First Year Mayhem

Being a beginning teacher has many of it's challenges, both inside and outside the classroom. The biggest difference between being a student teacher and a BT I have found, is the admin! The amount of 'paperwork' behind the scenes is overwhelming, I was naive to how much teachers do outside of teaching. 

A huge component of being a BT is working towards full teachers registration, which requires considerable evidence gathering over a two year period. Beginning teachers such as myself have 12 practising teacher criteria (PTC) to consider throughout our planning, teaching and reflections, and we must provide evidence we are meeting the criteria in order to become fully registered.

In addition to becoming a fully certified teacher, there are various rules, regulations and pieces of legislation we must abide by and consider as a professional learner and developer. All of this combined with the million and one other things to consider when teaching is difficult to keep track and on top of. 

I was fortunate enough to attend another PD session today, led by the Post-Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA), focusing on this BT mayhem. We addressed the teacher criteria and possible pieces of evidence we could use towards our registration. The afternoon focused on the hard stuff, like the Secondary Teachers' Collective Agreement, and what this means for us and our role. Sometimes I forget that I am actually employed, that I am a teacher, sometimes I forget it is a job, so it was helpful to go through the stuff people don't seem to talk about often in schools.

In addition to learning more about my expectations, rights and responsibilities, were we given a variety of scenarios to consider. I joint the PPTA to know I always have support no matter what may or may not happen, and this is what was demonstrated this afternoon. I left the PD knowing I had full support for any sticky situation I may find myself in, or for any little thing whatsoever. I look forward to the future courses.

Please visit PPTA's website to learn more about their role as a union.