records, attendance registers, student profiles, progress details and assessment outcomes. You must respect issues of confidentiality at all times. Professional behaviour is expected at all times and UEL has a procedure to deal with breaches of professional practice see Section 8 of the Programme Handbook. Teaching placements are allocated on the basis of location of institution offering the placement and availability of an appropriate curriculum in the subject area offered by the trainee. Placements will normally be provided by known Partner Colleges, with the proviso that where a teacher cannot be allocated a suitable placement, another college may be approached to participate as a Partner College. The participation of any Partner College is specified in a Partnership Agreement. 3 WHO S WHO Professional Tutor (UEL staff) You will be assigned a UEL Professional Tutor who is responsible for monitoring your teaching practice and visiting you in your placement college. 5
S/he will observe and assess you teaching, give you oral and written feedback on your teaching using Form F1 (see F Pack ), and discuss your progress with your mentor and the College Partnership Tutor. S/he will liaise closely with the Programme Leader who has overall responsibility for the quality of your teaching practice experience. The role of the Professional Tutor includes: assistance in identifying strengths and weaknesses the drawing up and recording of an individual development plan (IDP) with targets for improvement and development and enabling trainees to maintain and update their IDP. discussion of academic and professional progress advising on appropriate referral points at UEL liaising, as appropriate, with other teaching staff managing any problems and referring where appropriate to the Programme Leader assessing allocated student teaching practice sessions (ATPS) appropriate liaison with mentors attending Assessment Boards and Pre-Board meetings. maintaining accurate student records and assessment documentation. Subject Mentor (placement college staff) Whilst based in your placement college, you will be allocated an academic member of the college staff who will act as your mentor and who will be your point of contact in the college. You will be required to draw up a Learning Agreement with your mentor (See Form F11 in your F Pack ). The mentor s responsibilities include: providing an induction and introduction to the work of their subject or vocational area arranging for the trainee teacher to observe a variety of classes prior to beginning independent teaching helping the trainee to draw up a subject audit appropriate to syllabi taught on placement arranging an appropriate programme of teaching providing regular guidance, advice and support to the trainee teacher including formative feedback on teaching and progress reviews supporting the trainee in formulating a self-assessment of his/her teaching experience in the context of the organisation in which the teaching/training takes place 6
providing support and advice about curriculum, syllabi, schemes of work, specialist resources, teaching and assessment methods appropriate in the specialist subject/vocational area. providing opportunities for trainee teachers to become involved in the wider life of the college carrying out and recording formative assessments of practical teaching (after having received appropriate training) providing progress reports on the trainee teacher liaising regularly with the Partnership Tutor and Professional Tutor For further information, see form F11 (Learning Agreement) in the F Pack. Partnership Tutor (College staff) In each College used for PGCE (PCET) placements a designated member of staff, usually a middle manager with experience of teacher training and professional development, is the primary link between the UEL programme team members and the college mentors. Although you may not meet them on a daily basis, you should get to know the Partnership Tutor who can act as a helpful, in situ, source of advice and support. His/her responsibilities include: co-ordinating the work of mentors throughout the year acting as the first point of contact with UEL tutors and administrative staff. ensuring that UEL tutors are kept informed about the progress of trainee teachers placed at the college. monitoring the work of mentors in the college and to act as a source of advice, support and information to them. ensuring that trainee teachers have a thorough induction to the college as a whole and to relevant specialist areas. ensuring that trainee teachers are provided with opportunities for teaching and other related activities ensuring that each trainee teacher receives regular formative feedback about their teaching and other professional activities from their mentor and other teachers. carrying out and recording formal assessments of trainees teaching as agreed (after having received appropriate training) ensuring that trainee teachers are assessed on their practical teaching up to four times during the programme of the year (as agreed with the Programme Leader). alerting UEL tutors about emerging causes for concern in cases of trainee under performance or unsatisfactory behaviour. attending Assessment Boards as agreed. 7
Whilst on college placement it is important to remember that you are representing UEL and the Cass School of Education. Designated members of college staff will, on occasion, supervise and observe your teaching and will offer advice and assistance where appropriate. However, it is important to note that college staff will not carry out tasks for you and you should not ask them to. Staff in colleges are extremely busy and although they will, if they have time, usually be more than happy to assist you, this may not always be possible. 4 TEACHING PRACTICE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE PROGRAMME Your teaching practice is an integral element of the programme. The teaching practice underpins the programme by: - providing opportunities for the achievement of Learning Outcomes - providing opportunities for the assessment of Modules 3 and 6 (Reflective Professional Practice A & B) - providing opportunities for reflection in written assignments and in the Professional Development Portfolio and Reflective Journal - providing opportunities to contextualise learning gained in other parts of the programme - deepening and extending professional understanding - providing opportunities for the practice and extension of skills in a nonsimulated workplace setting 5 YOUR FIRST FEW WEEKS ON PLACEMENT When you begin your placement, you will be observing, visiting and reading rather than teaching. Please organise a programme of observation and visits with your mentor as soon as possible and remind him/her that as well as observing your own subject specialism, they should arrange for you to see as many different subject areas (and levels) and as much of college life as possible. Do remember that you are a guest in other people s classrooms and that staff may be giving up time at a very busy time of year to talk to you. Courtesy, confidentiality, diplomacy and discretion are very important professional qualities at this point! During the first few weeks you should aim to do the following: Observing, investigating and discussing: 8
Observe teaching in your own (and other) subject area(s) Discuss, with department staff, teaching and learning strategies used within your own subject Become familiar with methods of initial (diagnostic), formative and summative assessment Observe the provision of learner support and guidance Update understanding of current professional issues within your subject area Update understanding of current professional issues within a wider institutional context Investigate teaching and learning resources available in your subject area, including ICT Discuss institutional policies and practice with relevant colleagues Find out about cohort characteristics of actual or potential students of your subject Examine the institutional context in respect of funding regimes, inspection and quality assurance Discuss the collection and use made of student evaluation data Find out about the roles of external examiners, verifiers and awarding bodies Identify collaborative partners in your subject e.g. employers, schools, further and higher education, professional organisations Explore health and safety considerations in your subject area Explore equal opportunities implications in your subject area Find out about student records and protocols regarding confidentiality of student information Look at disability support services in own subject Find out about institutional disability support services Reading and preparing: Read syllabi and schemes of work for courses you are likely to teach Audit and update subject knowledge necessary for learning and teaching Plan for teaching in your own subject area Undertake any other activities requested by your Subject Mentor or College Partnership Tutor consonant with the achievement of programme objectives 9
Writing: Make notes to record your observations of colleagues teaching Maintain your Professional Development Portfolio particularly the Critical Incidents Log Using the Reflective Journal Trainees are required to keep a Reflective Journal which, along with the PDP, is handed in at the very end of the course. These are both completion requirements. Specific sections of the Reflective Journal will also be assessed throughout the course as part of various assignments. You are strongly recommended to start your entries in the Journal as early as possible those first thoughts and feelings about teaching and those initial observations will be lost if you do not. You will be surprised how much your professional identity will have changed as you look back over the Journal at the end of the course. We believe that it is essential that you become reflective practitioners professionals who are constantly engaged with a dialogue (with themselves and others) over their practice, experiences and performance. Hours It is anticipated that you will need to allocate a minimum of six hours per day to observing, discussing and reflecting in order to fully acquaint yourself with the nature of the host institution and the place of your subject within the curriculum experience of students and teachers. It is further anticipated that you supplement your learning through follow-up reading, and you are advised to think about how your placement may support your assignment work. 6 STARTING TEACHING You may begin teaching by working with small groups in your mentor s classes, taking a small part of the lesson and/or team teaching. As your confidence grows you will move on to taking whole classes by yourself. Remember, you should aim to complete 15-20 hours of one to one, group and whole class teaching by the end of December. You should agree a teaching timetable with your mentor and give a copy of this to your UEL Professional Tutor. This timetable should, where possible, include a variety of groups at a variety of levels. It is very important that you have as broad an experience as possible over the year, firstly to aid your development as a teacher and secondly to put you in a stronger position when applying for jobs. 10
Once your timetable is agreed, your mentor should provide you with access to the syllabus, scheme of work and group profile for the groups you are teaching. Read these carefully in order to plan. Bear in mind that most full time learners have a group tutorial session each week, with a planned schedule of topics such as progression, study skills, current affairs, health issues etc. It is very good experience to teach groups for these sessions and they can build towards your 100 hours of teaching/student contact. Plan your lessons in good time so that you can show your plan to your mentor well in advance of your lesson. Then should you need to make any adjustments, you can do so without too much stress. Similarly, this gives you the opportunity to make, organise or book any resources you may need. If you are ill or unable to attend the college, you must alert your Subject Mentor as soon as possible. Do this through email and/or via the college s phone system. It is good practice to leave an outline of intended work or exercise(s) for your students, so that meaningful cover can be set, although it is understood that this is not always possible. Remember that even though you have started teaching, you should still take the opportunity to visit other classes and talk to teachers and managers. There is a lot to learn in 36 weeks and you may need to be proactive in organising this for yourself once you have settled in to your institution. Lastly, you should be aware that in many colleges teaching has ended by the half term of the summer term in time for external exams. You must consider this when planning your teaching timetable and ensuring that you have completed the requisite number of hours before your learners go on study leave. Your Professional Tutor will remind you about this. 7 LOGGING YOUR HOURS You must keep a record of the hours you have observed and taught. This should be done using the proformas provided see Forms F10a and b in your F Pack. This form must be signed fortnightly by your mentor or Partnership Tutor and filed in your PDP. 8 WIDER PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT As well as teaching you will also be expected to become fully professionally involved in the wider life of the College. Make a record of anything you do and gather evidence (e.g. emails, letters, posters etc) for your PDP and Reflective Journal. Activities will include some of the following, and more! Attending staff and programme team meetings. 11
Invigilating examinations. Accompanying students on trips and visits outside college. Visiting students on work experience placements. Attending college Open Days and Parents Evenings Administering diagnostic tests. Conducting 1-1 tutorials and support sessions. Attending staff development, briefing and training sessions at the college. Taking part in enrichment activities e.g. sport, drama, visiting speakers 9 STAFF DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES Within most host institutions there is an on-going programme of staff development activities to which you will be welcomed, subject to availability of places and appropriateness of topic/theme. Please see your Subject Mentor for details of events in your college/department/institution. 10 HANDLING PROBLEMS We aim to ensure that your teaching placement enhances your professional development and contributes positively to your assessment tasks. Whilst on placement you will have a great deal of information to absorb and you will need to establish effective working relationships with a wide variety of staff and students. You are advised to: - plan your time carefully and be punctual - communicate your plans to your Subject Mentor each week - be clear about whom/what you require access to - thank colleagues for their help. If you do find that your experiences on placement are not enabling you to progress towards the learning outcomes of the programme, then do seek help promptly from: - College Subject Mentor - College Partnership Tutor - UEL Professional Tutor - UEL Programme Leader. The person to whom you turn for help will be determined by the problem. For example, you may wish to speak with your Subject Mentor if you feel that you need advice on your subject teaching or to a Partnership Tutor if you want help in locating staff such as the College Quality Manager. Your Professional 12
Tutor will visit you at least four times during the year and s/he or another member of the UEL team is available to you by appointment at any reasonable time. The sooner you alert your Professional Tutor to any problems you cannot resolve, the easier it is to deal with the difficulty. If you have serious concerns which are not being addressed by your college, you should fill out the Placement Problem Alert form (F9 in your F Pack ). The Programme Leader has overall responsibility for the programme and should be advised of any difficulties as soon as possible. The programme is a full time one and as such you are expected to be able to account for your time between 9 am 4 pm Monday to Friday each week. As it is an established practice in FE colleges to work outside of those hours, should you be asked to undertake any evening teaching or attend activities at other times than those above, then you are permitted to do so and advised that you should seek time off in lieu. Whilst on the programme you are a student of the university and not an employee of the host institution. Your programme is designed to prepare you for eventual employment and it is reasonable therefore that you participate in the full range of employmentrelated activities and maximise your opportunities for learning. If you have any questions about the reasonableness of what you are asked to do or attend, please contact your Professional Tutor or the Programme Leader directly. Any periods of absence during your placement should be promptly reported in the first instance to the Subject Mentor. Periods of absence through sickness in excess of five working days must be covered by medical certification shown to the Subject Mentor and forwarded to the Programme Leader. Unauthorised periods of absence will be treated as cause for concern and follow-up action will be taken by the Professional Tutor or Programme Leader as appropriate. Whilst on placement, trainees are entitled to the protection under relevant legislation currently in force. Any transgression of legal entitlement should be reported to the Programme Leader without delay. Whilst on placement trainees are required to comply with any relevant legislation currently in force, and colleagues in the host institution are required to notify the Programme Leader of any infringement without delay. 11 OBSERVATIONS OF TEACHING During your PGCE year your teaching will be observed a number of times and feedback will be given in order to help you reflect on your practice and plan to build on strengths and work on improvements. All the paperwork for assessment of teaching can be found in your F Pack. Below is some information about teaching observations. 13
Microteaching There will be at least two opportunities to do a 20 minute microteaching session in front of a group of trainees at UEL. The first will be during your Induction weeks and the second will be at the beginning of the autumn term. You will receive feedback on both occasions from a UEL Tutor and from your peers. Informal Formative Observations Your subject mentor or any other appropriate member of staff at your college should observe you formatively on a frequent basis and you should aim for a formative observation at least fortnightly. This is an opportunity to focus on aspects of your teaching on which you want guidance, and you may wish to suggest that your mentor observes you for an identified section of your lesson or to focus on a specific skill e.g. use of question and answer or exposition skills. Short, focused formative observations may well be more manageable and useful than longer ones, although you may want a mixture. our observer Where possible your observer should give you written feedback or you might want to take notes during informal discussions after observations. These informal formative observations are not graded and do not count towards the eight assessments you must undertake (4 formal formative and 4 summative). This takes the pressure off and they can be excellent learning opportunities, so make the most of them! Formal Formative and Summative Observations Assessed Teaching Practice Sessions (ATPS) On eight occasions during the year your teaching will be formally assessed by prior arrangement. The four formative assessments will be carried out by your Mentor and you will be told if they are satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The four summative assessments will undertaken by a UEL tutor and graded as pass or fail. You need to pass 4 summative ATPSs in order to pass the programme and there will be opportunities to have 6 summative ATPSs if necessary. For more information on this, see the Programme and Module Handbooks and the diagram below. In order to ensure standardisation of observations and also in order to train new observers, there may, on occasion, be two people observing you. UEL has a protocol for dual observations and this will be explained to you in the event of two people observing your teaching. 14
You can expect to be observed on 4 occasions by your UEL Professional Tutor and on 4 occasions by your mentor, College Partnership Tutor or other trained and appropriate member of college staff. Assessment of Practical Teaching Sessions (ATPS) Assessment of Practical Teaching Sessions (ATPS) There will be several opportunities to assess trainees practical teaching skills: Microteaching: this will take place at UEL and will be assessed formatively with feedback given to trainee and problems/concerns noted in their tutorial records ATPS: 4 Formative These will be assessed according to our grading criteria and descriptors but the grade will only be advisory. Trainees who are graded as unsatisfactory may trigger a cause for concern review. These will be assessed by the mentor. ATPS: 4 Summative These will be assessed according to our grading criteria and descriptors (see Appendix in the ModuleHandbook). These will be assessed by the UEL Assessor. Microteaching (at UEL) Microteach 1 Advisory Microteach 2 Pass/Fail (Formative) Possible Microteach 3 Pass/Fail (Formative) ATPSs by Mentor (4) Formative ATPS (December) Formative ATPS (February) Formative ATPS (March) Formative ATPS (May) Please note dates suggestions are for guidance only 15
ATPSs by UEL Assessor (4) Summative ATPS Summative ATPS Summative ATPS Summative ATPS 12 THE END OF YOUR PLACEMENT You should aim to have your final ATPS completed by the start of May at the very latest and remember that many teaching groups finish around this date. The required 100 hours are a minimum number of hours and you may well complete many more teaching hours. Once you have completed your hours you should agree an end date for teaching practice with your mentor. This may well involve staying on to bring your teaching groups to the end of a topic or module, or to finish the task of preparing them for exams. That is the professional approach to take. 16