I started my PGCE year a couple of weeks before my son turned one. It was an intense, exciting time of my life, and, nearly 9 months later, the pace hasn’t let up much. The following are some ideas and reflections that have occurred to me in that time. Hopefully, they’ll be of use to others as they limber up to start initial teacher training.

Remember why you decided to train 

At some stage during your training, things will get tough. Really tough. Your lessons might feel downright disastrous, the marking will be a slog, your uni obligations will feel crushing and it will seem as though your family and social life are fading away.

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It’s crucial that you take a step back and try and remember why you wanted to do this in the first place. Perhaps it’s a deep love of a subject. Maybe it’s the financial security. The desire to work with young people. The attraction of holidays with your own children. The fear of spending another 30 years in the 9-to-5 rat race.

Whatever the reason was for training, don’t forget it. It should sustain you even during the worst periods of your training year.

No sleep? Don't panic!

One thing I’d been told from day dot was, a tired teacher isn’t an effective teacher.

To a certain extent, that’s correct. After the first night of disrupted sleep while training, I noticed my lessons the next day lacked some pace, and my behaviour management wasn’t what I wanted it to be. After two days of poor sleep, well, the less said the better.

But I always managed to make it to 3pm in one piece, just about. I found that focusing on something I really wanted to make sure didn’t suffer – be it maintaining behaviour or nailing a tricky concept – helped a great deal.

I’m sure more experienced teachers have plenty of other tricks. But the bottom line is, if you’ve had a terrible night, it’ll be tough, but it’s doable. Stay focused and keep going.

Everyone feels guilty

Teaching is a career that can be all-consuming at times. It takes your time, energy and patience. Parenthood can be all-consuming at times. It takes your time, energy and patience. So, it’s inevitable that doing one can leave you feeling immense guilt that you are neglecting the other.

You aren’t alone in feeling that guilt. Every parent/teacher I’ve spoken to has shared the exact same sentiments. I can’t speak for other parents in this, but two things have allowed me to overcome the guilt. The first is valuable time I’ve had over school holidays to make time for family: two weeks off over Christmas and Easter, even with some work to do, was unheard of in previous job roles. And the second was the thought that I was learning a profession that would make my children proud when they got older.    

Know who to ask for help and support – and ask for it

Never forget you’re a trainee. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t accountable for any number of things, but it is supposed to be a learning curve. And aside from the actual process of learning how to teach, the process of juggling a new work-life balance can prove very tricky.

Ask anyone you can who might be able to offer up some advice. That could be your mentor, colleagues within your department, colleagues out of it. Universities are also a hub for practical advice and support, particularly if financial issues are starting to rear their head.

Asking for help and advice isn’t a sign that you can’t cope, it’s a sign you know you need to work smart and are being proactive about achieving that.

Get organised and stay organised

This is easier said than done – I’ve spent a good few hours lately going back over my evidence file. But try and find a secure space – be it a room or a large bag – where all your important documents live and can be accessed with relative ease.

My toddler is in a phase where he can and will move things, likely damaging them (unintentionally) along the way. Knowing that marking, data and evidence is beyond his grasps is reassuring. Not to mention it’s useful to have it all in one place!

Don’t reinvent the wheel

There’s a whole plethora of readymade resources, lesson plans and even schemes of work out there. And, of course, your own school should be willing and able to share some with you. The majority will have been designed by those with more experience and expertise than you. You may (and probably should) want to tweak and adapt them, but it’s well worth using that knowledge.

I still remember wanting to go into my first placement school and show off how brilliant and innovative I was. After spending hours creating them resources and delivering, to be honest, very mediocre lessons, I realised that my time could me much better spent in other ways.

Ringfence family time

No matter how busy you are, make sure that as big a chunk of time as you can manage is completely ringfenced. I’ve always made sure I’ve had one weekend day where I’ll do absolutely nothing. No marking, no planning, no subject reading. It’s a regular reminder that there are bigger things than your training going on. It gives you a break and a point to look forward to and provides some routine during a hectic year with ever-shifting demands.

James Oddy is a trainee English teacher