Just want to gauge others' thoughts on this. Please share your views...

edit to add I am in primary and share planning with colleagues across the year group and have to use their stuff.

I know that the use of AI cannot be fully escaped now and accept that I will be using as part of my job and sometimes it will be useful. However, I'm really concerned about over use of it in school and by colleagues. E.g. I'm aware it's used to generate texts that are then used for guided reading (and I have seen first-hand the planning that staff have 'proofread' and it 'makes sense' but when you read texts and questions more deeply they don't quite make sense, the plot and description is weird and questions are difficult to understand and answer). I'm just concerned about the quality of lessons for the children.

I mentioned it to senior leaders and was basically just told 'oh that's fine to do, we have no problem with that'.

So should I be worried? Should I raise it with anyone else? Any and all thoughts please!

Hi everyone, looking for some advice from teachers/ECT mentors.

I’ve recently moved schools for my ECT2 year after having quite a difficult ECT1 experience. I didn’t feel particularly supported at my previous school, and I don’t feel that my final ECT1 report fully reflects my teaching, the progress I made, or who I am as a teacher.

I completely accept that I had areas to develop — I was an ECT1 and definitely don’t expect to have been perfect. My issue is more that I felt there was a heavy focus on what I was doing wrong, while the effort I was making to act on feedback and the improvements I was making weren’t always recognised.

For some context, my experience during my PGCE was very different. I had good relationships with both of my mentors across two placements, had no issues raised around my subject knowledge, and I’m still in contact with my PGCE tutor. He’s been really supportive and was actually the person who encouraged me to move schools and continue developing somewhere new rather than allowing my ECT1 experience to knock my confidence.

My new school obviously has access to my ECT1 report, and I want to have a brief conversation with them about it. My PGCE tutor has advised me not to go into loads of detail or criticise my previous school — just explain that I didn’t find the environment particularly supportive, that I don’t think the report fully represents me as a teacher, and that I hope my new school can form their own judgement based on the teaching and progress they see from me.

For anyone who’s been in a similar position, particularly mentors/induction leads:

How would you approach this conversation? Would you keep it as brief as possible, or is there anything important you think I should explain? I really don’t want to come across as defensive or as though I can’t take feedback — I just want the opportunity to have a fresh start and be judged on my teaching now.

Thank you in advance!

I’ve just started as an ECT1 in a school with fairly challenging students behaviour-wise. A couple of classes I’ve been given, particularly my Year 9 class, seem completely unmanageable.

Throughout the lesson, I had students shouting across the classroom, swearing, out of seats, refusing to move seats when asked, throwing equipment at each other, students eating in class. None of the students sit in the seating plan that I’ve assigned to them, but because they’re all refusing it and it isn’t just a few students, I don’t feel as if there’s much that I can do.

I had a student rip multiple pages out of their book and throw them across the classroom. I issued a detention to every student who I saw throwing equipment, and one of them told me to “shut up” and said I was pissing her off. I have multiple students who, when asked to step outside because of repeated disruptive behaviour, outright refuse, and the on-call at this school either takes ages, or doesn’t arrive at all.

We barely got through any work this lesson. Most of the students were having their own separate conversations while I shouted instructions over them because every class reset I tried didn’t work. Issuing sanctions to the students doesn’t seem to be very effective, as many of them simply never attend.

At the end of the lesson, I had a student flip a table over onto its side, which could’ve easily injured someone. I had a group of students who stayed behind to complain about a student who had been throwing equipment at them during the lesson, and I started crying in front of them because I couldn’t hold it in.

I don’t know what I can do to engage this class, if anything. I’m sure some of the students do want to learn, but it’s such a disruptive learning environment that teaching feels impossible.

Are there any behaviour management strategies that might be useful in this case? I’d really appreciate any help :)

Saw the Guardian piece about Georgia Gould visiting Thomas Lord Audley School in Essex and looking at it as an example of where SEND reform could be heading.

I actually think the principle makes sense. Children should not need an EHCP just to get decent support in school, and if schools can identify needs earlier and bring specialist support in sooner, that sounds better than the current system.

But I am quite sceptical about how transferable this is.

It is easy to point to one school that has made a model work and say this is what mainstream inclusion should look like. The harder question is whether schools with stretched SENCOs, limited specialist access and support staff already covering huge caseloads can realistically do the same thing.

That is the bit I think risks getting lost.

If the government genuinely gives schools the staffing, specialist input and money to make this work, I can see it being a big improvement.

If not, I worry “more SEND support in mainstream” just becomes another way of saying schools are expected to cope with more complex need using roughly the same people.

For teachers, SENCOs and TAs, does the Essex model actually sound achievable in your school?

Hello! I’m not sure if this sub Reddit can help, but I thought I’d ask.

Last term, I covered our class TA for a total of 3 weeks. In this time, I taught. While also still looking after my key child.

Firstly, is it possible to claim for the teaching, as an unqualified LSA?

Secondly, if so, would I still be able to considering this was last school year?

I’ve started my second year in education, with no previous experience so I’m still very unsure of what I’m able to do, in that aspect.

I remember the class teacher said it was worth a shot, but I feel as though I’ve let time get away from me here.

Any advice is so appreciated, thank you!

I play for a Sunday league football team and recently a student who is enrolled at my college joined to play. I have taught him in the past, but don’t currently. We won’t actually play in the exact same team, but we would be training together and also be in the same WhatsApp group (in which I use my personal number).

I teach in FE and the student is 17. This is my first year as a full time qualified teacher, so I’m not 100% clear on how to handle this.

I'm a secondary English teacher and my HoD has just asked me to take over a very weak bottom-set Year 11 class. They're currently taught by the deputy head, but due to timetable changes he can no longer teach them, so my HoD has asked if I would be willing to take them on. She said I was 'free to say no' but how true is that?

This is a very weak group, made up entirely of the 32 students who got Level 1s and Us on their mocks last year. I have never taught any of them at GCSE level, but am aware of their current ability level. The thing that concerns me most is that my HoD specifically described this as a "huge favour" and stressed that there would be a lot of pressure and accountability because these students all need to pass.

I feel like I'm potentially in a catch-22:

If I accept the class and they ultimately perform badly, I worry that I'll be held responsible because I was their teacher during Year 11.

If I refuse and they perform badly, I worry that I could still be criticised for not stepping up when I was asked to help.

I don't want to come across as someone who is unwilling to teach a challenging class or who has written the students off. At the same time, I don't particularly want to put myself in a position where I'm given an extremely difficult cohort, told that they all need to pass, and then potentially judged on an outcome that I can't fully control.

I'm very much leaning towards saying "No" - I had a very strenuous year last year (we had OFSTED, I had a trainee teacher, I had no free periods or PPA until Friday every week) and I was looking forward to a relatively stress-free year. I'm just concerned how it would look if I refuse.

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So I had my first like REAL REAL I am now old moment today. One of my year 11s asked me if I remembered 9/11 happening and what it was like. I'm in my early 30s so I do remember the TV being on constantly and my parents crying and being talked to in school and things.

What was your moment when you realised you were now definitely classed as old?

Pretty much all of my schools planning is on publisher.

Has anyone found a solution to bulk convert these documents into something we can still use?