Crown Hills was one of the first schools in England to be awarded Training School status. It is the only secondary training school in the City of Leicester Local Authority. We are rather proud of our success rate - every trainee on the GTP programme who we have supported for qualified teacher status (QTS) has passed. Many of the teachers we have trained are regarded as "high flyers" in career terms, achieving teaching and learning points (salary enhancements) and management / leadership posts very quickly.
Crown Hills has a long history of working closely with HEIs (Higher Education Institutes), including Leicester, Loughborough, De Montfort, Warwick, Nottingham-Trent, Sheffield-Hallam and the Open University. This is with the PGCE programme, hwere universities choose to place trainees at Crown Hills for teaching practices. We were awarded Training School Status in 2001 and have one of the most experienced teams of mentors, ready to provide support and help throughout your training. But don’t just take our word for it! Sally-ann Duis is an NQT in the Art, Design and Technology faculty at Crown Hills, with Teaching and Learning responsibility points for Assessment.
There follows an interview with her regarding her training experience.
Did you enjoy your training school experience?
Yes definitely, I’d say I enjoyed it. It was hard work but it was an experience I enjoyed!
Why did you choose to go the GTP route rather than PGCE?
First of all, because I’d been teaching before – for years, in fact, in further education.
So I had experience as a teacher. I felt that going to university would be almost like going backwards. I needed to develop the skills to be a teacher in a secondary school but I wanted to do it in a more professional manner, so that I could be recognised for my existing skills. I didn’t want to be stood there, not having an input, I wanted to get straight into it. But also, because I had a family, the stability of being able to go into one place like you would a job, every day. I needed to drop my daughter off at the nursery at a particular time whilst I was based in one place. Whereas if you go to university, the times keep changing and you’re based in several different places over the course. Time-wise, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. And, of course, there’s the financial side – as opposed to it being a grant which you get three times a year, I had a regular income.
In retrospect, was it the right decision for you?
Yes, definitely, although there are other sides to it. I do like theory, the essay writing and I felt I probably missed out on that. I would have enjoyed going to the lectures and learning more about the theory behind teaching. But there is plenty of opportunity on GTP to write and, to compensate, I ended up doing an awful lot more theory than was really necessary. But that was because I felt that need. The thing is, the structure of the course allowed me to do that. I was particularly interested in the psychology of behaviour and of teaching itself so I did plenty of research to ensure I didn’t miss out. I had a very good senior tutor who supported me in this, directing me towards the right reading material and gave me plenty of advice.
Did you feel that you received a suitable level of support through your training?
Yes – through both my subject and senior tutor. And all the teachers in the department! I ended up getting more support from people who weren’t necessarily assigned to me. I developed very good, natural working relationships. I found that the faculty, in fact the whole school, were very supportive. I was never on my own. There was always someone to go to. Crown Hills has a really good atmosphere for training. The school I worked in before, I never felt there was that connection, that team spirit of a cohort of people all trying to achieve the same goal. Every single department in this school has a number of teachers who are just friendly and willing to help you. And of course, because you’re working with other GTPs, you get to mix with people from other departments as well. It has that cross curricular social and supportive mechanism. You’re not just confined to your teaching area. That facility was great because the GTPs did all meet up regularly so we did still have that idea that we were studying and were students, but also that we respected professionals. The PGCE students obviously meet regularly and so share ideas from many different schools. We did do a second placement though and again, through our interaction as a group shared plenty of good practice.
I also think that because I’m that bit older, I didn’t want to be a “student”. That’s one thing about GTP – because you’re more permanent, you can hide the fact that you’re a trainee from the kids. They saw me as a teacher so therefore the level of respect was better from day one. There’s less forgiveness when you make mistakes though – I’m still teaching some of those same kids now. I can’t just move on to my next placement!
Would you recommend Crown Hills to prospective GTPs?
Yes absolutely. I’m really glad I trained here. I felt at ease with the staff and enjoyed the job. I feel comfortable here and that’s so important. It’s a school that is so welcoming, ensuring you feel valued. And you just learn so much! You learn diversity of ethnicity and culture, you learn about behaviour management - it’s just so much! I feel I could teach anywhere now and do it well, that I have such a good grounding – it’s a great start to your teaching career! |
