To PGCE or not to PGCE?

Published in The Guardian, 21 October 2011

Before starting my PGCE course, like many people, I thought very carefully about my route into teaching. There are so many options: the traditional PGCE, the flexible PGCE, SCITT courses, the GTP programme, the sometimes controversial Teach First route or just rocking up at an independent school.

There are different pros and cons to each of these options. I eventually opted for the PGCE, considering it the right route for me for a number of reasons. I'm a fairly confident person but I know I need critical feedback, assessment and the opportunity to improve in a structured manner. I want to learn how to be the best teacher I can be, not just hope that I'm pretty good. Being straight out of university and not having worked as a teaching assistant, I didn't have an instant link with a school where I could apply for a competitive GTP place. I also liked the idea of being able to work in more than one school, gaining a broad perspective on different types of establishment.

I wouldn't exactly call myself an ideal match with the university element of the PGCE, which is classroom-based, with lots of group work, discussion and sharing of ideas. Whilst I'm all for this in the workplace, I've never quite got used to it in an academic context. Throughout my English degree, I got used to tutorials on my own or in pairs, with a lot of personal attention and opportunity for me to exercise my sometimes overactive vocal cords. Most of the work was very independent reading and essay writing and there wasn't much that was collaborative apart from moaning outside the library.

The PGCE is entirely different, and requires a lot of patient listening and discussion in small groups. It reminds me slightly of my own school experience, and like I did back then, I sometimes have to restrain myself and not put my hand up at every possible opportunity.

But when I get bored of endless "sharing" or group work, I convince myself that it's making me a better person; a better listener. Maybe it'll help me with my love life.

And I am learning a lot. The PGCE offers the opportunity to have guidance from expert tutors who are both teachers and academics; a potent combination that gives them a unique ability to explore the art of education. There is a lot of self-reflection involved in the course, that whilst it might sometimes seem like paperwork overload, forces you to really consider and evaluate your process and progress. And you get the support, input and ideas of 30 of your peers, as well as that of two departments in two different schools.

Of course, it's the school bit that I'm really loving. It's half term next week and I can't quite believe it. I'm two weeks into my first placement and I have begun to take whole classes and teach my own lessons.

The start of the placement was a whirlwind of getting to know the school and my department, observing lessons and starting to get to know my classes.

I set myself the target of getting to know the names of all my classes and my tutor group: a total of about 120 names, many of them similar and some of them unpronounceable. I must have looked slightly creepy on the bus, muttering over printed sets of photos of the children, but I now think I've got them pretty much down.

I kept in mind the words of my tutor: "Nobody is naturally 'bad at names'. You just have to learn them." And actually, I think she was right. It's just a memory game, and if you can learn endless Shakespeare quotes or phone numbers, you can learn names too. I felt much more confident in my first proper lesson knowing that I was able to address the students by name, and it certainly makes behaviour management far easier.

My first lessons have gone really well, and I'm excited about getting some more planning done over half term (an enthusiasm that I'm sure will swiftly wane but I might as well make the most of it). I am incredibly lucky to have a fantastic, efficient and just generally nice mentor who is generous with her time and insightful and constructive in her feedback, alongside a similarly great team of English teachers in the department.

Over the last few weeks, I have learned that "Excuse me!" exclaimed in a variety of tones and with a variety of facial expressions, is my pet phrase in corridors and classrooms alike. I have also learned, much to my relief, that standing in front of a class feels very natural. I'm loving building up a relationship with my classes and am trying to walk the line between "firm" and "fun".

There's no getting away from the fact I'm working in a tough school. It's an inner-city comprehensive, with a diverse pupil intake, many of whom are from incredibly deprived backgrounds. But it's a hugely positive school, where staff and students are upbeat and engaged with teaching and learning.

Somehow, when you walk into assembly already a cup of coffee down and Lady Gaga's Born This Way is being pumped out at 90 decibels as everyone files in, you can't help but feel optimistic. Similarly, when a difficult Year 8 pupil squeaked out his descriptive writing piece, a description of his own "scary character" complete with adjectives, similes and a bucket load of imagination, to the class this morning, I couldn't help feeling cheesily warm inside.

So, I have survived the first few weeks and am feeling more positive than ever about my decision to be a teacher and the route I have chosen to get there. I know that the first Guardian Teacher Network survey was entitled "I love teaching but…"; however right now for me, it's just "I love teaching."

Lost in Translation

I didn’t think one of the first tasks of my PGCE would be learning a new language.

So when two of my fellow English PGCE-ers, both former teaching assistants, mooted the idea of writing a South London slang glossary, I was a little intrigued. Surely, only four years after leaving school, I would be sufficiently ‘down with the kids’ not to need a translator.

Then I started to think about it. My own school had its own peculiar institutionalised language that would baffle many outsiders. ‘Jockers’ for detention (a noun derived from the verb ‘to jock’ or skip a lesson…obviously). ‘Purple’ for prefect. ‘Business’ (both a noun and a verb, as in I business, you business, he/she/it businesses OR ‘did you get any business?’) meaning an interaction from a kiss to anything just shy of full sex.

However, this institutional slang used (for the most part) by both teachers and students is nothing on the words in the glossary that my PGCE classmates sent round, an extract from which is below:

They range from the horrible but fairly hilarious: ‘buffgash’ and ‘wastegash’ (I’ll leave it to you to Google and gasp) to the worrying (‘I’ll shank you’ as a joking threat…really?) and the downright disgusting (‘bloodclat’ - yuck). Not to mention the racially slurring ones.

The glossary came in handy on my first day - after overhearing that ‘new miss is peng’, all it took was a quick glance at the document to check that I wasn’t being completely insulted and might even be being slightly flattered. By a twelve-year-old. Fantastic.

Of course, teen slang is nothing new. The teenage years are often about drawing lines to separate the group from adult society and define social circles. From Pig Latin to hand signs, text language and seemingly indecipherable Facebook code, young people have always developed their own mediums of communication, differentiating themselves into a societal subculture.

But I didn’t realise I was already so out of date.