I spent last weekend with my American friends who we do not see very often. Debi and I started teaching together in London in 1990 (yes – such a long time ago!). At that time, in England, we had trained for our degree for 4 years and then had to complete a probationary year before we were qualified.
We talked about those first years and reminisced about the children we taught, the families we supported and the staff we worked with.
I can vividly remember taking the register on my first day and each child answered as I called their name. Once this was finished the children all looked up at me (30 pairs of eyes looking at me) and I thought ‘oh wow – I am their teacher and I now need to teach!’
I had been training as a teacher while the National Curriculum was being written. It had not been introduced into schools when I started teaching, and during my first few years of teaching, subjects were published and introduced slowly. This meant there was not the same pressure regarding the curriculum, but it also meant there was very little structure to the content taught. We had time to build positive relationships with the children in our class and I felt like I got to know them as individuals. There was not the added pressure of tests, OFSTED, curriculum content and targets to reach.
Thinking back to those days, I remember lots of fun, but it was also extremely challenging. There were no TAs supporting in classes and there was no planning time, so it was really you as the teacher in the class with the children. It made me think about the things I have valued over the years and, for me it has been the relationships with the children and with my colleagues. I was lucky in the first school I worked in as a new teacher because the staff worked as a team and supported each other. Debi and I supported each other daily – if one of us had had a bad day, the other would be there with a cup of coffee and a listening ear at 3.30. We were then also supported by the rest of the staff. I remember staff giving wise advice, others making me laugh, others leaving me small post-its with positive comments on my desk, some team-teaching with me and others leaving small gifts on my desk. I never felt alone, and I never felt that I was seen as a failure when something did not go well for me.
Challenging behaviour is difficult to manage at any stage of your teaching career but, as an ECT (probationer/NQT) it is even harder because you do not have the bank of resources or responses that you gain through experience. I remember thinking it was revolutionary advice when I was told not to ever turn my back to the class so I could always see the children. Some advice I was given in those early days I have continued to use throughout my teaching career, other advice I was given did not work for me; I could never not smile at my class until the October half term as I was advised – it is just not the way I am.
So, if you are an ECT, seek out support and if you are an experienced teacher, think back to those early years of your career and think what you would have wanted from fellow colleagues. As adults, we need similar support to children: we need to feel that our opinion is valued, we need to be able to make mistakes and learn from them and we need to feel liked. We need to be able to ask for help and we need our successes to be celebrated. Create this culture in your classrooms with the children and, by feeling safe and secure children will develop emotionally, socially and academically and so will we as adults.
As an ECT, try strategies out and find the ones that work for you. Use them and practise them and get really good at them. Children will respond to the confidence you gain from doing something consistently, with understanding and skill.
Reach Behaviour 