St Bede's Placement - Oct till Dec
I thought it would be good to reflect on the placement as it had its positives and negatives. We'll start with the positives... As a School they offer a wide range of courses within DT (design technology), BTEC engineering / BTEC construction / Resistant Materials and Product design. All these subjects i have experienced which has not only been useful but an eye opener. As my subject knowledge lies within Graphic Design it's become apparent that as it stands i am not equipped to teach DT on the whole. Thankfully to the structure of the third year I'm able to have research driven briefs into the subjects i'm not fully aware of, these will directly connect with my placements which can only help one another.
The negatives of St.Bedes which may be a little harsh when i aren't a trained teacher so maybe i shouldn't be critical but i wasn't overly impressed by the teaching. Certain teachers would simply tell students to get on with what they were last doing in their previous lesson. Giving the lesson no structure at all and leaving the majority of the class confused. The School on the whole is lacking a disciplinary structure, i felt pupils were getting away with too much, foul language and disrespect being most common. This failure seemed to be because some teachers would spend their whole lesson disciplining students whilst some teachers would completely ignore it, therefore not enforcing what the previous teacher had attempted to do.
Overall the placement was definitely worth while. I have learnt plenty, both positive and negative and it is all giving me ideas for when i become a teacher.
Just had the interview and it seemed to go well, all the things i revised fitted right into the interview. The group interview had those applying for DT, Music and ICT, so there were a mixture of views. As far as i could see there were only 2 others applying for DT, both of which were a whole lot older then me which is quite daunting. The above images show a selection of the information given to me on the day.
This is a selection of websites and subjects i've been revising for my interview. A key aspect which will be effecting DT in schools is the English Baccalaureate, which is a certificate for students that gain a - c in 5 academic subjects, pushing students to essentially not take DT.
Within the PGCE year all students must meet 33 teaching standards as shown above and below.
At my current placement, Prince Henry's Grammar School, i've met three current PGCE students, two of which are on the Leeds Trinity course I'm wanting to get on. All 3 of them have been extremely nice and helpful, they've even given me lesson plans of their own and shown me the criteria of the PGCE year, all of which helps prepare me for what to come.
