It’s June and the long-awaited summer holiday is in sight. Get those pupil reports finished, nag the induction tutor and head into sending the last induction assessment form to the local education authority and then you can review this year and think about the next.

The last assessment report doesn’t need any writing if your headteacher considers you’ve met the qualified teacher status and induction standards - it needs signing by you, the induction tutor and head.

The headteacher is only making a recommendation to the appropriate body (AB), which is usually the LEA. It’s up to them to make the final decision and pass your name on to the General Teaching Council.

This body is responsible for making sure that your assessment was accurate and reliable, your objectives were set appropriately and you were supported. It can grant extensions to the induction period, but only in exceptional circumstances, where:

* for reasons unforeseen andor beyond the control of one or more of the parties involved, it is unreasonable to expect the newly qualified teacher to meet the requirements by the end of the induction period, or

* there is insufficient evidence on which a decision can be made about whether the induction requirements have been met.

Newly qualified teachers can appeal to the GTC against the appropriate body’s decision to extend the induction period, or fail them.

NQTs in Wales have to meet “the standard”, but procedures are similar to those in England. The system of assessing new teachers in Scotland is different. In their first year, “probationers”, as they are called, are given “provisional registration”. By the end of the year they have to demonstrate that they meet the standard for full registration. The school has to make one of the following recommendations:

* that full registration be granted

* that the period of provisional registration be extended

* that registration be withdrawn.

CEDP

Before the end of term you need to have your transition point 3 discussion with your induction tutor for the career entry and development profile. You don’t have to write directly into your CEDP booklet because the Teacher Training Agency induction website has the questions in Word ready to download. There’s also a range of different formats that you may want to use to record your responses, though I’m not sure that they’re very helpful.

The first question is probably the hardest: “Thinking back over your induction period, what do you feel have been your most significant achievements as a newly qualified teacher?” What will you say? Think of particular pupils or groups, events such as an assembly or trip, or aspects of subjects that you’re proud of.

The next part of this question is also hard: “What have been your key learning moments and what brought them about?” Most people don’t know what helped them get better because development is gradual, or perhaps something significant really made things slot into place - an “aha” moment.

Maybe it was from seeing someone else teach, reading an article, going on a course, or talking through a lesson you’d taught. Everyone has their preferred learning style, but not many people are aware of theirs. However, whatever it was that helped may work again.

This leads nicely into the next question: “Which aspects of your induction support programme have you particularly valued and why?” This information will be helpful to your induction tutor in supporting other new teachers as well as giving you insight into what professional development opportunities work for you so that you know what to look for in the future.

Think about how you’ve built on the strengths you identified at the end of your initial training. Look back over your action plans and review meetings, which objectives do you feel have been achieved? Are there any areas where you’re less satisfied with progress? What further support do you need? This information will be useful when you get slotted into the school’s performance management arrangements.

Lastly, think ahead to the classes you’re going to teach and the responsibilities you’ll be taking on next year; what professional development will you need? Keep an eye on what career path you want to follow so that you make the right choices when it comes to new opportunities. When that’s done, wave the kids goodbye and settle down to do the packing!

* Teacher Training Agency: www.tta.gov.ukinduction

* Sara Bubb’s The Insider’s Guide to Early Professional Development - succeed in your first five years is published by TESRoutledge, pound;12.99

* ‘It’s useful to have the CEDP - something that makes me sit down and reflect on my progress, skills and weaknesses.’

Primary NQT

* ‘My induction tutor was wondering if there was a certain amount of time that induction tutors should get for completion of NQT things, such as filling in forms and so on. Or are they just supposed to do everything after school and in their own time?’

Secondary NQT