Starting a new school year is always intimidating. That’s particularly true when it’s your first year!
I was incredibly nervous before my first day, but my colleagues were incredibly supportive. Teachers love to help other teachers.
In the spirit of helping each other, five teachers agreed to give their advice to Newly Qualified Teachers, students in teacher college, and anyone else who’s nervous and/or excited to start teaching this year!
Respect Support Staff
Mark Anderson (@ICTEvangelist) is one of the UK’s top education bloggers. He advocates for the use of quality educational technology in the classroom and has loads of advice for new teachers on his website.
Advice: “Don’t underestimate the importance of support staff. In terms of your success in your post, they are in many ways more important than the Headteacher or the Leadership Team at your school.”
Prioritize Positive Experiences
Dan Power (@theMrPower) is starting his second year of teaching. He loves introducing children to new technology.
Advice: “Remember why you wanted the job. It wasn’t for the paperwork, so make sure you get the positive experiences first.”
Celebrate Success
Mike Watson (@WatsEd) is a primary school teacher and outdoor learning consultant. He has a whole page of advice for Newly Qualified Teachers on his blog.
Advice: “Remember to celebrate learning as well as support learning.”
Keep an Open Mind
Dughall McCormick (@dughall) is a headteacher and ardent supporter of Norwich City Football Club.
Advice: “You might get to a point where you want to quit. If you do, remember it might be just that school, not the profession that’s the problem.”
Remember the Rewards
Anji Cromarty (@Ginger_Non_Geek) is a British secondary school teacher focusing on Business and ICT. She enjoys drinking cocktails, reading books, and watching Star Wars.
Advice: “When you’re exhausted and think you can’t do this, remember that you CAN and we’ve all been there. It is a challenging yet rewarding vocation.”
New teachers: What are your questions going into your first year of teaching?
Veteran teachers: If you could go back, what advice would you give yourself on your first day?
Image: freeimage.com / kmb43xgame
Teach in London 
Thanks for including me in this post. I’d expand on my initial tweeted advice to say that I have twice decided to quit the profession.
First, on my teaching practice, my tutor persuaded me to persist after a catastrophic lesson observation. The second time, I remember sitting in the head’s office, sobbing, head in hands, unable to go and face my very difficult Y6 class. It was the wrong school and kids and a change of jobs rekindled my passion for the job and proves that it may not be ‘teaching’ that’s the problem, it might just be the shool/people/kids that just don’t suit you.
I wonder if more teachers were prepared to have one more try, we might have less of a crisis in trrms of retention. Having said that, don’t stick with it at the expense of your health or well-being. It takes dedication and commitment but no job is mire rewarding.
LikeLike
I absolutely agree! I’ve worked in a few different schools and ages over my first three years of teaching. It’s given me a good idea of what ages I like to work with and what kind of SLT I work best with. If I had just stuck with secondary like I originally planned, I think I would have burnt out pretty quickly.
LikeLike