It's not just that it's not rigorous, it's that it teaches you absolutely nothing which isn't a) common sense to anyone with half a brain or b) something you'll pick up within a term or so of actual teaching, especially if you're even half-decently mentored within your school.

Exactly. And knowing the school you work at, which is very similar to the school I used to go to, there's probably little interest in keeping on teachers who aren't making the grade, and also pretty high expectations from staff, parents and pupils alike.

Oh indeed. It's a lovely place to work but they (and yes, "they" includes parents and pupils as well as senior leadership) definitely expect a lot of you in terms of the quality of your teaching.

Returning to the discussion on the last thread, I did a PGCE. It was a watse of fucking time. Anyone that thinks that is what makes a teacher suitable for teaching needs their fucking head examined.

I used to teach on one in FE. The good teachers were good regardless, but it did nothing for the crap ones.

they (and yes, "they" includes parents and pupils as well as senior leadership) definitely expect a lot of you in terms of the quality of your teaching.

Are you given sufficient time to plan and prepare? As far as I'm concerned, it's the pre-lesson work that makes the difference between an acceptable lesson and an excellent one.

It's not too bad. I definitely do less extra curricular now than I did in the boarding schools, and not having school on Saturdays makes me much more willing to spend Sunday afternoons doing preparation.

I’d be rubbish at that preparation stuff. It’s all I can do to get a shirt ironed at the weekend, ready for Monday.

That is definitely the thing I miss the least about teaching. I'm working all the hours there are at the moment, but usually I can stop and forget about it in the evenings and weekends. Sunday dread is a thing of the past.

I'm so busy I took my mac to the launderette today when it was the annual duvet washing.

can't macs work by themselves these days?

Frankly I wish mine could at the moment. I am working through the FAQs of a dating site. The sort of good steady work I like having, but don't like doing.

Does your wife know about this?

Preparation is fun, especially for sixth-form (which makes up almost half my timetable).

It's *marking* which sucks.

Especially if you have bright kids, no?

I don’t mind marking.

I will never repeat my mistake of correcting a student’s erroneous use of ‘less’, with ‘fewer, ffs!’, however.

Now you know why they tell teachers not to mark in red pen....

Why won't you correct a grammatical error again, Fleur?

Oh, nice to see you back, Toss, you old wanker!

It was the 'ffs' element that might have been a bit superfluous.

Several times I've found myself using old Talk expressions in real-life conversation with civilians: wrongmo, aces & skill, do one wankfan ...

I will never repeat my mistake of correcting a student’s erroneous use of ‘less’, with ‘fewer, ffs!’, however.

Hahaha

Does your wife know about this?

I have to have a profile to be able to write these FAQs. I took the advice of the lovely Claire (my contact at the company) and created a profile as a 23 year old woman. My profile has no picture, and a three word description ("Just a girl"). I get a *lot* of messages, and it's all been quite an eye-opener!

Any dick pics?