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It is half way through the autumn half term holiday, and whilst most teachers are taking a well earned break a few dedicated Hereford Teachers just can’t keep away from the job! Once more the week is being used to deliver the majority of the Central Sessions of the Return to Teaching Course.

This year the eighteen successful applicants to the course have already spent as many as seven days placed in schools, where, after observation and pupil/staff shadowing, they are starting to get their feet back under the desk and remembering the demands of lesson preparation and marking!

At the end of this full week, spent mainly at Leominster Community Centre, they will complete the twelve days school placement, hit the November 27th deadline for the two final written assignments and then return for a final day in December which will bring the course to a close with further lectures and the presentation ceremony.

The aim, or should it be objective of the course is to give qualified teachers who have been out of the classroom for whatever reason, the chance to refresh their skills and catch up with the plethora of initiatives and developments in pedagogy and technology that have taken place since they were last in post.

In planning the course we have been aware of the importance of giving all the Returners the chance to rediscover their enthusiasm for teaching and to overcome worries about how the demands of the job might have changed. In order to achieve this the expertise of the Robert Owen Group staff has been supplemented by local teachers known to have expertise in their specific areas and dedicated enough to give up a day during their half term break. Grateful thanks are due to these staff who not only deliver the goods, but also entertain and keep the Returners in total control due to their ability to demonstrate those topics they are delivering!

As usual, the cohort of Returners in 2010 provide a formidable bunch with their expertise and experience varying from the NQT to an ex-Headteacher whilst their absence from the classroom varies from two to twenty two years! The sessions are enlivened by their willingness to challenge and to contribute to the delivered content, thus making the job of keeping to the planned session content quite demanding.

A full week away from home and family has both benefits and a downside but I understand one or two of the local hostelries have noticed an upturn in trade and it is clear that as the week progresses the tendency for a group of teachers to “talk shop” is never lost, neither is the willingness to help and support one another.

The final sessions include a full day spent witnessing the use of ICT as an aid to teaching and learning, a day they are all eager to attend. I just hope that the final days introduction to the recent changes in Ofsted Inspections and Appraisal doesn’t curb the enthusiasm to return to the classroom that is so obvious within the group.

The 2010 Returners will all leave with the ability to make positive and meaningful contributions to children and to schools, they will leave with our best wishes and hopefully better equipped and informed to face the rigours of the Teaching Profession. They will also leave with my thanks for their help and co-operation during all aspects of the course and especially for the quality of biscuits they have provided and the pristine condition of the kitchen at the end of each day.

D. Rogers 29.10.10