Does anyone else remember, with horrifying clarity, the first time they stood in a classroom as a teacher? My first placement was in a good school that served a tough community in the South Side of Glasgow.
There I was, in a cheap suit - the only one I owned - diligently making notes in a pad. About the seating arrangements, the temperature in the room, the teacher’s choice of wall displays. All the time these unimpressed teenagers glared at me, wondering what exactly I was doing in their swamp. Was I friend or foe? It’s quite a moment.
Now, as a student mentor, I love working with colleagues making those first tentative steps in their own careers.
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Working with a student teacher is some of the best professional development I have experienced. It forces you to deconstruct a lot of those habits and routines that become internalised after a while.
When they are fresh in the door and full of enthusiasm, you want to model and demonstrate good practice, encourage proper reflection and self-evaluation of how things are going in the classroom. I find that when I’ve got a student in my department, I’m more open about articulating when things are going well and when things are not. I talk and explain in more detail about the strategies I’m coming up with and implementing, as well as working out clearer solutions and strategies to instigate change.
I’ve worked with many student teachers and have recognised a lot of the common difficulties they encounter. Structuring a lesson with suitably paced activities is often a challenge. It takes a long time to master that internal timer which tells you how long to allow for different activities. Clarity of instruction is also an area that commonly needs addressing; I remember my own early attempts to explain and set out instructions to a class. Not to mention how fat my tongue felt in my mouth, the way I would babble on and on until the poor kids were thoroughly confused about what I wanted them to do.
Providing a flexible and adaptable environment for student teachers is very important. They come to school placements with all sorts of varying experiences and family backgrounds. Some will be straight out of university, shiny-faced and joining their first professional workplace. Others will be making a career change or might have their own children to look after at home.
Student teachers don’t get paid while working on placement, and that can sometimes feel like a raw deal. So it’s useful to be gentle with timetabling, building up classes as they gain confidence. Schools should also be cognisant of the duty of care we have for student teachers’ wellbeing.
Teaching is not for everyone. Some of the student teachers that come in and out on placement don’t, after all, end up with 40-year careers - and there’s no problem with that.
Being in school, on placement, is where we work out whether or not this life is really suited to us. And as a student mentor, it’s our job to nurture and support the next generation of teachers.
Alan Gillespie is principal teacher of English at Fernhill School, in Glasgow. He tweets @afjgillespie
