Typed up records of weekly meetings with their General Mentor saved in DATE order. These should start from the first or second week in school.
Placement Experience File and QTS Training and Development File
NB: The Placement Experience File and QTS Training and Development File are a requirement at any phase of training and demonstrate meeting placement expectations and the LJMU phased expectations/ ITE curriculum. The file must be of a professional standard and meet all the requirements of the programme.Although student teacher files are working documents, they must also be of a professional standard and will be scrutinised by General Mentors and Lead Mentors (Liaison Tutors). The Placement Experience File must be kept up to date and should be available upon request. It documents developing knowledge and understanding and is used to formatively assess progress against the phased expectations of the LJMU ITE curriculum. At the end of the programme, the Placement Experience File is used as part of the summative assessment process (leading to recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status).
Files should be retained until the end of the course and may be examined by external parties (external examiners or Ofsted inspectors, for example).
The Placement Experience File
The Placement Experience File needs to be organised and available for scrutiny. Student teachers are advised to keep all contents electronically; this enables ease of access for their General Mentor and Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor). Progress is monitored and evaluated throughout the year. LJMU’s OneDrive provision should be used to enable all involved in training access.
The Placement Experience File should include, as a minimum:
- Timetable and Training Programme offered by the placement school
Planned events and activities. - Teaching and Learning Record
By class/group, schemes of work, units and subsequent lesson plans, resources, evaluation of lessons, action planning. - Records of pupil progress and attainment
Records of attendance, marks, grades, formative achievement and targets, samples of pupils’ work and marking for the classes and pupils taught. The information must be anonymised by the student teacher before sharing the file with their Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor). - Whole School/Extra Curricular Activities
These can be subject specific or whole school activities (school trips, clubs, sporting activities, drama and music activities).
QTS Training and Development File
The QTS Training and Development File is an essential record of the training received both in school and university, and it tracks progress made against each of the phased expectations (LJMU ITE curriculum). Like the Placement Experience File, it is used formatively and informs the summative assessment process at the end of the programme (leading to recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status). This file forms part of the final assessment (triangulation) and enables all parties in the partnership to verify that expected progress has been made against the LJMU curriculum and that QTS should be awarded. Like with the Placement Experience File, LJMU’s OneDrive provision should be used and links shared with Lead Mentors (Liaison Tutors) and General Mentors.
It is advisable to organise, update and maintain the QTS Training and Development File. LJMU and expert colleagues in school have access to this file and will check it regularly.
As a student of LJMU, all student teachers are entitled to download a full version of Office 365 from the LJMU website. OneDrive comes with this software. OneDrive is a cloud based storage providing access to files from any internet connected device. OneDrive provides 1TB (1000GB) of free storage for all LJMU students.
If a student teacher chooses to store their folders electronically in another way e.g. Google Drive, they must ensure it is 'backed up', cannot be lost if equipment fails and can easily be shared with their General Mentor and Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor).
All student teachers should create a folder on their OneDrive called – 'QTS Training and Development File', which should then have 9 sub-folders as detailed.
All student teachers need to systematically and regularly save appropriate documents in the right place. It is a student teacher's responsibility to maintain their QTS Training and Development File.
The file and its sub folders must be organised and labelled as follows:
1. Weekly meetings
2. Lesson observations
Stored copies of any Lesson Analysis Forms (LAFs) of their own teaching completed electronically by General Mentor / PM or other expert colleagues in DATE order. These won’t generally start until Phase 2 (unless the student teacher is a School Led Salaried or UG Primary student teacher). Some General Mentors prefer to hand write observations on printed forms. These can be photographed or downloaded to a PDF scanner app to take a record of them e.g. Genius Scan and then uploaded to this on-line electronic folder. Observation records from General Mentors/expert colleagues should cover a range of key stages (and in primary a range of curriculum subjects, including Foundation Subjects).
3. Phase reviews
Copies of all Interim and Final Review Forms for each Phase (or Term for Salaried). These forms are completed by the General Mentor electronically to Abyasa. The student teacher can download PDF copies of their Phase Review Forms. This PDF copies need to be stored in this folder. Failure to do so can result in a delay to the end of the programme.
Submission dates for these are on the website, Section B, for each programme.
4. Intensive Training and Practice
Documents relating to each of your ITAPs should be saved in this folder, e.g., lesson plans, completed booklets, mentor observations, etc. Further information about the specific focus of your ITAPs is in Section B of the website.
4. Intensive Training and Practice
An appropriately completed LJMU ITT Tracker including (by the end of Phase 3) completed audit pages of where the evidence to support your progress can be found.
Please download a copy of the LJMU ITT Tracker from Section C of the website.
The LJMU ITT Tracker documents the evidence showing your progress towards meeting the Teachers’ Standards. There is a short reflection for you to complete about your progress at the end of each Phase.
5. Subject knowledge development
Any relevant Subject Knowledge Audits, Improvement and Development plans and evidence of addressing subject knowledge targets with which the student teacher is required to engage with during the programme.
Programme leaders and subject leaders will guide student teachers about this section, but it is a place to capture work which has developed personalised Subject Knowledge. If student teachers have hand written notes etc., then they can photograph them/use a scanner app and upload them to this section.
6. School-based training activities
Notes from school-based training activities and from any Professional Development Activities (if appropriate). This includes notes from student teachers' own observations of expert colleagues in school.
If student teachers have hand written notes etc., then they can photograph them/use a scanner app and upload them to this section. Student teachers should not type notes up for the sake of it.
7. Personal tutoring
Records of Personal Tutor meetings.
Programme leaders will guide student teachers about this section.
8. Moving between schools
Records of transfer information completed and shared between placements.
Appropriate documents will be shared with student teachers for this section by Programme Leaders.
9. Lead mentor feedback
This section will include relevant notes from Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) meetings, including comments on the progress of this file in relation to LJMU’s ITE Curriculum.
Criteria for the Placement Experience and QTS Training and Development Files
The Placement Experience file and QTS Training and Development file are:
- a requirement for meeting the placement expectations at any Phase of Training;
- professional working documents to support teaching, learning and assessment;
They must be:
- available at all times in school for all tutors and General Mentors to view;
- kept up to date and reviewed by General Mentors, Professional Mentors and Lead Mentors (Liaison Tutors);
- well organised into sections;
- available at university debriefing and review sessions.
Completing and reviewing the contents will help the student teacher to:
- think critically and reflectively about teaching, learning and assessment practice;
- reflect on whole school issues;
- consider how well they are meeting LJMU's ITE Curriculum.
Other Documentation (Section E)
Professional Development Activities (PDAs). These are school-based tasks related to the focus of each Phase of Training. Where PDAs are compulsory within a particular Phase of Training this will be indicated by the Programme team and may form part of the weekly meeting discussion. PDAs may also be used to personalise the learning of individual student teachers, to develop areas that need to be improved to ensure they fully achieve the ITE Curriculum.