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Newly Qualified Teachers

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The NASUWT offers high quality support to Newly Qualified Teachers

The NASUWT welcomes newly qualified teachers to the profession. If you benefited from being an NASUWT student member throughout your training years you will already have experienced the excellent service the NASUWT offers to all sections of our membership. All students are entitled to free membership of the NASUWT and this offer of free membership extends to newly qualified teachers who decide to join the NASUWT or convert their student membership to full newly qualified teacher membership. To find out more read the Discounted Subscription Rates for newly qualified members section below. 

New Teacher Seminars

A major element of the NASUWT newly qualified teachers' support package are the free seminars the Union provides for new teachers. The NASUWT currently run seminars for new teachers at 3 key periods within the first year after qualification. Every August all NASUWT newly qualified members are invited to attend our FREE Preparing For Your First Teaching Post one-day seminars after completing their ITT training but prior to taking up their first teaching post.  The seminars aim to give new teachers the confidence to arrive at school for the first day of their new career believing that they are properly equipped to deal with any situation they may be faced with. 

The NASUWT also hold a new teacher seminars in November every year after new teachers first term in the classroom and then a seminar in June of every year after new teachers have completed an academic year of teaching. The new teacher seminars that took place in June 2011 for those people coming to the end of their first year of teaching discussed the Coalition Governments proposed reforms and cuts to education, what had gone well and not so well for new teachers in their first term of teaching and there were also a number of practical workshops to aid new teachers CPD, from managing behaviour in the classroom, stress management, discussing how teachers can remain safe when using social networking sites and finding out how to get more involved in the Union. The November 2011 seminar was targeted at those members that had qualified in 2011 and were coming towards the end of their first term as a qualified teacher. This seminar discussed the NASUWT's impending role in the National day of action on 30 November 2011, the NASUWT's action short of strike action and also specifically how the induction year was going so far. The seminar also provided CPD for members including new sessions on 'winning that teaching job'. Find out more about the discussions that took place in the June 2011's new teacher seminar and the November 2011 new teacher seminar. 

Footage of previous NASUWT new teacher seminars as well as voxpops with new teachers who attended the seminars can be found below:

This video is embedded from the NASUWT YouTube channel. You may have difficulty viewing it if you have filters blocking the site.

Have your say

Have your say in the NQT discussion forum. Alternatively 'like' NASUWT on Facebook and interact with other new teachers.

Social Networks for Newly Qualified Teachers

The NASUWT encourages all new teachers to join the Union's social networks by liking the NASUWT Facebook pages and following the Union and the General Secretary on Twitter. At the same time the Union are keen to ensure that new teacher members are aware of the practicalities of using social networking sites now that you are practitioners, as such the NASUWT has worked with Childnet International (new window) to support the production of guidance for NQTs and Trainee Teachers on social networking. The guides are designed to support your personal use of social networking sites, keeping you, your students, and your job safe. They will help you understand the e-safety issues within schools, as well as find advice for your own use of technology. There are two guides: Social Networking- a guide for Trainee Teachers and NQTs and Teachers and Technology- a checklist for Trainees and NQTs.

Issues facing New Teachers

Induction and the 16 month rule (England only)

A number of new teachers have previously expressed concern about the lack of teaching positions available that would allow them to undertake their induction period. In particular some new teachers have expressed concern about being able to meet the requirements under the 16 month rule, whereby new teachers have 16 months to find a teaching post that is suitable for the completion of induction, once they uptake a first supply position. The Department for Education have recently announced that the 16 month ruling is to be replaced and newly qualified teachers will now have longer to complete induction. Read on to find out more.

The McCormac Review (Scotland only)

The NASUWT believes that the McCormac Review Group should have aimed to improve the morale and motivation of teachers to the benefit of all children and young people in Scotland. The review should have committed fully to the McCrone Agreement and the Union asserted that the only changes needed were ones which strengthened and enhanced the framework.

However, the Review is, instead, stripping teachers of their professionalism and is a blueprint for increasing already excessive workload, further deepening the crisis in teacher morale. The Review appears simply to be a further cost-cutting exercise. This is evident from the fact that it acknowledges the professionalism of teachers and that education has improved under the current Teachers’ Agreement but then mounts spurious arguments for change, based on cherry picking data from international surveys

The NASUWT instead believes that a strong framework of national pay and conditions of service for teachers is part of the universal entitlement of all pupils to be taught by highly-skilled professionals. The Union’s position continues to be that there is strong and convincing evidence that demonstrates how national frameworks for teachers’ pay and conditions are effective in delivering a system that raises standards for all pupils within schools. For more information visit the NASUWT response to the McCormac Review.

Practical resources for new teachers

The NASUWT produces a comprehensive package of support for newly qualified members of the Union. The support the Union provides includes highly informative guidance publications such as; 

  • the NASUWT Induction Planner; 
  • the Union's leaflet 'Know your Rights' which sets out the key rights new teachers should expect to receive when entering into their first teaching positions;
  • Starting Out' which offers important advice about starting out in a teaching career; 
  • Sink or Swim: Learning lessons from newly qualified and recently qualified teachers: Is NASUWT commissioned research into the experiences of new teachers in recent years.

All of these publications can be downloaded by clicking on the appropriate links in the 'resources section' of this page. Hard copies can be ordered by NASUWT members by contacting the Union's Despatch Team on 0121 453 6150 or on despatch@mail.nasuwt.org.uk.

However, NASUWT support for newly qualified teachers includes more than just high quality publications. Finding your First Teaching Post is a web based resource that provides guidance to new teachers on every stage of searching for a first teaching post, from the application process through to the post appointment stage. 

As well as the host of practical publications and guides that the NASUWT produces for new teachers, the Union also forms innovative partnerships with a range of other educational organisations. One such partnership is with the publishers Pearson's and involves NASUWT members being able to get a 25% discount on a range of quality educational titles because of their membership of the NASUWT. Find out more about the NASUWT and Pearson's partnership.

How to contact the NASUWT

The NASUWT has an excellent network of local officers, regional staff and legal advisors which means that there is always somebody there to give advice to newly qualified teachers. It is important that NASUWT newly qualified members know who their Local Association Secretary and National Executive Member are as well as having the contact details for the appropriate Regional/National Centre.

Discounted membership subscription rates for Newly Qualified Teacher's

NASUWT recognises that the last thing new teachers want to be worrying about is finance. We also recognise the importance of new teachers receiving first-class legal and professional cover as they enter the profession. The NASUWT therefore offers specially discounted rates to all newly qualified members taking up the benefits of NASUWT full membership, to find out more go to Reductions for New Teachers.