Supporting Nqts and Rqts

Supporting NQTs and RQTs

Introduction

The aim of this booklet is to give you, as an NQT/ RQT, a clear picture of the support, resources and advice that is available to you in the first years of your teaching career. Our commitment to you as a professional does not end when you leave university; working with all our NQTs/ RQTs, their employing schools and local authorities, we will continue to support you in order to build a successful career in the teaching profession.

You will find information about the support we offer and the advantages of being York St John University alumni in this booklet along with details of further study if this is a path you choose to take.

We always value contact with our NQTs/ RQTs. We will be keeping in contact with you over the first few years of your career and strive for this to be a two-way process – let us know how you are doing and if there is any advice or support we can offer.

Our dedicated NQT/ RQT email address is

You will find further information and a wealth of resources on our NQT website:

Good luck in your career & make sure you keep in touch.

With best wishes,

From all the School of Education staff at York St John University

YSJ Supporting NQTs and RQTs

Contents

NQT Charter
Tailored Support
Postgraduate Qualifications at YSJ
Alumni Benefits
YSJ Library
Careers
YSJ Seminars & Conferences

NQT Charter

NQT Charter

At York St John University, we recognise, and celebrate, the fact that many of our schools have very robust, highly effective NQT induction programmes. Our aim is to complement the support being offered in the school, by the Local Authority and Teaching School Alliances and to be instrumental in creating highly-skilled, confident and resilient teachers of the future.

This charter sets out our guarantee for all our NQTs. It sets an agreement between the NQT and the university in which both have important roles.

Support for NQTs will be offered in a number of ways:

Personal and professional development through:

Providing a programme of transition into the NQT year during the summer term before qualifying including the use of the Career Entry Development Profile (CEDP) and target setting for the NQT year

Supporting trainees when seeking employment in their first teaching post in the form of careers inputs and mock interviews with local Head teachers and senior school staff.

Monitoring and providing additional targeted support for any trainees who were graded as ‘requires improvement’ at the end of their final school experience

Providing up-to-date and accurate information to all employing schools to ensure that all NQTs are fully supported in their induction year

Encouraging NQTs to access online materials and resources available on our NQT webpages. These resources are available to all our graduates, including those who have not secured a teaching post.

Providing continued professional development including NQT conferences which are offered, where practical, in conjunction with our partnership schools

Continued communication with the university through:

Email contact from the NQT Lead throughout the NQT year.

Seeking the views of NQTs, mentors and head teachers via surveys and/ or questionnaires.

Providing a range of opportunities for the ‘NQT voice’ to be heard and acted upon.

Liaising with schools employing our graduates to try to ensure a smooth transition for all into their NQT year.

Providing up-to-date information regarding YSJ conferences and training that may be beneficial to NQTs.

A dedicated NQT inbox ( ) allowing NQTs to seek any further advice or support they may need during the early stages of their teaching career and to make suggestions for any additions to the NQT webpage.

2: Tailored Support

We understand that your NQT year can be very demanding and that there may be times when a little extra support may be needed. We therefore have a dedicated NQT email address if you need to contact the university. We also have an NQT/ RQT website where you will find advice, information, resources and information of upcoming events.

During the first term of your NQT year, we will contact both you and your employing school via email to see how things are going. We will ensure that your school receives a copy of your Career Entry Development Profile (CEDP) and an updated reference.

We would be grateful if you could keep us up-to-date with your employment details, please email any updates to the dedicated NQT inbox.

Postgraduate qualifications at YSJ

YSJ graduates from ITE are encouraged to build on their qualification and consider further Master’s level study. Teachers can benefit professionally from engagement with research, gaining research skills in order to facilitate change within schools and make a differencefor example to teaching and learning and leadership. There are personal benefits to be gained from collaborative learning and the opportunity to develop subject specific knowledge and an internationally recognised qualification which will enhance careers prospects. Below are details of our MA Education and Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) programmes. If you wish to pursue a subject based Master’s degree please refer to YSJ’s website:

MA Education

10% fee discount for YSJ graduates APEL PGCE M level 60 credits

Introduction to the MA Education

The world of education is one of constant change, with new discoveries and developments such as how the brain works and how we learn, the influence of digital technology, policy reforms and pedagogical research into teaching and learning. Change and development can be exciting, frustrating or just confusing at times. At the same time there is an argument surrounding the need to make teaching a Masters profession. M level credits were reintroduced to the PGCE in 2009 which was in response to the alignment of postgraduate qualifications across Europe.

This postgraduate programme offers you an exciting opportunity to engage with current issues and thinking about education, to take a step back, reflect and make sense of all this. It also enables to you develop skills through ‘evidence-based continuing professional development’ which is recognised by the current Government as a key priority. It is likely also that a qualification such as the MA Education will stand you in good stead as new standards for teachers’ professional development are written later this year.

The programme has been designed so as to offer flexibility and scope for negotiation of pieces of work with the module tutor, whilst being rigorous and reflecting the expectations of study at this level. The principle of ‘negotiability’ permits some scope for negotiation of assessment types and allows each student to demonstrate the learning outcomes for a module in ways most appropriate to them.

The MA Education suite of awards offers students the choice of a specialist award or the generic MA Education award. The specialist awards are: MA Education: Early Childhood; MA Education: Research-engaged setting; MA Education Post-compulsory Education; MA Education: Mentoring.

Full details are available at:

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Professional doctorates are an expanding area of provision, both nationally and internationally (HEFCE, 2016). The Faculty of Education and Theology has long-standing expertise in offering training for teachers and ministers of religion, and our staff has research and supervisory experience that place us in a strong position to offer professional doctorates as well as the traditional PhDs we currently offer.

The program, commencing in 2016/17 is likely to appeal to mid- and senior-career professionals in education and other areas of public service wishing to enhance their professional qualifications and develop their leadership and research capacities

The YSJ professional doctorate involves designing and completing research that directly relates to the practice of the candidate and results in a contribution to knowledge as well as having some impact on practice. In line with the structure of the majority of professional doctorates in the UK (HEFCE, 2016), the YSJ Professional Doctorate will involve two distinct but related stages with significant pedagogical input, cohort learning and research training in stage one, followed by independent research, involving a thesis and examination by viva in stage two. This model is reflected in the QAA statement (2011, p. 15), “professional and practice-based doctorates normally include structured elements such as lectures, seminars and workshops with an emphasis on the candidate acquiring the skills relevant to their professional practice, in addition to producing original research”.

The structure of stage one is as follows:

Module 1: Identifying and articulating issues in professional practice

Module 2: Contextualising issues in professional practice

Module 3: Researching issues in professional practice

Module 4: Influencing and impacting on issues in professional practice

Each of these modules will involve the completion of an assessment task, or series of tasks, equivalent to 8,000 words, which will be assessed on a pass/fail basis with an emphasis on the provision of constructive formative feedback in order to support the candidates’ ongoing learning and development as research-capable professionals.

Following the successful completion of stage one, stage two involves the completion of a thesis of around 50,000 words. Given the focus of the YSJ professional doctorate on research that directly relates to the practice of the candidate, it is expected that the research output will not only constitute a contribution to knowledge but also that it will have some impact on the perceptions and/or conduct of professional practice. This aligns with the QAA (2015) guidance that “successful completion of the degree normally leads to professional and/or organisational change”.

Further details are available via the link below:

4: Alumni Benefits

Membership of the YSJ Alumni is free and there are several Alumni groups which enable you to stay in touch with peers and to make new contacts. There is a quarterly E-newsletter with interesting articles and interviews with key individuals associated with the University.

5: YSJ Library

We offer all graduates alumni membership of the library for £10 per year – details at

Basically, you can have borrowing rights and access to IT/electronic resources if you are on campus. This includes the excellent children’s books and the RE centre books too.

6: Careers

YSJ graduatesare offered a range of support to help them to make the most of their unique skills and experiences.

We can help with:

Working out what to do next
Marketing yourself in CVs, job applications and interviews, including for further study
Finding internships, voluntary and work experience opportunities
Finding graduate and part-time job vacancies
Developing your skills through a range of activities and opportunities
Developing your business ideas

Full details are available on the website below:

7: YSJ Seminars/ Conferences

We will keep you up-to-date with any CPD/ training opportunities via our NQT/ RQT website. The link below gives information of YSJ events including the Ebor Lectures and Go York Lectures.