Name: Matt Drew
Subject: Physical Education
School: Crispin School
Having graduated in June from UWIC with a sports science degree in June 2004, restoring my financial situation was priority. Having always wanted to teach, the prospect of delaying a possible PGCE year was far from ideal. The GTP has provided an opportunity for me to kill the both birds with a single stone. While extremely intense, the GTP has been far more rewarding than I ever thought it could be as well as being financially beneficial.
With the expert guidance from my ITT and subject tutor in school, combined with Pam and other teaching professionals in the partner schools, professional and pastoral support has been fantastic. This professional support takes the place of the college lectures in the PGCE route while remaining an integral part of the GTP. It provides opportunity for all graduates in the consortium to meet and chew the cud, brag about the best lesson they have ever taught or whinge about the mountains of paper work they are buried under!
The GTP is `full on'! Within the first three months of beginning your teaching career, you find yourself teaching a substantial percentage of a teacher's full timetable. Alongside the challenges of planning and evaluation associated with this, the challenge of the QTS tests and opportunities in the form of out of school experiences such as KS2/post 16 observation and teaching with English as a second language need to be organised. Organisation helps!
As with anything in life, you get as much out, as you personally contribute to your GTP experience. My advice to anyone who is considering embarking on the GTP is; give it your best shot, as much effort as you can muster and grab every opportunity on offer to you with both hands. In my experience, the constant nag of paperwork and demands to provide evidence that you meet the QTS standards fade into the background, overshadowed by the enjoyment, fulfilment and challenge that teaching presents every day. Alongside all this, thirteen grand for your trouble can't be bad! I would recommend the GTP without reservation to anyone who is motivated, enthusiastic and prepared for a challenge.
I would be happy to talk to anyone who is interested in applying for the GTP in Somerset and would gladly do my best to answer any questions you may have.