Special Educational Needs Teacher

I qualified as a teacher in 1971, from Teacher Training College. I don't have a degree. In those days you didn't need a degree to become a teacher. The option to take a B.Ed was only just becoming available, but most people tended to study for this whilst "on the job". I had my teaching certificate, so did not really see the need for yet another piece of paper! EARLY YEARS For five years, I taught in a mainstream class in a mainstream primary school. My experience was mainly with junior classes (ages 7-11). These days, class sizes are being limited. In my first class I had 37 mixed ability 8-9 year olds. In fact, on my final teaching ...  Read the complete review

I am sick and tired of hearing teachers moan, it is the one thing that the profession do really well! I hear them at it in the press and in the staff room, little wonder there is a shortage of new recruits they've all been put off. I am here to say don't be, the job is tough but the rewards are wonderful too! I qualified four years ago now and the training was damn hard work. I had to have a rigorous interview to be selected which included Maths tests, English tests, I.T. tests, a group interview and an individual interview. Somehow I made the last 30 out of over 600 applicants. I had already gained my first degree so completed the Post Graduate ...  Read the complete review

Having graduated as a music teacher, I was expected, like the rest of my year, to start teaching in a mainstream secondary school, perhaps with some time in the mainstream primary sector. Out of the blue, and to my delight, I was offered a job at a school for children with complex and profound learning difficulties, teaching drama and music. When people heard, they either gasped in horror, gave me that simpering "I'm so proud of you" expression, as if I was about to go down the sewers to save the country, or simply asked in amazement - "But what can you actually TEACH them?" In fact, the best reaction I got was from my fellow dooyooers, ...  Read the complete review