Ted Wragg, professor of education at Exeter University, answers your professional problems, big or small, every week. Ask him for advice - or offer some of your own - by writing to: Dear Ted, Friday magazine, Admiral House, 66-68 East Smithfield, London E1W 1BX.Or email: dear.ted@tes.co.uk.

Ted says

It has become fashionable recently to draw up lists of competencies, both for trainee and experienced teachers. Complex activities such as teaching, however, are not always best learned by swallowing little morsels one at a time. Surely it would be better to concentrate on more general key aspects of the job.

Class management is certainly worth addressing from the beginning. Skilful teachers work hard each year to establish positive relationships and develop sensible and feasible classroom rules. Many ensure that children themselves are involved (why do we have rules about behaviour, laboratory safety, classroom discussions, and so on?). In your second year you can concentrate on managing your first encounters with a new class in September, when vital spadework for the whole year is done. Try to do it even better than you did first time round.

The related skills of questioning and explaining are essential daily professional tools. It is well worth any effort you spend improving these. The ability to explain clearly has consistently been shown in research to be highly appreciated by pupils themselves. Discuss with your mentor any concepts you find difficult to explain. Teachers may ask several hundred questions in a single day, so are yours boring and predictable, merely requiring mechanical recall, or are some more thought-provoking? Do you handle children’s responses well, listening carefully to what is valuable diagnostic information, building on their replies, or do you choke them off?

Finally, why not try to give more responsibility to your pupils? One important part of citizenship is for children to learn to make intelligent decisions about themselves and others. Class management that develops self-discipline in children is likely to be more enduring. The recruiting slogan says “No one forgets a good teacher”; hard work early in your career will help put you in the “unforgettable” category.

You say

Jumping through hoops

I am in initial teacher training and discussions with my mentor have unnerved me as to whether I should be ticking off my “competences” or my “competencies”, let alone which ones I have unambiguously achieved in the classroom. Reference to Fowler (1926) suggests “the first form is gaining on the second”.

I only hope that I am more competent in teaching grammar than the Teacher Training Agency is in choosing its specious terms of reference. May I suggest “hoops that I have jumped through” as letting us all know where we stand?

Leslie Wood, email.

Some things can never be taught

The first year of teaching is tough, even for the most talented individuals. The last thing that anyone needs is to spend time jumping needlessly through hoops to tick off “standards”.

It would take a braver person than me, however, to suggest that you could get by without good subject knowledge, a growing battery of classroom management skills or the ability effectively to monitor, assess and give feedback on the progress of your pupils. All these must be core skills for all teachers, whether learners or experienced.

I advise new teachers to concentrate on developing positive professional relationships with their pupils. This means more than getting a balance between being “easy going” and “don’t smile until Christmas”. It is earning respect from pupils because it is obvious you care, building their self-esteem and having high expectations.

I have yet to meet a really good teacher who does not relate well to pupils. While this kind of communication skill cannot be completely taught, I am sure it is possible to improve with coaching and by learning to use different skills and techniques.

Most teachers I know say that the most difficult time after their NQT year is the first year in their second school. This is because they have to start again to build relationships and a reputation with a completely new group of youngsters.

Secondary head, Herefordshire.

Part of the bigger picture

The competencies imposed by government can appear to reduce teaching to mundane levels equivalent to working in a fast-food store flipping hamburgers - not that I have anything against fast food. But although prosaic, they are extremely good pointers towards the qualities that make a good teacher.

The danger is that it becomes a tick-box approach, rather than an indicator of how things should be done. If you roll together the 12 main competencies and operate to their spirit, then successful completion of your NQT year and a fulfilling career in teaching awaits you.

The essential thing is that they are shell descriptors which are useful only when you mesh them together to become part of the vibrant living career of education.

Remember, too, that a teacher who is not also a learner in a learning community is a poor teacher.

Mike Hardacre, Wolverhampton.

Failing means never teaching

Ignore these competencies at your peril. The reality is that if you fail your NQT year you will not be able to teach at all.

Carmel Browne, email