Thoughts on starting a Teacher Training course

So after a long summer, the start of my course is finally around the corner. It feels a long-time coming, but I finally start my PGCE this week.

I feel really prepared and ready to go. This seems to be at odds with the consensus amongst other people I’ve spoken to, and most of the PGCE preparation books I’ve read (OK skimmed) through, which seem to expect me to be a bag of nerves.

I’ve had some sessions with my School Direct provider which have got me thinking, and I’ve also done some gentle revision on my subject knowledge, as well as some general reading around education.

I think it definitely helps that I’ve done some cover supervising, and I’m lucky that I got some really good experiences doing it, which seems contrary to things I’ve read and heard. I got a lot of “firsts” out of the way; first register, first time disciplining, first time delivering a lesson, first time marking books, first time running detention, first fire alarm etc etc. I know that doing these things as a teacher will be different to doing it as a cover supervisor, but it’s definitely contributed towards my calm approach to this week.

I know it will be hard, but I also know I’ve successfully done difficult things before and that I will have so many support options, if I look for them, so I’m quietly confident. Hopefully I still will be once I’ve started!