After qualifying as a primary teacher in 2007, I spent 4 years working in mainstream before taking up a post as a Deaf Education teacher in a primary school. In 2017, I found myself making the move from primary to secondary education within the context of my role as Teacher of Deaf Children and
Young People.
After almost a decade in education, I was quietly confident that I knew every acronym there was to know. Spoiler alert… this was not the case.
BGE, NPA, PTPC…
…EH!?
My first Big School meeting included discussion about BGE, NPA, the SCQF, DIPs and involved a lot of me blankly nodding my head while trying to look like I knew what everyone was talking about. It turns out there is a whole WORLD of acronyms out there beyond the ones we use daily as primary teachers! That isn’t the only difference, though.
Key Differences
Yes, the core part of our role - the teaching and learning - remains the same, but there are a lot of differences. Straight away, I realised that the 45 and 50 minute periods were going to take a bit of getting used to! The school day itself was longer by 30 minutes, but individual classes felt like they were over in the blink of an eye. Plenaries felt rushed, most likely because they were!
I also found it quite tricky to get used to senior pupils being more independent than the primary pupils I had been working with. For example, this year, I worked with pupils at college until 4pm two days a week. Pupils made their own way to college, sometimes stopping for lunch on the way, and I would meet them in the lecture room. When lectures were done for the day, they made their own way home, or stayed later at college to use the study facilities there. After years of making sure children were met by parents at the school gate, I am not exaggerating when I say it took years for me to get used to this.
An initial stumbling block was finding resources that are both age and stage appropriate for Senior Phase pupils who are working within early stages of the curriculum. Conduit’s ASN resources have been helpful with this. These resources are linked to Early, First and Second Level benchmarks, but are designed to be appropriate for secondary school learners in terms of topic and design.
Prepare Yourself!
My number one piece of advice for anyone looking to move from primary to secondary education is to brush up on the qualifications framework and get to grips with the structure of secondary education. My role is specifically to teach learners who are working between Early and Third Level of Curriculum for Excellence, but I definitely still need to know about all the other courses and pathways on offer. From National 2 up to Higher, find out what these
courses entail.
Brush up on the Benchmarks for Third and Fourth Level of CfE to get a feel for the sort of content that is covered in high school. Explore the SQA website. Even if you won’t be delivering National 4, 5 or Higher courses, it is still vital to gain an overview of Senior Phase progression as well as Broad General Education.
If you are thinking about making the move from primary to secondary, try to get involved in the P7 to S1 transition programme, this is a good way to build up your understanding of what goes on at the ‘Big School.’
School’s Out… What’s Next?
Never have I been more aware that we are preparing the young people in front of us for real life, for the world outside the school gates. One of my absolute favourite parts of working in a secondary school is that I have been able to support learners in ways I didn’t expect when I started the role. From supporting senior pupils at apprenticeship interviews and work experiences events to touring universities and working with them through National Progression Awards at local colleges
As you would expect, developing life skills is a huge focus in secondary education, just as it is in primary. From reading bus and train timetables, to budgeting for meals and shopping lists, guiding learners towards becoming as independent as they can is key.
Help Us Develop Our Conduit ASN Content
If you are a primary teacher about to make the transition to working in a secondary school and need resources to support you, please let us know! You can find Conduit at the social media channels below:
Instagram: Conduit_Connecting_Knowledge
Twitter: @ConduitScotEdu
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