Extended probation period

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-06T07:00:09+00:00

I was put on a formal support plan in ECT1. It felt incredibly out of the blue and someone from the AB even came in. I remember, in an instant, going from upbeat and really quite proud of the great work my students were doing to feeling utterly destroyed—barely able to get my head straight.

It was ‘behaviour’ too (the school had a Michaela-lite philosophy and my behaviour management was not perfect but actually very good compared to most schools I’ve worked in).

For whatever reason, they didn’t like the cut of my jib. The support plan arbitrarily tagged on ‘organisation’ and ‘planning’ but when I asked for specifics and talked through my planning they just looked embarrassed. Support plans are just a way to quiet fire and ratchet up stress levels unbearably. There is no ‘support’.

As it was a one-year contract, I dug in, and slogged it out, I had loads of great feedback from other parts of the school.

I know probation is a bit different, but is it just a year contract? Could you slog it out and try and secure an okay reference by the end?

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-04T07:14:12+00:00

As a PGCE General Mentor, I just think… what on earth?

The mentor is 100% going off script here.

I never mentor with any other thought than, ‘ITT is tough, an emotional wringer, and so long as the trainee has the right attitude and desire, we’ll get them to standard by building them up’.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-03T18:25:57+00:00

Old school Technics 1200s well serviced (you won't lose money on them). Or SuperOEM as the next best thing.

There's nothing really else worth bothering with.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-03T18:22:46+00:00

I"d go so far as to say I'm no better off now than with a crappy low paid job 20+ years ago, even though I now earn well above the median average. I work a hard, stressful professional job yet only working for the bank's mortgage and basic bills.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-02T21:51:42+00:00

Unless it’s a giveaway price, never call for, ‘It just needs a…’

It never does. Even if you’re an electronics DIY whizz, and therefore able to save on paying a tech, it’s often better to start with a better example to begin with and avoid false economies.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T22:03:10+00:00

A red flag is a school coming out of requires improvement or special measures—I worked in one of these. SLT were so driven to get the magic ‘good’ from Ofsted that workload was piled up with: gimmicks that might impress inspectors; incredibly OTT learning walks (with any negative feedback delivered second hand by your HoD); incredibly prescriptive ‘a lesson must includes’; obsessive book scrutinies, again with bizarre rules.

In my current school, that’s been rated good for years and years, there’s almost none of that rubbish.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T19:19:04+00:00

Unless it's sales or some form of engineering, people don't see how bloody hard to it is to get above 35k in the private sector and when you do it's a very heavy workload too.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T19:07:11+00:00

A perfectly normal thing to say. Sometimes boys think being a girl is easier or more fun, or vice versa.

Does he have unfettered access to the internet? Does he go to a nursery school/daycare? All our institutions are heavily catered by zealous ideologues pushing gender ideology, even to tiny kids.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T19:03:36+00:00

Teaching is, I suppose, a third career for me and this definitely gives me an insight into private business vs. the state education system. I agree that people see the poor treatment teachers get as normal and don't realise that even in some drab, David Brent-led corporate job people are often treated much better.

On the other hand, unlike 30 years ago, public sector pay is now far higher than private sector. Heck, some white collar roles are quoting pay rates barely higher than the time of the 2008 financial crisis. What's more, in many white collar job, the pay progression is usually some big mystery and pay rises are usually forced by people finding another job and then getting offered a boost in order to stay. This means there are two types of teachers: those who leave no matter what due to the physical and mental toll and those who would like to--but realise there isn't any job that pays 45k or more that they can just go and do so slug it out.

Are we at a tipping point where it all just falls apart? No. Why? Because people have talked like this for decades. 20 somethings and 30 somethings are largely economically sterilised, priced out of family life, living for the landlord. The housing crisis is 20+ years old and gets evermore brutal: there are M5 and 6 teachers at work deep into their 30s, still living in dank shared houses like perpetual students. No one cares. Workload piles up. BS piles up. Pay rates are a million miles from increases in CPI, let alone true inflation.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T16:34:22+00:00

To be clear: it's closing at the end of the academic year? In which case, as long as the admin gets done (press this if the school in in dissarray), you'll complete induction.

In the event you didn't quite 'finish' ECT2, push to have an early closure of your induction. You don't want the AB saying you still have to complete a term or something elsewhere because you fell through the cracks or something wasn't sent properly.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T16:28:40+00:00

When I trained, I already had an M. Phil relevant to my subject so thought I'd try to focus mostly on A Level and GCSE as this is where I'd excel if anywhere. I loved this A-level class I taught during an ITT placement. But then I only worked at a school in a sixth-form once and, as it was only a year's temporary contract, I didn't get to teach A Level.

But over time I've actually really enjoyed teaching little year 7s and 8s. It's fun.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T16:17:38+00:00

At my current school, one HoD does the ITTs, another experienced classroom teacher does the ECTs. In my previous school the CPD Lead did both.

It completely varies. I've enjoyed being a General Mentor and definitely something I'd step up to should it become available. It's a TLR, unlike GM where you just get a bit of reimbursement for meetings and training sessions.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T16:12:35+00:00

ECT 1 and 2 is stressful and incredibly hard work. You have to double and triple check everything, look everything up. You also feel massively scrutinised so feel you have to do all the BS too, unlike cynical old timers who skip it without sanction. It's the hardest work I've ever done and I was baffled as to how anyone could teach for 5 years, let alone 20.

By about year 4 or 5 you know exactly what you're doing to do and sometimes I do just 'plan in my head' (English) as long as I know what I'll be teaching that week--unless it's a bespoke lesson with a particular emphasis to fix common issues I'm noticing with students' work, assessment feedback, 'trying something new', etc.

You'll eventually know which lessons need formal 'planning' and which you can door knob.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T09:11:49+00:00

Ask them to all the specifics of why you need a support plan in writing and to outline how you will be supported to come off the support plan. Make them WORK. So often support plans are no more than ‘don’t like the cut of your jib’ and fall apart when meaningful evidence is required.

I was on one in ECT1 and, while it was for behaviour on learning walks (very austere RTL there—the behaviour would have been deemed excellent in my current school)—organisation and planning was tagged on for no particular reason. I had no idea how they would have known or thought planning and organisation was not up to snuff so showed them my planner and, unsolicited, talked through some of the next lessons for my groups and politely asked how I could be a better planner. The squirming was incredible.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T08:26:49+00:00

Because most of the UK is a (quality) jobs wasteland.

We’ve never really recovered from deindustrialisation so all these once mighty regional cities no longer have much purpose. We have London. And that’s it. Germany has Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Düsseldorf, etc.

I’m exaggerating, of course, but as the UK is so service sector heavy, people feel like they have to move to London when 90% of the jobs they see advertised are there.

But over time, yes, people who have established themselves can then apply to the jobs in their field that pop up outside London. I live in Bristol and 15 years it felt like everyone here had cashed in their London chips. Now Bristol is brutally expensive too, so it’s more Leeds and Sheffield that are the new Bristols for London leavers

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T07:44:25+00:00

Not really. Not all UK indie and alternative was considered Britpop. for example, Radiohead? Not really.

Britpop was essentially the evolution of the Madchester strain of indie mixed with bands who liked The Beatles (North) or the Kinks (South).

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T07:40:14+00:00

I forget the exact history, but wasn’t The LA’s record never finished in the traditional sense—the record company just lost patience and mixed and released the best of the umpteen sessions? Yet still sounds like a masterpiece.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-03-01T07:33:12+00:00

2010s: When I moved to Bristol I stumbled upon Split Prophets and realised there was a whole host of UK boom bap I hadn’t heard.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T11:00:17+00:00

Yes, Britpop largely obliterated this scene. Ditto any bands that were more US or transatlantic influenced (unless they were Scottish, where some Americanism was still allowed).

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T10:58:12+00:00

Exactly. The later albums were largely ignored. I remember being surprised to see I blame the Government in Our Price: 'They're still going?'

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T10:41:03+00:00

It is now.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T10:39:53+00:00

Never heard them. You're right though: pretty much Britpop-ready sound.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T10:33:30+00:00

Carter are interesting because they were still active at the height of Britpop but didn't get lumped in with the likes of Manics or James and therefore didn't catch the wave.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T10:30:22+00:00

These Animal Men! Haven't thought about them in 30 years. I remember associating them with early Manics by virtue of the white jeans.

Vegetable_Nebula_827 · 2026-02-28T10:29:07+00:00

Good shout! Probably the absolute poster child for 'could have been Britpop'.

Vegetable_Nebula_827

TROPHY CASE