My experience as an EYT
By Debbie Longley, EYT Trainee 2016-2017
In spring 2016, I decided I needed a change; as a newly single parent I wanted to be more around for my children and to leave the dreaded commute behind me. I had been working for a training company teaching 16 to 18 year olds in Work Skills and English and maths, but I was no longer getting the satisfaction that I used to; I needed something fresh and new. This is where I found Early Years and Little Stars where I was advised I would need to work towards a childcare qualification.
As a graduate, I knew that I wanted to complete the PG and EYTS as I wanted to challenge myself and get involved in higher level thinking. I had a look at other university courses and after coming in and meeting the staff, I knew that Derby was the right institution for me. Four months after starting in Early Years, I was in my first session.
I loved completing the degree. The other students on the course were dedicated and willing to share their varied experiences which helped me with, what I felt, was my very limited Early Years experience. I relished the opportunity to research and learn; as both a practitioner and a parent the work was fascinating. The course also allowed me to have a long term impact on the setting I am in. I have been able to implement a number of changes to processes, as well as sharing my new knowledge with my colleagues who have then in turn, developed their own practice. It has been fabulous and rewarding to be part of. To see the impact on the children and what we now offer has made the hours of work absolutely worth it.
Currently, I am an EYT at Little Stars and I am also known as the ‘Pedagogical Leader’ within the setting. I continue to read, digest and share, as well as having those important challenging discussions with colleagues about why we do what we do.
Completing the post-grad modules has given me confidence to succeed in the Early Years, it has awoken a passion in me that I had no idea was there. I hope, one day, to carry on studying and work further with our most vulnerable children.
‘Becoming an Early Years Teacher…A personal account.’ Amy Simpson, Early Years Teacher (2016-2017 GEB Trainee)
As I embarked on my EYTS journey, I was pretty much a nervous wreck, after a bad experience in my third year doing my Primary Education BA Hons degree and a very bad experience on placement in a school, I’d decided primary teaching wasn’t for me and didn’t know what I wanted to do! After landing myself a job in a nursery as bank staff and loving it I then spent a further year working in that nursery and found out about the EYTS course at Derby, decided to apply and give it a go.
With not that much Early Years’ experience I was very nervous but that didn’t matter as my UAM and the other tutors on the course were FAB and offered me an amazing amount of support throughout my year there. I was on the employment based pathway as I was already employed as a practitioner in an early years setting.
Before my first observation, I was so nervous that I spent about 20 minutes beforehand crying in my managers office – I felt physically sick when my UAM arrived, but I didn’t need to because Sue was LOVELY and was really supportive, she could see I was very nervous and put me at ease straight away. That very first observation was a massive turning point in my confidence and I feel like throughout the course, through the support I was given, my confidence has improved massively to how I was in the beginning.
My second placement was a baby placement – I was nervous as I’d never worked with babies before, but once I got stuck in, the setting manger and Sue were fantastic and really encouraged me to start to believe in myself a bit more! I achieved an awful lot in my babies placement over the short time I was there and really feel like I made the most of it – I would love to go back to visit in the future. I think for me, my babies placement is one of my highlights of the course.
My school placement was one that to be honest, I was dreading, because I’d not been in a school since the bad experience of placement in my 3rd year of my primary education BA two years ago. But I felt like the pressure wasn’t too much during my school placement as it wasn’t formally assessed, so I had the freedom to be able to go and get as much out of it and as much evidence for my file as I could. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would and got way more from it than I expected.
I have gained so so much from the course and enjoyed it. The support I had been given through the year has been amazing and I was really made to feel valued throughout my time on the course. I have gained confidence massively, even though, I still doubt myself, but I have come a long long way from crying in my manager office before my first observation. Being on the course made my gain so much more knowledge about the early years and really made me think about my practice.
Through a LOT of encouragement from Sue, I applied for a deputy managers’ job while on the course and even though I completely wasn’t expecting to get it, I got the job – showing my development folder in the interview obviously did the trick!! I would have never thought a year ago that I would be a deputy manager in a nursery after completing my EYTS course, but I did it!!! I am loving my new role as deputy and hope to go on to be a setting manger one day in the future.