The document provides guidance for student teachers on developing professionalism, including reading key school policies, maintaining appropriate conduct and relationships with colleagues, responding effectively to feedback, and taking a reflective approach to continuously improve one's teaching practice. It also offers scenarios and questions to help students strengthen their reflection skills and better understand how to have productive conversations with their mentors about observation feedback.

1. Professionalism and the
Reflective Practitioner

2. Session Aims
• Links to Teachers’ Standards
• To consider what might be appropriate
professional conduct
• To explore how you might develop professional
relationships with school colleagues
• To explore how to respond to advice and
feedback
• To consider how an appropriately reflective
approach might help to improve your practice

3. The Induction Period
Know your schools: making productive use of serial days
The 3 key policies:
• Behaviour Policy
• Marking Policy
• Safeguarding Policy
• Don’t just collect them….READ them
• Why are these three policies key to your placement?
• What other policies do you think you will need to read?
• How do you believe the policies will impact on your
placement?

4. You as a Professional and Staffroom Etiquette:
• What are the possible implications of
discussing pupil matters in the staffroom?
• Where should you discuss pupils?
• You have started to form an opinion about
another member of staff. Would you discuss
this matter?

5. The Reflective Teacher
• Consider how you have approached reflective
activities on previous placements.
• Do we tend to reflect on negative elements of
practice?
• How might you strengthen positive aspects
through reflection?
• How might you use lesson evaluations to support
children’s learning?
• How might you use your weekly reflections to
support your own development?

6. Lisa’s Feedback Scenario 1
• Well, the tutor sat me down after the lesson and asked
me how I thought the lesson had gone. I thought it had
gone pretty well. I mentioned that I had got through all
of the teaching that I had planned for the lesson which I
was pretty pleased with.
• The tutor then gave me my feedback. It was dreadful.
There were so many issues with the lesson I didn’t know
where to begin to put things right. The tutor said I had no
presence in the class and that my voice was weak. In
addition, he said that my pronunciation was not good.
My pace was slow and I lacked enthusiasm.
• I am not sure that he said anything about what had gone
well in the lesson and if he did, I wasn’t listening. All the
feedback that fell on my ears criticised my practice. It felt
like a personal attack. I was mortified.

7. Sam’s Feedback: Scenario 2
• After my science lesson, the mentor asked what aspects of my
practice I was happy with in the lesson. I was unsure as to the
exact parts of the lesson that had gone well but thought that
the children had all been engaged.
• The mentor then asked my to pinpoint what had enabled the
children to remain focused and on task in the lesson, but I
found it difficult to pinpoint the factors that had contributed.
• The mentor then itemised all the aspects of my practice that
had facilitated the children’s engagement. The mentor said
that I had kept the teaching lively and not too much time was
spent on teacher talk.
• The children had short activities to complete in the first part
of the lesson and afterwards they led their own investigation
which the mentor said gave them ownership. I was really
pleased with the feedback, but I was unsure what I needed to
do next time to make my practice better.

8. Scenario I and 2
• Which feedback would you react best to?
• Which feedback would help you to develop your
practice?
• Do you react better to developmental feedback
or feedback that celebrates the positives?
• Think back to some feedback you have received.
What style of feedback was it? How did you
react and how might you have reacted
differently?
• Did you make any changes as a result of the
feedback?

9. A Reflective Approach
• How will you develop and change your practice
if you receive feedback that solely celebrates
what is working well?
• How will you respond and react if you hear
feedback about your practice that you would
rather not hear?
• What strategies might you need to put in place
to help you address your feelings when
receiving feedback?
• Consider which targets you might give to
support the children's development.
• What target were you given which allowed you
to really develop your practice? Why was this?

10. Written Evaluations and Reflections
• Reflection/evaluation 1
• During a PE lesson on the field, I was sure to set
clear boundaries for the children as to where
they could go. This enabled me to keep the class
safe as I was able to see all of the children

11. Reflection 2
• I am becoming increasingly aware of how to develop effective
communication with colleagues, more specifically teaching assistants
and support staff. I appreciate that these additional adults in the
classroom need to have an overview of what I am trying to achieve
and why.
• At the start of the day, I make time to talk to TAs to ensure that they
are aware of what is needed from them. I have also started writing this
out for TAs to refer to in the lesson – ensuring that the learning
objectives are understood and are more likely to be achieved. From
doing this, I have learnt the importance of effective communication,
however, I now need to think about how I will manage this if I have to
do this for more lessons and need to discuss this with my mentor and
TA’s. I have also made the point of letting the children know who they
can go to if they need help. The children appear to spend more time
on task now instead of walking around the classroom trying to get my
attention.

12. Evaluations and Reflections: Critical questions
• Which of the two journal entries do you regard as being the more
reflective?
• Explain your answer with reference to the features each exhibits.
• What is the purpose of completing your evaluations and
reflections?
• What are the features of good reflective writing?
• How will you ensure that your reflections are reflective rather than
descriptive?
• How might you ensure that your reflections help you to develop as
a teacher?
• How will you ensure that your lesson evaluations help to promote
children’s progress?
• Can you link your reflections AND lesson evaluations to any
evidence that you will be collecting?

13. You as a developing professional:
How to ensure productive mentor conversations?
• Be prepared: look at the grading booklet
• Can you negotiate your lesson observation focus?
• Are you in a position to identify your targets for
development?
• Look at the grading booklet for guidance, identify
key aspects for your development.
• Identify your targets from Year 2 placement: Look
at the grading booklet.
• How are you going to address these?
• Working in partnership with a peer discuss these
and develop an action plan ready for your file: use
the grading booklet.

14. You are a Professional!
Remember the following
• You only ever have one chance to make a
first impression – make sure that it is a good
one!
• Show willing.
• Assume the characteristics of a teacher
from the very beginning.
• Exhibit your duty of care to your pupils and
others in the school.
• Seek professional help, guidance and
support as necessary.

15. Features of Good Teaching
The Reflective Practitioner:
Appreciating the mentor’s point of view

16. This session aims to explore the role of
the mentor in order for you to:
• consider the role of observation in formative
assessment of you as student teachers
• consider the features of good teaching
• support the evaluation of your work
• identify your strengths and celebrate these areas
• build on the areas of strength
• identify and address areas for improvement
• identify your own development needs

17. Discussion
• What do you consider to be the features
of good teaching?
• What does the good teacher do?
• What do the children do?
• In a group, write your responses on a
flipchart sheet.

18. Observing teaching: As you watch the
video make notes and…
• Identify the teacher’s areas of strength
• What areas do you think she needs to develop?
• What targets would you (as a mentor) give the
teacher to ensure her professional development?
• If you were the teacher, what targets would you
give yourself?
• In pairs explore the feedback conversation that
could take place. One of you will be the mentor, the
other the student.
• Use the grading booklet for the discussion.
https://youtu.be/0_q2Tad1gpI

19. Scenario 1: Adrian’s music lesson
• I must admit that I am not very good at music. I have little
subject knowledge, just the bits I picked up at university.
Reading music is like reading a foreign language! I can’t
play an instrument and as for singing I really lack
confidence. I planned to deliver a music lesson to a Y2
class. I knew I had a hearing impaired child in the class and
began to question how I could get him involved. In my
lesson I got the children to sing a song that I had to teach
them from the outset. But the response from the children
was like pulling teeth! I played the CD to them over and
over again, but I just didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.
The child that was hearing impaired started to disrupt the
rest of the class, which was out of character. My mentor
said after the lesson that I lacked enthusiasm and
confidence. Well, what did they expect? I don’t really like
music, but I tried my best.

20. Critical Questions
• How could Adrian plan for and teach his music lesson so that it
included all pupils, including the hearing impaired child?
• In what way could Adrian have been more creative in
developing learning opportunities for the Year 2 class?
• Undoubtedly, Adrian did not demonstrate engagement with CPD
in music, or his ability to learn from others.
• What do you suggest Adrian should do in order to improve his
subject knowledge in this area?
• How would these suggestions help Adrian with his confidence in
and enthusiasm for the subject?
• What subject areas do you feel that you might want to further
develop?
• How will you do this?
• What support will you need? How will you ensure that this is
communicated?
• With a peer, draw up an action plan for yourself.