Schools Must Support Newly Qualified Teachers If They Want To Keep Them
‘As newly qualified teachers (NQTs) begin their careers in earnest later this year, they may discover that job interviews and finding a suitable post are a relatively minor consideration compared with the challenge of surviving in their first job,’ says Elizabeth Holmes, the official agony aunt on the teachers’ job site, Eteach.com, and author of ‘The NQT Handbook’ and ‘FAQs for NQTs.’
‘The first year can be ‘make or break’ for new teachers. Good experiences can help to retain NQTs in the profession, while a bad experience could drive talented individuals away,' continues Elizabeth.
The quality of the school’s Induction Programme is the key, according to Paul Howells, CEO of Eteach.com who adds, ‘we have found that schools that invest in the induction of new staff generate better staff morale, a more supportive environment for their teachers and have much better staff retention rates, thereby providing better continuity for their pupils leading, no doubt, to better results for pupil, teacher and school.’
Elizabeth advises, ‘NQTs should check that they will have an induction tutor in their new school and what arrangements for induction have been made. Getting to know colleagues is crucial – they know the school, its ethos and philosophy and they are bound to remember how they felt in their all-important first year. In addition, all teachers can get ongoing advice from colleagues round the country by using the staffroom forums at Eteach.com – whether that's for help with lesson planning, dealing with tricky students, or just an informal chat about classroom life.’
Some situations are very unusual and not to be recommended as discovered by Mark Sidebotham who, as an NQT, was appointed head of department for music for a school in Sussex on leaving university. ‘Talk about in at the deep end!’ he explains. ‘Not only was I the curriculum leader as a mere NQT but the department was badly run down. My fellow music teacher was also an NQT but fortunately we had studied together and designed lesson plans over the summer. It was my fellow teachers who helped me make it a successful experience. I was given a good budget and was surrounded by very supportive senior colleagues – this made all the difference to what could have been a tough year.’
For Andy Roberts, it was a very different story. ‘My NQT year ended up crossing two key stages, Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. It was unclear who my induction tutor was as the Head and Deputy Head kept chopping and changing between themselves and largely just left me to get on with it. Secondly, as well as the normal observations designed to steer you in the right direction with lesson planning, behaviour management etc, I also had governor visits without any prior warning, which I understand now is normal but was daunting at the time. In the autumn term I moved to the Foundation Stage and, although I had had little training in this, I much preferred it, but yet again was left to my own devices. All my ‘mentor’ ever said was, ‘oh, you’ll be fine'. To be honest I got more help from the various classroom assistants. Needless to say, I left that school as soon as I could.’
June 2006