Episode 23 — Looking Back on Our Early-Career Teaching Experience with Abby Bayford

In this Mind the Gap episode, Tom and Emma speak with Abby Bayford, editor and contributor to Letter to My NQT Self. Written by the Academy Transformation Trust family and friends, the book is a collection of retrospective letters by various teachers to themselves as newly qualified teachers (NQT). Visit edCircuit.com to watch this episode.

Tom, Emma, and Abby dive into the details and importance of the book, whose proceeds are going to the charitable efforts of Education Support. Abby describes how it started as a roundtable discussion on induction experiences and guidelines for early career teachers and eventually grew into a John Catt book raising money to provide educators with mental health and wellness services.

Abby wanted the book to be “a heated blanket” of support for teachers to take in on their own time, reading the letters and absorbing useful, helpful experiences. When organizing the writers for the book, Abby made deliberate requests for concrete strategies to be woven into the letter experiences.

The discussion moves along with takeaways from the letters reflecting on teacher experience from authenticity to colleague collaboration, generosity, and community spirit. Mentorship and instructional coaching are examined as a more elaborate and necessary element compared to early education models. As Tom suggests, there is no reason that Letters to My NQT Self shouldn’t be available for all early educators in every school.

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Mind the Gap is presented by John Catt Educational, a leading independent publisher that has supported teachers and school leaders with research-based, easy-to-use professional development publications since 1959. Learn more at us.johncattbookshop.com (US) or johncattbookshop.com (International).

Abby Bayford is the editor of Letter to My NQT Self. Follow her on Twitter @ATT_Institute

Tom Sherrington's books include Teaching WalkThrus, Rosenshine’s Principles in Action and The Learning Rainforest Fieldbook. Follow Tom on Twitter @teacherhead

Emma Turner is author of Be More Toddler: A Leadership Education From Our Little Learners and Let's Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education. Follow Emma on Twitter @emma_turner75