New teacher's diary - April 2008

Steve Rivers (PGDE: Primary student)

It’s now the first day back after the Easter break, which consisted of a mixture of real holiday and work. I feel that people are wandering around campus dazed and relieved to have handed in the final assignment, but maybe it’s just the late night I had putting the final touches to my assignment. Perhaps we’re all just in shock to be back after the break.

Most minds are on anticipation of where we will be placed for our final, crucial, and most challenging placement, commencing in just over a week. I was informed prior to Easter that I will be going to the Highlands to teach in a small-town school and I’m over the moon about this. It’ll be great to experience a completely different type of school and environment for teaching, not to mention the prospect of spending weekends in such a fantastic area of the country. I suspect the heavy workload will put a spanner in the works of any plans I might have for leisure time though. I’ll be staying in a chalet and provided with a car to enable me to get around. I’ll also have to think about learning some Gaelic. I’m definitely glad that I volunteered for a placement anywhere in the country at the start of the year.

The other important event coming up in the next month or two is finding out where I’ll be placed in August for my probation year as a teacher. Having to give a list of five local authorities in order of preference means that there is potential to placed anywhere between Bathgate, Dunbar, Fife and Roslin.