Support for trainees

Trainees are assigned a subject mentor in the home school. The mentor is responsible for the day to day support and guidance of the trainee. A weekly meeting is used to review a trainee’s progress and set targets for the upcoming week. The mentor will report on the trainee’s progress throughout the course and is responsible for assessing the trainee’s progress at the end of the course. Final assessment judgements are verified by an external examiner appointed by MSC.

The school will appoint an ITTcoordinator (ITTc) within school to support the trainee. The ITTc will normally have responsibility for overseeing all training placements within the school. The ITTc will have fortnightly meetings with the trainee for general support and will meet with the trainee formally before progression point 1 and 2 to review progress and assess the trainee’s attainment thus far. The ITTc will make periodic observations of the trainee’s teaching.

Workshops are arranged through-out the course to support trainees writing at M level these include input from Bath Spa University staff. MSC staff have many years of experience working with trainees and schools. They are available to offer support and advice to trainees and schools throughout the course. MSC staff can be contacted by e-mail or phone and appointments can be made for one to one meetings.

  

The MSC is committed to promote a healthy work-life balance for all trainees. We incorporate the advice and guidance published in the DfE’s ‘Reducing Teacher Workload Reports’ (March 2016) and ‘Addressing workload in Initial Teacher Education’ (Nov 2018).

We do this by

  • No weekend or evening emails.
  • Carefully scheduling of tasks and assignments to avoid ‘pinch points’ in the course.
  • No photo copying and collation of evidence in files to specifically evidence the teachers’ standards.
  • Reduced planning commitment throughout the course as trainees’ planning competence is demonstrated. Resulting in trainees planning for sequences of lessons rather than single lessons.
  • Encouraging trainees to use/modify existing departmental schemes of work and resources.
  • Purchase of text books to support trainees’ planning.
  • Protected non-contact time during the school day.
  • Allocated time to complete some portfolio tasks and paperwork returns.

Specific training on

  • Resilience
  • Managing workload
  • Promoting positive mental health
  • Reducing the burden of marking and feedback.

 

 

 Our aim is to help all of our trainees develop sustainable work habits so that workload is manageable and trainees are not spending unreasonable amounts of time planning, marking and fulfilling course requirements. Trainees need to be organised and complete tasks daily and weekly (as appropriate) so that work does not build up and become burdensome. Guidance is given on this during professional training, visiting tutor visits to school and in the MSC handbook.  

 We have excellent employment outcomes for our trainees (above the national average), the majority of whom gain jobs within our partnership of schools. 

We support trainees when applying for jobs. In january we have specific training on how to apply for teaching jobs which includes writing a letter of application and looking at typical questions asked at interview. We are able to look at trainees’ letters of application, give feedback and give ‘mock’ interview practice.