So, You’ve Started Your PGCE: Welcome to the Chaos

Starting your PGCE is a bit like being thrown into the deep end while someone shouts “swim” and throws you a pile of exercise books at the same time. It’s hard. Some weeks it will feel impossible. But it does get easier — the lessons, the planning, even the classroom silences. Over time, you’ll realise you’re surviving more days than you’re sinking, and eventually you’ll look back and wonder how you managed it all. (Spoiler: coffee, resilience, and other teachers keeping you afloat.)

Here are some tips to help you get through it with your sanity (mostly) intact:

1. Accept That You’ll Never Be Fully Prepared

No amount of colour-coded planners or Pinterest boards will save you from the fact that your Year 9s will ask you the one question you didn’t plan for. That’s okay. Teaching is 30% planning, 70% improvising, and 100% pretending you know what you’re doing.

2. Use Your Mentor, But Don’t Become a Barnacle

Mentors are there to support you, not to be your emotional support human 24/7. Ask questions, ask for feedback, but also show you’re trying things out yourself. If it all goes wrong — which it will at least once a week — that’s where the real learning happens.

3. Stop Reinventing the Wheel

Yes, you could spend four hours making the most beautiful PowerPoint the world has ever seen. Or you could nick something decent from TES, tweak it, and then actually get some sleep. You are not being graded on your Canva subscription.

4. Sleep Is a Resource, Not a Luxury

Teaching when you’re overtired is like teaching underwater: slow, confusing, and you’ll say something weird you regret later. Sometimes sleep is the best planning you can do.

5. Remember: You’re Still a Human

PGCEs are intense. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are still allowed to have friends, hobbies, and the occasional Netflix binge. Your students will survive one less extension task.

6. Keep the End Goal in Mind

There will be weeks where you wonder why you’re doing this. But remember: every teacher you admire started where you are.

Final Thought

A PGCE is not about being perfect — it’s about being resilient. You’ll make mistakes. You’ll get better. And one day, you’ll be the one calmly telling a trainee, “Yes, Year 8s are always like this.”