Job Discussion Forums

DrTongue · Joined: 08 Mar 2013 Posts: 29

Augustus,

Congratulations on getting the Standard. I'm sure that was a relief after how stressed you were just a little while back.

You've gotten lots of great advice already and it sounds like you've turned things around. That's great. The only thing I wanted to add was that volunteering can be more helpful than you might think. It's true that the format might be rather different from the teaching context you plan to enter. However, I didn't find any issues with them being "less fussy" about the standard of the teaching. Granted, in my volunteer gigs we were cut plenty of slack as most of us weren't experienced teachers, but that didn't stop us from trying to do our best if only to spare ourselves embarrassment. On those occasions where I could see my students get it, I felt very proud and made a note to do more of that, whatever it was. I learned much that I was able to apply in other contexts while building confidence in myself, so volunteer teaching was definitely valuable to me. You obviously care about doing right by your students, so I've no doubt you'll find volunteering worthwhile if you go that route.

It's unfortunate that you've had a painful experience, but I think this thread will be helpful to others in this position, so good on you for posting. I'm glad that you've come out all right in the end.

Xie Lin · Joined: 21 Oct 2011 Posts: 731

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Well, I think a summer school may be a good idea. Either do it at home or, if you can get a visa in time, how about a summer school somewhere abroad?

Augustus · Joined: 16 Oct 2012 Posts: 105

I'm considering both ....

I've started applying for volunteer work and am looking into a few jobs ... I would consider going abroad/summer school but am hesitant as I really don't want to end up in a situation where I am not given support.

When I was at uni I worked for Camp Beaumont for 6 weeks and it was hell. They knew I had little/no experience but the management was appalling and there was no support for anything i.e when there was a child protection/bullying or stealing issues in the dorms going on. We/I were told its group leader responsibility to deal with such piffle matters and there was no support to do anything further than pay lip service to guidance in the parents booklet. When a parent complained about their child "only" getting to chose one ride on the day out at Alton Towers (all the children only got to choose one ride) This was purely due to the organisations terrible organisation, we didn't even arrive at the park until 11am, the queues were horrendous since it was the UK six week holidays. I was called into the office and put on the phone to the stuck up ranting and raving mother while the manager pretended it was all completely down to me!

At the time it really knocked my confidence in dealing with situations as everything I dealt with somehow seemed to go wrong (reality check: It was easy to blame me for lots of little situations rather than admit that the organisation was only interested in �� and when I diverted/neutralised or managed something well there was nothing .... ).

Augustus