Entering the world of teaching can be a demanding and stressful experience. The life of an NQT (newly qualified teacher) can simply revolve around school and not much else. Your induction year is incredibly important in ensuring that you become the confident and effective teacher that you know you can be, so be prepared to be put in some hard graft and to open several bottles of wine/beer in the process! If you want to get some tips for surviving the all important NQT year, read on and hopefully the tips I share with you will be useful in your own classroom and beyond.
Before I begin, you will find that many experienced teachers love to retell their experiences of being an NQT; mostly that they never had NQT time (or PPA time for that matter) and there were no such things as "mentors." They were thrown in at the deep end and tried to stay afloat as best they could.
Some advice here: smile and nod encouragingly, say things like, "wow that must have been difficult" and "you must have worked really hard." Not only will it stop you from punching them on the nose, it will also get them off your back and leave you to carry on doing the thing you are meant to be doing; teaching! In all seriousness, these teachers have the best intentions and they will prove very useful to you throughout your induction year as they will have all manner of ideas from their years of teaching. Now to move on to the important bits...
Work/Life balance
This is extremely important and the hardest to accomplish most of the time. Your induction year will be filled with many "to do" lists and deadlines that you will need to meet. The trick here is to prioritise what is really important on your list of things to do and decide whether they even need to be on your list at all.
It is tempting to stay late every day and as an NQT, it can be suggested that is part of the job; it isn’t! The best way forward is to select three nights of the week where you stay late and complete marking, assessment, planning etc. Ensure that you go home by 4.30 pm the other two nights – earlier if you can.
Don’t take anything home either – these two nights are for you to put your feet up and relax, see friends, go to the gym or whatever floats your boat, really! There will be times of the year – particularly near reports time/parents evenings, where this system may not work, but do make sure that you try to get some ‘me time’ in as many weeks as you can.
Classroom Environment
Children learn best in a positive classroom environment and it is such an important part of your job to provide one. It needs to be an atmosphere where mistakes are allowed to be made, where everyone’s ideas are valued and respected and the teacher is at the forefront of these ideals. Taking risks is something that we, as teachers, should be encouraging children to do every day in any lesson.
As an NQT, it can be daunting to invite children to give an answer/idea that may be way off the mark or, in the case of older children, lead your discussion down a different path altogether! However, the sooner you become confident in encouraging this environment, the more confident all children will become in sharing their answers. Don’t try to cover up mistakes that you make yourself-we are after all, human!
Behaviour Management
This one is a big one to take on board and it will certainly be something that your NQT mentor will be looking out for during induction year and beyond. It is crucial to get this right from the very first day. There are many strategies that you will have seen throughout your placements as a student and some will have worked very well.
The key thing that you need to remember is positive praise works best – even when you feel like banging your head against a wall, find the positive and cling to it like a climber clings to the edge of a cliff! Younger children give the best responses to positive praise as they will do anything to please but don’t rule out the effect it can have on KS2 children. A reward system of some means – house points or table points – can be very effective with all ages.
The key to these systems is consistency – children like boundaries and rules, particularly those who find behaving more challenging than others. Keep your rules fair and simple – having the children devise them is a good way of ensuring that everyone understands what they are and the importance of keeping them.
There do need to be sanctions of some description for people who break the rules and again, these can be thought of by the class during the rule making process. Stick to these rules as once the "honeymoon" period is over with your class, the rules will ensure consistently good behaviour throughout the year.
Your NQT Mentor
Your mentor is there to guide, assist and encourage you throughout your NQT year. Mentors will use their own experiences and expertise to ensure that your induction year runs as smoothly as possible, so you must develop a good relationship with them. They should be your first port of call when you have any problems, questions or advice (particularly if you are in a one form entry school) and you need to make the relationship work well for you.
If it isn’t, then you must say so – your NQT year is so important in ensuring that you embark on a successful teaching career. Start collecting evidence to support your termly reviews as soon as possible so that you don’t leave it all to the last minute and ask to observe other teachers – even your mentor if he or she has a particular strength. The important thing to remember here is if you are struggling in any aspect of teaching, say something to your mentor. Don’t suffer on in silence – people are around to help you and assist you.
Your NQT year should be an enjoyable experience which you will reflect on throughout your teaching career. It may be that you look back on your first class as one of your favourites. Your induction year will challenge you yet give you such a sense of achievement at the same time. All teachers have bad days/weeks and sometimes the simplest answer is to pick your coat up, go home and relax – a stiff drink can work a treat if you are so inclined.
If you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed by pressures at work, say something and accept help. Hopefully however, your NQT year will be everything you want it to be; teaching is a rewarding career – if anything, you can rest assured that no day is the same!
Steph Caswell - Hello my name is Steph Caswell and I live in Surrey, in the United Kingdom. I am 29 years old and I am a full time primary school teacher ...
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