Thank you Martin Stephens

Martin Stephen

Dr Martin Stephen is the educational director of GEMS UK and was formerly the High Master of St Paul's from 2004 to 2011. He was previously High Master of Manchester Grammar School and headmaster of The Perse School. He has written several academic works and is the author of the Henry Gresham historical crime thriller series.

Reading this blog has literally summed up my thoughts and beliefs on the subject of what makes a good teacher. So much is argued about teachers in school not having QTS, as the man says, it is preferable but I know fully qualified teachers who have no grasp of how to adapt to suit students ever changing needs and those non- QTS, including myself, that show the human side of our responsibility to our students as well as being specialist in our field. More and more my research has shown the emphasis put on qualification without the consideration of, in my view, our responsibility to teach life skills along with academia.  

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/drmartinstephen/100242992/id-rather-an-brilliant-unqualified-teacher-than-a-fully-certified-nonentity-who-teaches-without-passion/

Ok ok, stepping down from my soapbox.   Over and out.......

Artefact Plan

Jane Capers – Module 3

Professional Artefact

A Dance Teachers Survival guide in a QTS world

 

I have decided to base my Artefact on a guide for dance teachers. After reviewing the results of my survey in Module 2 I became aware that although teaching in schools produced positive feedback from the teachers involved, they identified areas that they were not aware of in terms of qualifying to teach in schools. The results ranged from not knowing it was possible to teach in school with their qualification, to having to deal with data and policy, resulting in them not trying to gain employment in schools.

I would like my artefact to inform dance teachers of the routes into QTS, issues they may face, successes and challenges ahead of them using personal reflection, comparisons with policy, planning and benefits of having a specialist qualification.

I am planning to create a booklet style resource, possibly a pocket size guide that will be easy for dance teachers to keep in their possession to refer to when necessary. I hope that this type of artefact will be useful to teachers. I want it to be written in an informal light-hearted way using the correct facts but illustrated to be presented in an attractive booklet.

This topic is close to my heart and one that I have experienced for many years. I believe that this resource will be useful to potential teachers. Had I known what I know now, my experiences would have been ‘easier’ and more enjoyable. I want to produce a resource for impending school teachers, that will help inform them of what could happen next .

The design of the artefact will have subheadings and pictures. This type of resource needs to be easy to read and give as much information about teaching as possible without being too ‘wordy’ or boring.

In summary, ‘it does what it says on the tin’….. Give vital information to help dance teachers in their quest to gain QTS or at least aid in making the decision for the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of those days.............

Today my inquiry came to life....... I questioned for real the differences between freelance and school teaching. Would THAT lesson have been easier if I hadn't had to fulfil curriculum guidelines, objectives, assessment etc. would the expectations have been different and would it have made it easier to engage the boys and enjoy the lesson????? Would I have coped better with the QTS training or was it just one of those days when engaging students was just a challenge. Discussion with my boss helped but no solutions found. Should my planning be different. There is no doubt that I find involving levels in every lesson a challenge and I feel restricted at times to fit everything in. There must be a way................... So I'm gonna put it down to ONE OF THOSE DAYS and move onto tomorrow. 

Artefact.........

So was driving along thinking about my inquiry and playing with ideas for my artefact...... Then Eureka, A dance teachers Survival Guide in a QTS world. Now to research some survival guide ideas...... Some kind of booklet? Giving dance teachers all the info they need to make decisions on their future teaching and considering if school teaching is for them and in what form.......unqualified or QTS..... Any thoughts would be appreciated. :) 

Informal chats

So generally chatting at work (School) with 2 colleagues, firstly an interesting comment about GTP training that has made me reflect on the unique position dance teachers hold. Having compared the teaching standards of QTS and other dance teaching qualifications it struck me that although there are some things that aren't covered in the dance teachers training,what we do have the advantage of is a greater subject knowledge. The general conversation was about the difficulty PE teachers have keeping up to date with all the many sports they teach on a day to day basis. Subjects like swimming and gymnastics which require an up to date knowledge of changes made by their governing bodies. It was at this point my colleague stated that throughout his training he had not been taught how to teach individual sports, his training was predominantly concentrated on teaching skills not subject knowledge. This was learnt by observing others and previous experience.  

DANCE TEACHER TRAINING = subject knowledge + teaching skills + ethical/integrity considerations

GTP = teaching skill + curriculum + ethics/integrity

Interesting ......................

My second conversation was with a newly qualified young PE teacher. We were discussing the final stages of a degree and writing a dissertation. I was telling him about the BAPP degree and my chosen inquiry topic. On the subject of interviewing and giving out questionnaires, we discussed how I have made the decision to create a questionnaire asking teachers about their opinions of unqualified teachers and how I will need to be careful to word my questionnaire without bias. The decision is to prevent the awkwardness my audience may feel in an interview concerning their views of unqualified teachers, knowing that I am one.  He suggested that I may gain a better insight by targeting teachers in local schools rather than my own. Definitely something I am thinking about.  He also mentioned that he only recently discovered that I am actually an unqualified teacher, which he was surprised about. His next comment interested me. He said that he felt that I was more qualified than him because of my experience. An interesting statement and one that I think may have been addressed with the creation of the Assessment only route into QTS.  

I found our conversation really useful, and an indication of what to do next...............

http://news.tes.co.uk/opinion_blog/b/weblog/archive/2013/11/08/290.aspx

Whilst researching I came across this. The QTS debate.

http://news.tes.co.uk/opinion_blog/b/weblog/archive/2013/11/08/290.aspx

module 3 - journey

so I've had a panic, but after a really useful chat with Paula I am on my way. Bit late but I'm getting there.

Lots to do, but my main issue so far has been the planning. Where to start, what to do next.....

my time has been spent researching, having conversations, reflecting, but then what........ knowing where to start and having some form of plan of action has eluded me, resulting in procrastinating.

I have revisited my questions. Hopefully they are now more focused on the outcome and will help me address the question of QTS in schools. I have read lots about how parents, establishment and students feel strongly that their teachers of qualified, but as dance teachers we hold the unique position of being trained and qualified but not recognised as QTS. I hope to discuss how this affects us when working in schools and routes into the profession.

I have recently become aware of a new route into teaching for people like me. Assessment only route, I will be delving deeper. One of my interviews will be with an unqualified teacher who is about to embark on this journey. I am looking forward to finding out more about it.