One of the big surprises of this placement is how much I have found it possible to build strong relationships, even though I haven’t been able to meet anyone in person. I have made a really strong connection with the students at my placement school, not just when teaching lessons, but also by participating in other activities (like story time) and through our interactions while leading small group work. There have been some lovely moments that I would not have thought possible when the placement began: I have particularly enjoyed reading with the children and chatting to them about books that they have read.

Alongside this, I have been able to build a good relationship with my mentor. We ‘meet’ regularly outside class time to go through feedback, discuss our schedule and make plans for how we are going to run placement-based activities remotely. The placement has also brought me much closer to my placement partner. We have communicated a lot and collaborated really well, working out how to handle common challenges created by the lockdown restrictions. We are a good team and the collaborative skills that I have picked up will, I am sure, be useful in my career.

The highlight of the placement came during the final lesson in a series of three which I taught with my placement partner to the children who were actually present in school. This involved some very practical science activities and it was really pleasing to find that we could successfully run a lesson like that through our computer screens. The children were very engaged, clearly absorbed many of the ideas we were trying to encourage, and were using vocabulary and knowledge that we had covered in previous lessons. The most gratifying aspect was that we developed these lessons as a replacement for pre-recorded sessions, because of concerns that the latter approach was wearing thin with the children. It was very rewarding to work out a solution to an issue that the class had been struggling with during lockdown, and to have played a part in its successful delivery.

While remote placements are therefore challenging, the experience has helped me to develop in all sorts of ways, especially in terms of my autonomy and problem-solving skills. Having to teach remotely has meant that I could not rely on my mentor and his resources in ways that I normally would. It’s unfamiliar territory, but it has pushed me to reflect a lot more about how I am delivering lessons and organising certain activities. In turn, that has led to fruitful discussions with my mentor, my tutor and my trainee partner. These conversations – coupled with resources shared by the Faculty and my fellow-trainees – have given me the confidence to develop my own remote teaching methods and strategies.

Another unforeseen benefit of the remote experience has been that, because everything changed so close to the start, I was very involved in its planning. I have been able to shape and prepare my own learning on this placement, as well as that of others; it has been a very satisfying experience.