Open doors, silver linings and missed opportunities: NQT experiences in 2020/2021.
If I find myself exhausted at the end of a day of remote learning, I will often reassure myself, Well, at least I’m not an NQT. For many, the phrase ‘Baptism of fire’ is synonymous with your first year, where you are seemingly spinning a different set of plates every day. And the plates are on fire. And there’s someone watching you spin the plates every six weeks. And then you have extra training on said plate spinning. Oh God, the plates are on the floor - Mum, can you please cook my dinner and iron my clothes? Yes, I know I’m a 21 year old graduate.
Though some may say 2020 levelled the playing field. Most 21 year old graduates know how to use Powerpoints but perhaps that teacher with forty years classroom experience can just about access their email. We all had to learn how to teach remotely alongside each other. And we’re still learning - all of us.
Yet in many ways, NQTs have been dealt a poor hand this year. They haven’t been allowed to gain instrumental class experience or feel that exhilaration after a great lesson observation. Or have they? I spoke to five NQTs (three anon, two named) and one NQT mentor to see if the flames of the ‘Baptism of fire’ are still burning strong or whether this year has dampened them.
Wellbeing is shaping experience
There was no general, constant feeling of positivity or negativity amongst the participants. Many accepted that everyone, including school leaders and mentors, were working in unforeseen and difficult circumstances. However, strongly positive or negative experiences came down to school support. Being checked on regularly both professionally and personally resulted in more positive experiences:
They are constantly sending out information on support numbers or free therapy sessions we could use. Our principal has an open door policy so we can talk to them. It feels that our well being is more important than the teaching - Anon
I am getting vast support from my school. Having a NQT mentor meeting every week - @MissBindingNQT
Whereas a lack of support and tunnel-visioned leadership, focused on remote learning (or in some cases displays) with scarce for staff welfare had detrimental effects:
You’re given generic well-being training that comes across pretty insincere. A box-ticking exercise, almost. It’s like everyone is so busy that no one really cares to check in on you. You’re just expected to do everything by the deadline, and when you don’t, you’re culpable - Anon
Like the participants, I accept that we are all human beings working in difficult circumstances. However, I would challenge leaders who are not prioritising the wellbeing of their staff, especially NQTs who are entitled to extra support and care. These circumstances are difficult but they are certainly not new. We know the mental health of the nation has suffered and is still suffering. Those leading in any sector have a duty to safeguard their staff or face the consequences: departure.
By ‘safeguard [ing]’, this does not mean therapizing in the space of a professional, it is being there, checking in and giving staff the tools and resources to seek further help if necessary as shown above. Essentially and obviously, a kind, open school atmosphere is more helpful than a wellbeing seminar.
Trainees are being observed but the same practices aren’t being used to allow them to observe experienced teachers
All of the participants commented that they were being observed, usually half termly. Trainees in school were observed informally more often by senior leaders situated in corridors, which some found to be pragmatic and reassuring than formal observations. One participant noted how they found this style useful to their practice:
I am being observed but the teacher keeps their distance from my class. There’s an understanding that if my teaching is not clear to them from the outside of the classroom, it’s not clear to the children. - Anon
Due to the constraints of ‘bubble teaching’, it does seem schools are trying to fulfill the roles of mentors all the while adhering to risk assessments. Interestingly, none of the same participants said they were observing practice of others using the same strategy:
I found myself to be extremely busy with not a lot of time for observations, which is a massive shame - @raddiemakic
I’ve been encouraged to do it but I just haven’t had the time - Anon
We are missing an opportunity here. Using technology, we are able to observe any member of staff in any year group at nearly any given time. There are limits to what practice could be observed and embedded but during live lessons or recorded content, trainees could note use of questioning, voice and delivery. One participant specifies:
Schools are using IRIS Connect to share observation examples with their NQTs. - @MrTs_NQTs
Nonetheless, as shown above, many NQTs are too busy to observe or collaborate. As @MrTs_NQTs notes in his TES article (see Footnotes), offering a reduced timetable can help build teaching stamina and allow more opportunities to plan and assess. I believe that freeing NQTs up to observe more often should be prioritised in order to improve practice both remotely and in school.
Although trainees are having less classroom experience, they have felt their practice improve in other areas
Contrary to recruitment adverts, we all know that teaching isn’t a job that starts and stops when the children enter and exit the classroom. Remote learning may mean trainees are unable to teach in the traditional sense but many of the cogs and wheels of teaching have remained in motion:
I still have to be polite and professional, manage the needs of around 30 pupils every hour and I have done 2 parents’ evenings this term [...] I’ve gotten to know my students more during lockdown - @raddiemakic
I feel that my planning has become far more meticulous, far more detailed [...] I have loads more resources - Anon
For some, ‘bubble teaching’ has allowed them to work with different children in different stages, which they wouldn’t encounter in a normal NQT year:
Teaching bubbles, not just in my year group so [that means I’m] getting whole school experience and I’m delivering home learning. I’m getting a wide range of experience and skills which are highly transferable - Anon
Obviously, it is important to build classroom experience. The more mistakes you make, the better prepared you are for future ones and so on, that’s for any job or any skill. However, I am sure many of us veteran teachers will reflect on our NQT year (or maybe even more recent ones) and think, I wish I had more time to… Plan? Talk to students 1:1? Find effective, time saving resources? This cohort is being given that time. That is not to say that the time spent on these tasks is more important, or valuable, but the time certainly is not being wasted. It will be interesting to see what strengths these NQTs bring with them to their schools over the coming years in regards to curriculum design, lesson structure and relationships with pupils. Maybe schools will change for the better as a result.
Like with all education policy, how a school enacts a policy will dictate its effects. NQT support is no exception. It is clear some are using the pandemic as a cloak for insufficient or wrongheaded strategy, which I would presume existed long before COVID 19. Whereas others are acknowledging the difficulties that intensive risk assessments bring, all the while offering their NQTs outstanding professional and personal support. There is still scope to go further, especially in regards to observing other staff and the use of (albeit different) accomplishments of our NQT cohorts to improve whole school practice.
Footnotes
@MrTs_NQTs article for TES ‘7 ways you can better support September's NQTs’














