By Nathalie Gotting
Nathalie Gotting is SCITT Professional Mentor at Stourport SCITT. We asked her about the benefits of school experience for participants and for teacher training providers.
My school has been participating in the School Experience Programme for four years and has hosted many participants considering teaching across all key stages and most subject areas. We are supported by trust primary schools to accommodate primary and early years participants.
From a participant’s point of view the benefits are numerous, but trainees who have come to us via the School Experience Programme route commented these things:
- School experience days help to clarify their decision to teach. Our most successful trainees and indeed teachers have said school experience days made them feel excited and energised about their application. Some people may discover that teaching is not for them, but this is just as important as school experience days confirming the desire to teach.
- It supports their personal statement and application generally. This is particularly true for career changers who might not have recent classroom experience. Having school experience shows commitment and can make an application stand out.
- It allows participants to meet key members of staff. It is essential that potential trainees feel comfortable and nurtured during their training year. Meeting key staff and developing relationships with them helps to build this encouraging environment.
From a training provider’s point of view there are a number of significant benefits of hosting school experience days:
- It is the ideal way to meet and nurture possible trainees. It gives us the chance to observe them in the classroom and to identify those with the potential to succeed. As a training provider we place real emphasis on trainees being at ease around children, so seeing how possible candidates interact with children is invaluable.
- It allows us to support and guide trainees at the very outset of their career — from the first time they tentatively step into a classroom full of year 8 on a wet Wednesday afternoon to, hopefully, their NQT year after having trained with us. The more we get to know our trainees before the course starts, the better-informed decisions we can make about their placements and mentors.
- It broadens our understanding and gives us the opportunity to talk to possible candidates and find out about their needs and concerns.
- It encourages teachers to think more explicitly about their teaching and gives them a chance to reflect on and discuss their career — it has also inspired some to become mentors. Similarly, it can give students a sense of pride in their school.
- The School Experience Programme in my school has become so successful that we now run an experience day each month. The majority of participants come to us from the Get Into Teaching website, although some have approached us independently.
If you are a school and would like to know more about offering school experience opportunities to candidates via our online portal please send us an email…
