Anyone experience of 'Student Associate Scheme'?

brians_daughter

As title really! Just wondering if any fellow MSE'ers have had any experience of the SAS.

Did you find it a useful tools to assist you in considering a job in teching?

Anything I should know in order to make my application 'stand out from the crowd'?

TIA

chris.lloyd

I did the SAS last June and it was the best thing I've ever done. It's very useful because you have a list of things you have to do and you will probably change class at some point so you get experience with a different age group. I did my experience in a primary school, I don't know if you are doing secondary or primary but in the interview, I just emphasised that I wanted to go into teaching and what a great opportunity the SAS is to get a taste of what teaching is like.
I think it was easier for me though as I'm male and they said there are a lack of male teachers and also my specialist subject is Mathematics (which again there is a shortage of).
I would definitely recomend it though as it's both fun and rewarding, I also found the teachers to be very helpful and encouraging too.

Hope this helps, If you have any more questions, feel free to ask

brians_daughter

Thanks Chris, thats great news! I too am studying a subject that is in short supply so hopefully stand a good chance. I have sent my appliation off this morning so will see what comes of it!

amy_lou_4

I did it too, I found it extremely useful in helping decide that I did NOT want to go into teaching after all! (But in the best way possible)

I did 3 weeks at the high school in Accrington (sent from Manchester uni but I lived at home to be nearer for that time) in the languages department. The teachers made really good use of me, setting me to work developing new materials, powerpoints etc that I could then deliver to the students, making resource guides for the older students with French news/radio/tv websites to look at, and working with the other SAs in the German and Spanish depts to make a video of model GCSE oral answers. I spent a lot of time team-teaching with my mentor teacher and got a really good view of what it is like to teach languages in a Sports College- ie where languages are pretty much bottom of the priorities list, and where the pupils in general were not made to care about them either. It also helped me to widen my world view- I went to an all-girls selective school and thus had never been inside a comprehensive classroom in a disadvantaged area. I also had the chance to see how classroom technology has come since I was at school, interactive whiteboards etc, and how well the pupils responded to it.

Some teachers wil really know how to use you well, others I have heard ended up doing a bit more photocopying than they would have liked, but a little bit of work like this is a decent trade-off if you have an excellent mentor. Just be firm about how much time you would like to spend in the classroom, how much you want to take on a teaching role or just watch. We had to fill out a daily journal of lesson observations, in other departments as well as our own, and for this I spent a couple of days "shadowing" students and sitting in their lessons.

You are never left alone with a full class and we were given a LOT of training about things like inclusion before we started. It was good to have a bit of money as well as making use of the opportunities you are already paying for at university.

Froggitt

brians_daughter wrote: »

Did you find it a useful tools to assist you in considering a job in teching?

Anything I should know in order to make my application 'stand out from the crowd'?

Using a spellchecker?

chris.lloyd

brians_daughter wrote: »

Thanks Chris, thats great news! I too am studying a subject that is in short supply so hopefully stand a good chance. I have sent my appliation off this morning so will see what comes of it!

Good luck, hope you get in. Even if you don't like it, at least you know so you won't have to waste time and money studying for a PGCE only to find out it's not for you.

brians_daughter

Froggitt wrote: »

Using a spellchecker?

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.. luckily I wasn't juggling a baby on my knee whilst typing my application . BTW its nice to see you felt the need to add something constructive to the post .......

brians_daughter

Amy_Lou thanks for the info!

Froggitt

brians_daughter wrote: »

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.. luckily I wasn't juggling a baby on my knee whilst typing my application . BTW its nice to see you felt the need to add something constructive to the post .......

I'm not to know that you're spelling was impaired by baby juggling.

It was actually meant to be constructive. The number of CVs I see with basic spelling errors in them that could have been avoided if they had spell checked their work......and one that isnt in some barmy font, or have a strange photo, or doesnt have spelling errors, or shows some relevance to the vacancy, maybe isn't going to stand out from the crowd, but at least it won't get binned in the first ten seconds.

amy_lou_4

brians_daughter wrote: »

Amy_Lou thanks for the info!

No problem, hope you get in and enjoy it

ultimatedingbat

I went for the SAS scheme but had to turn down my place as the training clashed with my uni course. They got really angry with me and I said I can't really jepordise my degree can I?