1. Apply your learning about rules, routines and positive behaviour management practices in a classroom setting, ensuring you follow school policies and use the relevant school digital tools. Application and Problem Solving Digital Literacy

2. Collaborate with colleagues in school to plan and deliver effective lessons which enable pupils to progress, applying your knowledge of how pupils learn and the importance of good subject knowledge. Communication Critical Reasoning and Collaboration

3. Reflect on your practice in placement, identifying strengths, areas for development and the impact that addressing these areas will have on pupils. Reflection Personal Development & Entrepreneurship

4. Teach the class for 20% of the pupils’ timetable. Application and Problem Solving Personal Development & Entrepreneurship

Assessment 1 Progress review of teaching: The trainee's school-based mentor (general mentor) will complete a progress review of the trainee’s practice, which will be linked directly to percentage of teaching (20% whole class) required alongside the strengths and areas for development.

Assessment 2 Professional discussion supported by evidence portfolio, which demonstrates your successful classroom practice in the areas of: Behaviour management, subject and curriculum, and how pupils learn. The portfolio should include documentary evidence such as copies of children’s work, examples of planning, feedback from your mentor, weekly teaching observation forms, placement booklet, etc. The discussion should include you outlining a target you had in placement, what you did to improve this element of your practice and what impact it had on children's learning.

7Formative assessment will take the form of weekly lesson observations carried out by a school-based mentor and a placement observation carried out by a university tutor.

During the module, trainees will develop their ability to:
- Create positive learning environments and build effective relationships with pupils
- Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils
- Apply rewards, rules and sanctions consistently, in line with school policy
- Plan lessons which take into account pupils’ prior knowledge
- Develop an awareness of common misconceptions and begin to address these in their teaching
- Use concrete and abstract examples in their teaching
- Develop their use of a range of question types to challenge pupils’ thinking
- Understand that pupils learn at different rates and require different level of support to succeed
- Take responsibility for pupil progress
- Reflect on their own practice and use these reflections, along with feedback from experienced colleagues, to develop their practice
- Build effective relationships with staff in their own class and understand the impact that effective working relationships between staff have on children in the class
- Demonstrate the required professional behaviours By the end of the Level 4 placement, trainees should be teaching the class for 20% of the timetable.

This is your first step into the classroom as a developing teacher—a chance to put your ideas into practice, learn from experienced professionals, and begin shaping your identity as an educator. Throughout this placement, you’ll be supported, challenged, and encouraged to grow in confidence as you take on increasing responsibility for pupils’ learning.

During the placement, you’ll learn how to create a positive, inclusive classroom where pupils feel safe, valued, and motivated. You’ll build meaningful relationships with children and learn how high expectations—combined with consistent rules, routines, rewards, and sanctions—help inspire and challenge them.

As you plan and teach lessons, you’ll draw on pupils’ prior knowledge, identify misconceptions, and use a blend of concrete and abstract examples to make learning clear and accessible. You’ll also develop your use of different questioning techniques so you can stretch pupils’ thinking and support deeper understanding.
You’ll begin to recognise that pupils learn at different rates and need different types of support, and you’ll start taking responsibility for their progress during the lessons you teach. Reflection will play a key role throughout your placement: you’ll evaluate your own practice, learn from feedback, and make meaningful changes to your practice as a result.

You will also experience the importance of strong working relationships with the other adults in your classroom, and you’ll see how effective teamwork shapes the learning experience for every child. By the end of the placement, you will be demonstrating key professional behaviours and will be taking the lead in teaching the whole class for 20% of the timetable.

Responsibilities will increase during the course of this placement. Initially, trainees observe experienced teachers, focussing on how they establish high expectations in their classrooms. At this stage, trainees work with groups of children under the direction of the teacher. As the placement goes on, trainees take responsibility for whole class responsibilities such as taking the register and reading to the class. Trainees then take charge for planning activities for groups and the whole class across a range of subjects, culminating in them teaching the whole class for at least 20% of the timetable by the end of the placement, based on lessons they have planned themselves. Trainees are given feedback on their practice from the school based mentor on a weekly basis in order to help them continually develop their practice.

Throughout the placement, trainees are involved in weekly professional discussions with their mentor, covering areas such as behaviour and high expectations, rules & routines, school approaches to teaching maths and English, classroom practice, how pupils learn, adapting teaching to meet the needs of individual children, assessment and professional development. In this way, they learn from experienced professionals about many aspects of classrooms practice.

Bennett, T. (2020) Running the room: the teacher’s guide to behaviour, John Catt Educational Ltd., London.
Burnett, C and Cremin, T. (2018) Learning to teach in the primary school, Open University Press, Maidenhead.

Education Endowment Foundation (2019) Improving Behaviour in Schools: Accessible from: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/improving-behaviour-in-schools/

A placement within a primary school is required for this module.