Trainee Teacher Review
at Civil Service
Placement (10 Months+)
Teaching
Cambridge
Review Submitted: January 2022
Overall Rating
4.4 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
5/5
-
Overview of Role
4.8/5
-
Skills Development
5/5
-
Support and Guidance
3.8/5
-
Company Culture
4.5/5
-
Overall Experience
4/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
I really enjoyed my placement year as a trainee teacher. It gave me a great idea about teaching as a career and about teaching at disadvantaged schools in particular. They made an effort to make us feel valued as participants. The role involved teaching on a reduced timetable at the school that I was assigned to, observation of lessons an the completion of a PGCE. All in all, it was a very full on year.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
I was given a lot of responsibility for a trainee teacher, especially because it is often remarked that teachers need to be eased in gradually and observe lessons during their training year. The level of responsibility given to trainee teachers varied by school, and on other programmes they give them a full timetable straight away. However, my school was fantastic in giving me the responsibility from early on to manage classes of different ages, and I was eased in gradually.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
5/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
I learnt how to manage a difficult classroom environment independently. This was key because such a skill is applicable in different contexts. We learnt how to present ourselves well to different stakeholders. I also gained a good understanding of the Department for Education's drive to recruit graduates in STEM subjects in particular. There was training on every aspect of the teaching job, from marking and giving feedback to managing a classroom. This will serve me well in future.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
5/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
4/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
We received a lot of classroom based learning about leadership qualities during our PGCE programme. This was complemented by rather more on the job learning in the schools we were assigned to throughout the year. In this respect, there was far more support on the PGCE element of the programme. Throughout the programme, I was able to contact a mentor - a Newly Qualified Teacher from the same area of the country who had been on the programme themselves reently.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
I was able to understand the mission of Get into Teaching well - to tackle inequality in society through education, primarily throughout the provision of good teachers. The atmosphere was great. All of the participants I met were passionate about teaching. There were a few who want to use teaching as a springboard for a career elsewhere however, these were in the minority, and in any case all participants seemed committed to the teacher training Programme.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
4/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
4/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
4/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
3/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
I really enjoyed my teaching training year at Get Into Teaching. It gave me a great idea about teaching as a career and about teaching at disadvantaged schools in particular. They made an effort to make us feel valued as participants, and that we would be welcome back as mentors for future participants. This is a great model as it is often daunting for graduates to enter teaching without a full idea about what the job involves.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
4/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at Civil Service
4/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Civil Service to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to Civil Service
Show the assessors why you are interesting in teaching and not just using it as a springboard for a different career. I realise that this sounds obvious however, the assessors are aware that there is a perception among recent graduates that teaching can be a stop gap between university and the career that students 'really' want. Try and think of examples of previous inspirational teachers and emphasize how you would like to emulate their qualities.
