Structure and Co-ordinate Learning

Just like the schools we work in, teacher training providers have their own curriculum. This will be tightly linked to the ITTECF, as well as the needs of the trainees within their context. An extensive planning process will have taken place in order to ensure that pedagogical and subject content are taught in an effective sequence. Successful Teacher Educators, whether they are working with a teacher training provider or their own school with an employee, familiarise themselves with the trainee curriculum and try to ensure that there is a link between what is being covered during training sessions and the discussions that are held during the week in a classroom setting. It is now a DfE requirement for the mentor and trainee curriculum to integrate. This includes the Intensive Training and Practice elements of the curriculum. Therefore your teacher training provider should provide you with accessible pedagogical content, either through regular or communication and /or  training. 

A trainee in September will have a very different set of needs and targets in comparison to a trainee in July or a teacher a few years into their career , who is leading a subject or school improvement priority. Ensuring that you are engaging in quality dialogue about the right things at the right time can ‘lift the fog’ for a mentee. Most trainees will be focussing on strands of the provider curriculum which focus on behaviours and relationships with pupils (ITTECF Standards 1 and 7)  during the early stages of their training. It may well be the first time they have been in a room with 30 pupils, let alone being in charge of them. Discussing the importance of Assessment for Learning (AfL) and the impact that metacognition can have on children’s learning during the first week of teaching is probably not going to meet the needs of your trainee. It is important for other colleagues working with your mentee to recognise the sequence of learning also. 

In the same vein, subject study, as part of the ITT curriculum should build on knowledge, skills and understanding over time.  Providers will be focussing on conceptual subject knowledge, before interleaving disciplinary knowledge and skills. 

Vital elements of effective teaching though they are, these conversations can wait for a later date. If you are supporting a colleague who is perhaps further on in their career, these conversations might be more appropriate. This is why structuring the learning for your mentee, no matter what stage of their career they are at, is so vital. For trainees, look at the training sessions that are being held. These sessions, including Intensive Training and Practice,  will have been placed strategically at this point of the year and so this will most likely be a good time to focus on them within the classroom. Try to focus dialogue around centre-based training and the areas you are covering in the classroom. The opportunity for a trainee to contextualise what they are reading or learning about in training can be very powerful and can often be the ‘penny dropping’ moment.