While you’re probably looking forward to the upcoming summer break as a chance to get away and put your feet up, the holidays also present the perfect opportunity to ensure you’re ready for the next school year. A lot of your time will be taken up already but what can you do to put yourself in the best possible position to hit the ground running in September?
End the current year well
By ensuring that you efficiently (and positively) close off your final supply role before the holidays start you can mentally reset and put yourself in the right frame of mind for the next school year. Don’t leave anything unresolved and speak to the schools and trusts that you’ve worked with this year to thank them for opportunities and to highlight your availability for the upcoming term.
Evaluate and set goals
Self-evaluation is a useful tool in any industry, not just teaching, and can lead you to highlight where you’re at your best and what areas you could improve upon. Ask the schools you’ve worked with for honest feedback and you’ll gain a better appreciation of how your skills are thought of by the people you work with. Don’t focus on aspects that are out of your control; if the internet didn’t work at one school that you worked with, that’s not your fault, however, if you feel that you could have been more confident with a specific class or could have planned for lessons more effectively, then this gives you an area to improve upon for the next school year. Evaluating your performance and skill set can also enable you to identify the learning and development opportunities that are right for you, which leads us on to…
Review your training needs
While not every employer or recruitment firm will provide tailored training opportunities, here at The Supply Register we believe in developing the skills of the supply specialists that we work with. We’ve partnered with The Skills Network, a firm that offers CPD opportunities to education specialists in a range of different areas. While it may be challenging to complete courses during term time, when you’re not sure when you may be called upon to step in at short notice, the holidays present the perfect opportunity to bolster your skill set and to find the right course for you.
Recharge!
Using the break to develop your career is important, but so is ensuring that you’re in the best possible position to carry out your role effectively in the new academic year. This means resting and truly disconnecting from the world of work for at least part of your break. We would all love to spend two weeks in The Maldives, but this isn’t possible for everyone, however, even smaller breaks like meeting up with friends, going out for lunch, reading books that you’ve not had time to complete and taking time for your hobbies can make a major difference to your wellbeing and ensure that you have the energy to hit the ground running in September.
Don’t leave it until the last minute
Equally, don’t leave everything until the final week. In an ideal world, you should be fully prepared in the second to last week of the break, leaving yourself some time to truly relax before term starts again. This means familiarising yourself with any changes to the syllabus, read through any new books you know you’ll be working on and prepare some outline lesson plans before September approaches.
Partner with an expert
If you have been managing your own career as a supply teacher, you will recognise just how stressful and time-consuming this can be. However, there is another way. By working with our expert team at The Supply Register you can boost your earning potential, find meaningful roles at schools you want to work with, avoid annoying administrative tasks as well as getting paid when you want.
Speak to our consultants to find out how we can enable you to boost your career opportunities.
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