Mad (well, QTS) skillz

So, after a full week (for me, that is... taught 4 lessons over the week - it'll be 6 next week) in school, I went and sat my QTS skills test. These are the only tests per se that I'll have to sit to qualify as a teacher and... well... frankly I felt almost insulted!

The three tests can only be booked at hourly intervals, the numeracy test is 48 minutes, the literacy 44 minutes and the ICT 35 minutes. Ultimately I walked out with 3 passes after about an hour.

• The numeracy starts off with 12 timed mental calculations (something like 18 seconds per question), followed by another 16 questions (40 minutes, ish, but you can answer the questions in any order).

• The literacy test starts off with a spelling test (all the tests are computer based and speak the words to you) and then the rest of the test is based around an extract (in this case from a report on an "alternative" curriculum - a skills based one - and its pilot scheme) and tests comprehension, etc.

• The ICT test is a very simple test of basic computer literacy - can you send an email, format a document, re-sort data in a database.

So that's that. Job done. But I can't help but feel almost cheated at how quickly and painlessly it all went past.

*sigh*


The week in school went well, thankfully. I took my first literacy lesson (*gulp*) - two more next week - and survived. Literacy is the subject I feel most scared about - it's just such a "wide open" subject to teach... I just have to keep remembering to refer to the medium term plans to know how to constrain each week and/or lesson. I'm definitely getting there, 'though. And still loving it.


G'nite.