NQT Special: Reflections on an NQT year

So, how have I fared during my NQT year? It has been a pretty enjoyable year and I do feel lucky that the school I am in provides a great deal of support and creates and promotes an ethos of personal endeavour to improve.

There have been times when I have felt anything but the “novice”, having benefited from our “Half Term Reviews” and sophisticated Professional Learning Menu (in-house CPD sessions).

All teaching staff in my school are expected to pursue the development of their skills and teaching strategies and we are all given practical, honest feedback regularly to improve our craft.

I suppose the biggest difference for me as an NQT is the recording, logging and “proving” of the work I am doing. From my own perspective, the paper trail has not been dissimilar from my training year. I have been compiling a good handful of documents to track progress and development as well as evidencing each standard. I do think that in teaching there needs to be a thorough system that ensures we demonstrate our competence. However, there have been several documents and processes that replicate each other and perhaps this process could become more efficient.