Shortly after I
published my last post Fear and Loathing in
Education, my classmate (and soon-to-be colleague) Neil let me
know he had taught in the private sector as an unqualified teacher before
coming onto the PGCE. I asked him if he could share his insights into this
matter on my blog.
I have
reproduced these insights below. The copy is unabridged and has been subjected
to no editorial interference - the words are Neil's only, and I urge you to pay
close attention to what he has to say.
Ian
O'Neal
*
Great response Ian! I was really
infuriated when I read the Guardian article because
it’s based on so many wrong assumptions which you've done a great job of
addressing. I did want to add my personal perspective though.
After university I went straight
into a job teaching English in a private school without any teaching qualification.
I would say I was a successful teacher; my pupils seemed to enjoy the lessons,
they made great academic progress and achieved excellent results at GCSE and A
level. I could easily have carried on as an unqualified teacher for the rest of
my career.
However, I made the decision to
return to university to do the PGCE course and after two months I can honestly
say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Every teacher wants
to be the best teacher they can possibly be for their pupils and I can already
see that the PGCE is going to make me a far better teacher than I could ever
have become if I had remained purely in the classroom trying to work things out
as I went along, even though I was doing a good job. The main reasons for this
are:
1) Being a good teacher is about continually learning and improving. As we've seen time and time again on the course, the most effective learning takes place in a social context between learners rather than with an individual in isolation. This goes for teachers as well as for pupils. The PGCE course gives you that fertile social learning context where you can learn from tutors who have years of experience of teaching, researching and teaching teachers. You also learn loads from the other students on the course who bring new perspectives and fresh ideas. You can't help but broaden your teaching skills and knowledge in a way that is just not possible when you are in the classroom on your own.
2) When I worked as a teacher, much
of what I did in the classroom was based on an intuitive understanding of what
might work best. Most of the time this worked but I still had no concrete
evidence as to why one approach might work better than another. The PGCE has
given me evidence based in research as to what works best and more importantly,
why it works. This means I can plan and make informed decisions in the
classroom knowing what is needed in particular contexts. I am no longer limited
to guesswork and I have a clearer rationale to justify why I might do something
in a particular way. One thing that angered me about the article was the
complete lack of understanding that good teaching is informed by research and
good research is informed by teaching. You cannot separate the two in the way
that the writer of the article envisages.
3) Life in school is
exceptionally busy and time-consuming and it is very rare you get the
opportunity to have more experienced teachers giving you input and it is a
constant battle to find time for the kind of deep reflection on your teaching
practices that are essential to growing as a teacher. The PGCE builds teacher
input into the course and also forces you while giving you the necessary time
to constantly reflect on and evaluate your teaching: what went well in that
lesson? What would I do differently next time to improve the learning of the
pupils? I feel that this emphasis on reflective teaching is one of the most
vital aspects of the PGCE course as this is where teachers grow and improve the
most. However, the article seemed to assume that PGCE students never even go
near a classroom during their time on the course, let alone get the opportunity
to reflect on their skills and development.
I cannot imagine a single
unqualified teacher, however naturally brilliant they might be, who would not
greatly benefit and improve as a teacher by doing a PGCE. The PGCE prepares you
and gives you the foundation needed to fulfil your potential as a teacher over
a lifetime of learning and reflection in a way that going straight into working
as a teacher cannot. You could argue that a PGCE is just a piece of paper that
allows you to teach in state schools but it's not the qualification itself that
matters but the process you go through as a teacher to get that qualification.
From my own experience I would say that to deny yourself the opportunity to go
through that process is to limit yourself as a teacher and deprive all your
future pupils the chance to be taught by the best teacher you could have become.