QMU School Based Educator Responsibilities

School Based Educators act as a mentor for the student and are responsible for the assessed outcome on placements thus they play a key role in the professional development of student teachers.

Prior to the Placement starting:

Attend the appropriate School Based Educators’ briefing for Year 3 and Year 4
Review the student teacher sections of the University’s Practice Based Learning (PBL) web site for additional information and support:Undergraduate School Experience Placements
Prepare an induction for the student’s first

At the start of and throughout the placement:

Meet and carry out an induction with the student, including:
- Location of appropriate literature such as policies, books etc
- Tour of school and location of relevant resources etc
- Emergency procedures and policies in the event of fire etc
- Contact details in the event of an emergency and reporting sickness absence
Ensure student has School Based Educator’s contact number(s) and email
Collaborate with the student to plan a programme of experience which takes into account placementopportunities
Schedule formal observations with the student including dates and times for the midway review and final reports with the student
Complete and sign the midway review and final reports (It is the student’s responsibility to upload these to the University)
Monitor student attendance throughout the placement – please remind student to log any absence in the QMU student portal
Inform the University Placement & Partnership Officer immediately if the student has an unauthorised or unexpected absence from placement which lasts for more than 48 hours
Inform the University Based Educator as soon as possible if any concerns arise regarding the student’s wellbeing, professionalism and/or quality of performance overall.

(The above is taken from the QMU School Experience Programme Handbook)

Overview structure of programme and placements:

A school experience information support website is available for organisations hosting school experience and School Based Educators. The website has been designed to help make the role of School Based Educators easier by providing links to useful websites related to practice-based learning, along with electronic versions of all the handbooks and forms that School Based Educators need for school experience.

As part of their school experience and professional development, students will compile a Professional Development Portfolio (PDP) during placements using proformas developed by the programme team. The use of the portfolios gives students opportunities to evidence and reflect on their learning in relation to the SPR when on school experience. Students are encouraged to reflect on their practice and identify the professional actions needed to make satisfactory progress against the relevant Standard. This process prepares students for using portfolios to evidence their continuing professional development informing their completion of the Teacher Education Profile in preparation for the Induction year. SBE’s are not expected to assess the PDP but they can request access to it as necessary.

Placement overview:

The Placement Overview for each year group is in the Appendices.

Initial communication and arranging a suitable date and time with the School Based Educator:

The School Based Educator will be introduced to the University Based Educator via an email sent by the student on the 1^st day of the school experience placement. If this is not forthcoming, the School Based Educator should communicate with the student as a prompt to ask them to send the introductory communication as per university expectations. Please see Appendix 3 for exemplar email from the student.
Following the introductory email from the student to the University Based Educator the School Based Educator should then receive an email from the School Based Educator as a point of introduction. It will invite the School Based Educator to keep in contact if they have any queries and to inform them that the University Based Educator will be shortly back in touch to see how things are going over the course of the placement and to agree when it is convenient to undertake the visit.
The next communication to the School Based Educator from the University Based Educator should be to co-ordinate a time to arrange the *school visit. This visit must include a joint lesson observation, time for a discussion with the School Based Educator regarding student progress/areas for development and an opportunity to meet with the student too.

The introductory email and email arranging the school visit may of course be combined into one email from the University Based Educator.

The School Based Educator should be aware that although the student should follow university regulations regarding reporting any absence it would be helpful for the School Based Educator to contact the University Based Educator especially where there are any ongoing absences or issues of timekeeping which the school has not been able to resolve.

*If, at the time of communicating with the University Based Educator by email, the School Based Educator feels that an earlier visit during the school placement would be preferrable in supporting the student and the school it would be appropriate to arrange as a matter of urgency.

*A school visit can be rescheduled to the final week of placement if for any reason the original mutually arranged visit between the School Based Educator and University Based Educator could not take place.

Pre-school visit procedures:

The School Based Educator should remind the student that the University Based Educator will be taking a cursory view of the student’s Professional Development Portfolio which can be found on PebblePad/ATLAS prior to making the school visit It would be useful for the School Based Educator to remind the student to ensure they have regularly uploaded their weekly focus, reflections on observations and weekly self-evaluations and that all are in place just before the school visit. The University Based Educator will pay close attention to comments written in the most recent weekly self-evaluation which may give some initial context for the school visit.

The school visit procedures. The visit would normally last approximately 2 hours:

The University Based Educator would normally arrive 10-15 minutes before the start of the arranged school visit schedule.
An initial brief chat/meeting with the University Based Educator prior to the joint lesson observation would be beneficial to discuss student progress/areas for development and contextualise the class being observed.
The School Based Educator is to jointly observe the student teaching in conjunction with the University Based Educator. Both observers will use the joint observation form to record their thoughts of the student’s teaching during the lesson observation.
As a guide, the lesson observation should last around 45 minutes and the lesson, where possible, should be a complete lesson within that time.

Lesson observations of students

During their time in school a student might be observed teaching by several people during their school placements. The list includes School Based Educators/class teachers, headteachers and University Based Educators. To achieve some consistency of approach it is recommended that joint observations are carried out. Many schools now include joint observations as a means of moderating assessments and for training less experienced staff.

Aims of lesson observations:

Lesson observations are conducted as formative classroom assessment to:

identify the student’s strengths and areas for development
offer strategies and ideas to help the student improve
develop the student's knowledge and skills through analysis and discussion of classroom performance.

In general, observers should:

comment on what is seen objectively
focus on any specific areas perhaps discussed pre the observation
consider any contextual information
try to understand the rationale for the student’s methodology

Observations can provide good evidence of curriculum knowledge. To address curriculum knowledge, observers could focus on issues such as:

What sort of questions are being asked, e.g. open/closed?
How does the student get the pupils to think?
What starting points are being used? Is the student able to use allusions, analogies, and anecdotes to make curriculum knowledge available and accessible to learners?
Is the student capable of differentiating questions for individual learners and encouraging them to develop their own ideas?
Following the lesson both the School Based Educator and University Based Educator meet to discuss the student’s teaching and to agree on what the feedback to the student should be.
Feedback on the lesson observation should then be provided to the student. It would be excellent practice for both the School Based Educator and University Based Educator to jointly provide feedback to the student. This may not always be possible and may depend on whether as a School Based Educator there is availability/cover has been arranged. It may therefore be the University Based Educator who will primarily provide the agreed joint feedback to the student alone.

When feeding back, observers should:

encourage the student to analyse the lesson and to identify strengths and areas for development
focus on strengths initially
consider the student’s stage of development
report on the main foci of the observation
set realistic and achievable targets
advise on and discuss alternative approaches (especially if the student has encountered difficulties)
conclude by summarising main points, revisiting strengths

Following the lesson feedback, the University Based Educator will then provide discussion time which they will personalise and link to the needs of the student. This could include any additional advice post lesson or discussing future targets where necessary and providing advice and guidance regarding paperwork for the Professional Development Portfolio.

Post-school visit procedures:

The University Based Educator will then write up the joint observation and email a signed copy of the completed lesson observation form to the School Based Educator. The School Based Educator should then add any additional information which may have been omitted from the lesson observation form and add their signature. The School Based Educator should email the updated version of the completed observation form to the student who should then upload to their Professional Development Portfolio and to the Hub drop box.

Final Report

The SBE will share the Final Report with the student who will then sign it and upload it to the Hub and their Professional Development Portfolio.

Overview of SPS (Student Placement System)

The Placement & Partnership Officer arranges all placements through the SPS via the GTCS website. This is a central hub for all universities to match student teachers to schools. The student teachers are matched based on the criteria set by universities and offers provided by schools. Students should not arrange their own. All course documentation is uploaded and accessible through the system prior to the placement start date.