NQT Special: Attainment, CPD and management skills

Victoria Richley, English teacher with responsibility for NQTs, St Wilfred’s RC College, South Shields

As an NQT, I shared a lesson plan which had a specific focus on planning for pupil progress with a colleague and asked for some feedback. He took one look at my array of Assessment for Learning strategies and asked me a simple question that has arguably become the lynchpin of my entire practice: “So what..?”

You’ve noticed pupil A is struggling to articulate the learning and pupil B is able to evaluate the learning – so what will you do? You identified a pupil is one level behind target – so what will you do to help them make progress in today’s lesson? Raising attainment and ensuring all pupils make progress in both the short and long-term is at the forefront of every initial teacher training programme, the forefront of the NQT induction year and indeed the forefront of every experienced teacher’s mind when planning.