Now are a real teacher but as you are discovering, your first year in the profession as an ECT is a steep learning curve. There will be moments of joy and overwhelm – knowing what lies ahead is a key factor to being able to successfully prepare yourself for the 3 stages of transition – Dive, Survive and Thrive.
As you move through these stages, you will be transitioning in a similar way to being a learner driver stumbling over controls, to being able to control the car but lacking finer skills of motoring to being ready for your driving tests.
Stage 3: Thrive
Remember in the run up to your driving test how you were able to navigate the roads pretty competently in a variety of conditions and road types?
You were able to change gears without losing control of the steering and in fact, you often were making manoeuvres without consciously breaking them down to individual components. You could ‘mirror, signal, manoeuvre’ around a parked car in a fluid series of actions.
You were not just surviving on the road, you were thriving and enjoying that new-found liberty that being a driver brings.
Well to reach the thrive stage in school, you will probably have to do a full academic year, so you understand (or at least have experienced) every aspect of an academic calendar.
It is possible to thrive sooner, of course, but in Spring term you will have yet to gain knowledge of exams, sports days, transitions, end of academic year handovers, to name but a few things.
Whereas starting your second ECT year, you will have gone through a full cycle and this time, you will know both what to expect but also have an idea of how you did it last time.
Can you see the difference?
And because you are not looking only at the piece of road directly in front of the car, you are able to look up and start to see the view beyond.
The further in front you can see and predict, the more you will be able to thrive.
Teaching is built upon experience. It is not an easy profession and probably far more challenging than many expect.
In the right setting and circumstances, teaching is without question an amazing career.
Enjoy it.
And if you don’t enjoy it.
Get out now.
Want help to make sense of your career, message me.
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Ready Early Career Teachers for the 2nd stage of transition from ECT to QTS?
