Managing home, study and school on a Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship

Qualifying to teach as a busy mum

Charlotte Kane is a Year 6 teacher studying to get her QTS on our apprenticeship route. We spoke to Charlotte about her experiences of studying to date and how she manages her workload with being a busy mum.

The best thing about this course?

One of the main things has been the outstanding support that's been given to me from both Coventry University and my mentors. Nothing has been too big or too small and I've had a wide range of questions to ask them across the whole course. There have been times when I've thought “should I reach out to them?” but they have been absolutely fantastic—they always know how to reassure you. They know exactly the right answers to give you and they are just there for you throughout the whole thing.

I think it is quite a heavy course and you need to know that you've got support from both NITE and other people on the course; because sometimes in school you can talk to staff members who are really experienced and that's brilliant, but they're not doing the course right now. It's so important to have people in the same boat as you, that you can really talk to and rely on throughout.

How have you managed the workload?

At the beginning of this course, I thought, how on earth am I ever going to do this? I've got a family, I'm a mum, I've got two kids. I was working full-time. Now I'm trying to do a uni course and I'm trying to become a teacher full-time as well. I wondered, is this something that I'm going to be able to manage? I was a bit worried about how it was going to happen.

One of the best things that my mentor said to me at the beginning of the course, was to “prioritise the things you need to prioritise first, and everything else will follow”. Across the course there's quite a few deadlines that you need to meet, quite a few assignments and online learning to do as well. You have to find a steady pace that works for you and allows you to meet the deadlines as they come along. And after a couple of weeks, once you've settled yourself in, it becomes a lot easier.

When you meet with your tutor groups, and you meet face-to-face at the induction, that's a lovely experience to have. We have discussions about our wellbeing, which I think is really important to bear in mind on this course. I've got so much support from my tutor group and I know my mentor is there to reach out to whenever I need support.

Would you recommend the course?

I have loved doing this training course. I would highly recommend this route to anybody who is looking to train to teach. It's designed to be online, so we get the maximum amount of time within the classroom, which I think is really important in teaching. You get the guidance and the pedagogy on one side and the time to put that into practice there and then, rather than having periods where you're not in the classroom.