Well I'm sure there are a few avid readers of my (thus far 3) posts... You'll be wanting to know how the interview went I suppose? Unless you've heard from me already. Or you only stumbled upon this by accident and don't know why you're still reading.
Let's go back to that Monday. It was a bit of an investment to go, so if it had gone hideously then I may just have given up then & there!
But I got what I wanted and had the interview first; a group interview in which we were given a teaching-related article to lead a discussion on. I was under the impression that it would be current educational issues - mainly because that's what it said on the information sheet we were given - but the articles were from over a year ago! Not a helpful start. But my immediate reaction was that it could've gone a lot, LOT worse! I didn't manage to follow the tactics I'd set out for myself, but I hadn't sat in silence or completely frozen, which is always good. And the assessments were fine, especially the Maths - I know that's my strong point, but I really didn't see why people were saying it was so hard when I found it RIDICULOUSLY easy! But there you go...
And now we come to the reason why it's taken so long for me to write. I got a response a lot quicker than I'd expected, and that was never going to be a good thing - I've been rejected. Sad face. It affected me a lot more than I ever anticipated, it means that much to me. Partly that and also the stress I went through in the days leading up to the interview... It was all for nothing!
It's a very bleak time, and the timing was not great - just over a week before Christmas. It's a miracle I was in the mood for family get togethers at all! But through the support of friends, family & colleagues I'm over it (although it does still grate at me) and ready to move on to the next challenge. My application has been sent to Exeter, and I await their decision (to interview or not to interview?) with bated breath.
I haven't, however, quite got my head around the reasons Bath Spa provided for my rejection: "Your response to the reading task did not indicate a satisfactory level of understanding of the article You did not demonstrate awareness of the purpose of education and the structure of schooling." Got that? No, me neither. Let's break it down:
- I accept the first reason - whilst I know I did understand the article, my nerves must have got to me and given me blabbermouth disease. I do remember that happening! So that's fine.
- I wholeheartedly object to the second part. How can someone who's had over 5 years of experience in Primary School volunteering not know anything about what education is for and how schooling works? And that's without going into the years and years of schooling I've experienced myself first-hand. This was and is the main source of anxiety for me coming out of this interview experience; it is an entirely unconstructive, negative, soul-sapping comment. Though I'll perhaps wait until I'm actually teaching to make a riposte to that! As tempting as it is to answer back...
But aside from that, I'm taking the positives of another life experience - and how a group interview works. For a shy & generally quiet person in an unfamiliar environment, I think I did well. Wherever my next interview may be (please be Exeter, please be Exeter!) I would really like a 'proper' interview - although at least I have an idea about the group situation now, if needs be.
Checking Track every few hours is not doing me much good. A watched pot never boils and all that...
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