Week 5: Help I'm a New Teacher

It has been great meeting more of you new teachers in Kent this week. You have been asking lots of questions which is always good. 

The portfolio of evidence seems to be challenging for some because there is extra work where you have to show how you are meeting each of the teaching standards (which I mentioned in my week 4 article). 

Just to reiterate, there is not a correct way to present your evidence. This is something you can agree with your mentor on; I’d like to remind you that this can be electronic or paper. Ensure you look for evidence that shows how you are meeting each of the Teacher Standards.  

For example Teacher Standard 1 below: 

You should look at providing evidence for the heading (in bold) and aim to collect ONE piece of evidence for each standard every term (so six pieces of evidence throughout the year). 

If you’re a Kent-registered NQT, it would be helpful to download the “E1. Grading using the Teachers’ Standards” document accessed via NQT Manager, to record evidence on. For those of you that are not Kent-registered NQTs, you can see a snippet of the E1 document in this blog article, for reference.

So starting with the above Teacher Standard 1, let’s consider what makes good evidence.

Examples of practice where Teacher Standard 1 may be evidenced:

• NQT’s engagement with their pastoral roles and responsibilities
• NQT’s own classroom environment which includes displays and classroom organisation and could include visual timetables for those with communication or cognition difficulties or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Triangulation of evidence (lesson planning/pupil progress/book sampling) indicates that the NQT can demonstrate an awareness of the needs of all pupils (including those with SEN/D) and the impact this has on the development of resources, activities, support and success criteria
• In particular they should ensure that a child with SEN gets the support they need – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN (Special Educational Needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years 2014)
• Communication with parents which could include meetings 
• Lesson plans that show the NQT is aware of the needs of the pupils in the class and the impact this has on the development of resources, activities, support and success criteria

Thinking of the Environment 

When recording the evidence, remember the trick is to ‘work smarter’ not ‘work harder’. Create a simple table of evidence on Microsoft Excel for each standard as shown below:

Finally, remember one piece of evidence for each and observation feedback can be used to support several standards.

Next week, more questions answered and further examples of how to save you time.  

Have you read our recent blog post, ‘NQT Induction: How to make the most of your mentor’?