About
School experience allows you to learn more about teaching by visiting schools. If you’re considering going into teaching, you may want to get some experience of what teaching is like before you apply for teacher training.
It can help you to:
- Decide if you want to train to be a teacher
- Build a relationship with a school you might want to work with later
What to expect:
Endeavour Learning Trust's face to face school experience will typically last two to three hours. During your experience, you'll get to do things like:
- Observe a variety of lessons, delivered by different teachers to different year groups
- See how teachers manage a classroom, behaviour and teaching and learning
- Find out how specific subjects are taught by speaking with the subject teachers and subject lead
- Speak to teachers and interact with pupils
- Learn more about teacher training - including the application and interview process from our SCITT team
- We can arrange further observations in the same or other Trust schools if required
What our trainees thought..
(Emma Art & Design SCITT 2022)
"School experience was the final step in my decision to apply for the SCITT course. I would say I was 95% certain that I wanted to go into teaching, however, I had some initial doubts due to not being in a school environment since I was in high school myself. As a result, I decided to apply for some experience in local schools, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I made. It sprung me back into school life, as I observed teachers in their every day with a variety of different year groups, in the subject I wanted to teach. I left feeling enthusiastic and excited at the prospect of teaching in the future, and certain about the decisions I would be making within my application."
(Emma Design and Technology SCITT 2022)
"Before joining the SCITT I was working in a completely different industry so it was essential for me to gain some relevant school-based experience to validate my urge to work in an educational setting. I was fortunate to be offered school-based experience through Endeavour that suited my availability on Friday’s and they helpfully found me a faculty with experienced and welcoming teachers who gave me their honest opinions on the profession. I was also pleased that I could become involved in the classes and work directly with the pupils during practical lessons, rather than just being a quiet observer at the back of class.
The school days were arranged on my behalf without any pressure to apply and it really opened my eyes to how schools work behind the scenes. One thing I was keen to know more about was the work-life balance teachers have and it was the question I raised most of all to teachers during my days in school. Fortunately, the feedback was always realistic but better than I anticipated and it was reassuring to meet fellow teachers, including ECT’s that found the workload manageable. More than everything else the teaching staff I spoke to enjoyed the challenges and rewards that came with teaching and could not imagine doing anything else! If it wasn’t for having these valuable days in school, I may never have made it to the application stage or become part of the SCITT."
