S3 E1 | Surviving Your First Year as an ECT

Nobody warns you how much your first year of teaching is going to ask of you.

In this episode, I'm talking about surviving year one as an ECT.  The challenges nobody prepares you for, exactly who you should be turning to when things get hard, and the practical habits that will save you hours every single week.

I still remember my own NQT year like it was yesterday.  The exhaustion, the imposter syndrome, the feeling that everyone else had somehow been given a manual I'd never seen. If you're starting your ECT year, or you're already in it wondering why nobody warned you it would feel like this, this one's for you.

I talk about the things the training year doesn't prepare you for, why the challenges you're hitting are completely normal, and who to actually go to for each type of problem, because year one goes far more smoothly once you know that, rather than trying to solve everything yourself.

I also share the habits that genuinely protect your time: batching admin, guarding your non-contact time, setting a boundary and holding it, and swapping detailed individual marking for whole-class feedback.

Speaking of which, one of the biggest time-savers I mention in this episode is ditching individual comment marking for whole-class feedback sheets. I've put together a free whole-class feedback document to help you start saving hours from this week. Grab it here: https://www.missestruch.co.uk/offers/fNUar5qP/checkout

You don't have to do year one perfectly. I certainly didn't. You just have to keep asking for help, learn from your mistakes, and protect your time where you can.