I'm in a bit of a dicey situation. I completed Teach Now over a year ago at a large US charter chain school. After doing my 3 months of field experience there, I was hired as a full-time sub. teacher for the remainder of the year. The field experience went fine, but the experience working there was a disaster and I left on bad terms in the middle of the year. (this is somewhat beside the point, but every teacher in that school would - and did - talk candidly about what a toxic environment it was there)
After applying for QTS last month, I got an update saying they need a letter from the school I completed Teach Now at. I don't know how to approach this. I mean, I did complete the TN field experience there, and the negative experience happened after that was over and I was hired. But following that, I think I burned a bridge at this school. Despite the awkwardness, are they required to comply if I ask for a letter on the school's letterhead? If not, should I just forget about QTS?
Issue with applying for QTS
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chiliverde
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2018 8:45 am
- Location: Europe
Re: Issue with applying for QTS
You need to try as best you can to patch this up. Clearly, you would have needed a reference from this school for any other job in education that you wanted to get. Also clearly, to get these other jobs you need QTS. If you still want to pursue a job in education, I really don't see it any other way.
It sounds like this bridge was burned pretty badly. But any place you want to work at will need a letter of reference, since that is literally how jobs work. Is there any way you can fix this?
It sounds like this bridge was burned pretty badly. But any place you want to work at will need a letter of reference, since that is literally how jobs work. Is there any way you can fix this?
Re: Issue with applying for QTS
It is doubtful that the school has a legal obligation to supply this letter. Ethical, maybe, but that depends on factors we haven’t really examined. But an ethical obligation only results in a letter if the person at the school sees it that way. So use the good advice above and try to patch things up. Have you any friends left there who might be of help? Could you apologize for what happened, even at the risk of seeming disingenuous?
Re: Issue with applying for QTS
Actually, I have a job at a bottom-tier Chinese school for this Fall. Not an ideal situation, but I plan to just put my head down and do the best job I can and use the Chinese school as my only edu-related reference going forward.
The QTS is more for opening future opportunities. I don't know if the bridge can be repaired with the other school, I get sick just thinking about having to e-mail them and ask. I "pulled a runner" with the school, didn't give them any notice or explanation. Despite the toxic environment (forcing teachers to stay 2-3 hours past dismissal time on a regular basis and as many as 7 hours some days, playing all kinds of petty political games trying to pit teachers against one another, being openly condescending to teachers in front of parents and students), there's no excuse for what I did, and I feel bad about it.
But I don't know how to approach it. Should I send an e-mail acknowledging what happened, or ignore it and simply send an e-mail asking for verification of my completion of TN. Mind you I'm NOT asking for a reference, simply verification that I completed the field experience at their school. Also keep in mind this was over 2 years ago.
The QTS is more for opening future opportunities. I don't know if the bridge can be repaired with the other school, I get sick just thinking about having to e-mail them and ask. I "pulled a runner" with the school, didn't give them any notice or explanation. Despite the toxic environment (forcing teachers to stay 2-3 hours past dismissal time on a regular basis and as many as 7 hours some days, playing all kinds of petty political games trying to pit teachers against one another, being openly condescending to teachers in front of parents and students), there's no excuse for what I did, and I feel bad about it.
But I don't know how to approach it. Should I send an e-mail acknowledging what happened, or ignore it and simply send an e-mail asking for verification of my completion of TN. Mind you I'm NOT asking for a reference, simply verification that I completed the field experience at their school. Also keep in mind this was over 2 years ago.
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buffalofan
- Posts: 350
- Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:08 pm
Re: Issue with applying for QTS
It may be a moot point, as it sounds like you have a "preliminary" type credential, which may not qualify you for QTS anyway. This was my experience when I applied, and I had all the paperwork.
Re: Issue with applying for QTS
buffalofan wrote:
> It may be a moot point, as it sounds like you have a
> "preliminary" type credential, which may not qualify you for QTS
> anyway. This was my experience when I applied, and I had all the
> paperwork.
Teach Now gives a standard credential, from the TRA's feedback I just need a letter from a US school verifying I did my field experience there. They did specify that it needs to be in a US school (which it was).
> It may be a moot point, as it sounds like you have a
> "preliminary" type credential, which may not qualify you for QTS
> anyway. This was my experience when I applied, and I had all the
> paperwork.
Teach Now gives a standard credential, from the TRA's feedback I just need a letter from a US school verifying I did my field experience there. They did specify that it needs to be in a US school (which it was).
Response
I disagree with prior contributors.
@buffalofan is incorrect, DC and the Teach Now program provide eligibility for a standard (professional grade) credential.
@Sid is probably also incorrect. As a charter school the DS may very well have a legal obligation to provide you a copy of your service record or verification, which is all you need.
@chiliverde I disagree with, this is a first job, you werent there very long, and you can easily ghost this from your resume. Youre not losing a whole lot in experience for salary, and as you report you already have another job anyway.
There is nothing you really need to fix about this. You dont need to give up on QTS at all, the standard that the TCL/TRA wants is very minimal. The options available to you are as follows:
1) Contact the DSs human resources department and ask for a verification of experience letter, or a copy of your service record. They may very well be legally obligated to provide you one either by statute or by some form of collective agreement. Regardless, even if they arent the HR department doesnt really care, its something they routinely do.
By talking with HR you can avoid the DSs leadership entirely. You dont even have to talk to them, and you really dont have to talk to anyone. Just get the email for HR and send them a request and ask they either or both send it to you by post or scan and send it to you by email, which you can then forward to the TCL/TRA. Its a nothing, no brainier request, dont stress it, it will take a couple days plus transit time.
2) The TCL/TRA will accept additional type of documentation, such as a copy of the field experience agreement, contract or appointment document with the DSs address and location on it.
3) If for some reason none of those are available to you, than request the assistance from Teach Now. They can write you a letter that your field experience occurred at X charter school located in Y location within the US, and then include the contact information for the DS in the letter. If the TCL/TRA decides to verify (and they probably will), they will just write an email to the DSs HR and ask if your field experience was in their DS and where its located, and thats all there is too it.
The TCL/TRA has basically decided internally that "trained" in the US means as part of the OTT mutual recognition, that the training including field experience was obtained physically in whole in the US and not just "by" a US provider. Its a long history, the most recent of which is now Teach Now and SA have partnered together. They dont care how you did, just that you did it, got the credential and the DS was located physically inside the US.
@buffalofan is incorrect, DC and the Teach Now program provide eligibility for a standard (professional grade) credential.
@Sid is probably also incorrect. As a charter school the DS may very well have a legal obligation to provide you a copy of your service record or verification, which is all you need.
@chiliverde I disagree with, this is a first job, you werent there very long, and you can easily ghost this from your resume. Youre not losing a whole lot in experience for salary, and as you report you already have another job anyway.
There is nothing you really need to fix about this. You dont need to give up on QTS at all, the standard that the TCL/TRA wants is very minimal. The options available to you are as follows:
1) Contact the DSs human resources department and ask for a verification of experience letter, or a copy of your service record. They may very well be legally obligated to provide you one either by statute or by some form of collective agreement. Regardless, even if they arent the HR department doesnt really care, its something they routinely do.
By talking with HR you can avoid the DSs leadership entirely. You dont even have to talk to them, and you really dont have to talk to anyone. Just get the email for HR and send them a request and ask they either or both send it to you by post or scan and send it to you by email, which you can then forward to the TCL/TRA. Its a nothing, no brainier request, dont stress it, it will take a couple days plus transit time.
2) The TCL/TRA will accept additional type of documentation, such as a copy of the field experience agreement, contract or appointment document with the DSs address and location on it.
3) If for some reason none of those are available to you, than request the assistance from Teach Now. They can write you a letter that your field experience occurred at X charter school located in Y location within the US, and then include the contact information for the DS in the letter. If the TCL/TRA decides to verify (and they probably will), they will just write an email to the DSs HR and ask if your field experience was in their DS and where its located, and thats all there is too it.
The TCL/TRA has basically decided internally that "trained" in the US means as part of the OTT mutual recognition, that the training including field experience was obtained physically in whole in the US and not just "by" a US provider. Its a long history, the most recent of which is now Teach Now and SA have partnered together. They dont care how you did, just that you did it, got the credential and the DS was located physically inside the US.