A Day in the Life of a Student Primary Teacher

Amy Russell, a student Primary Education teacher at the University, recently shared a detailed look into her daily routine as she prepares for a career in teaching. In this blog, Amy takes us through her dynamic schedule of seminars, hands-on activities, and reflective study sessions on the primary teaching degree.

An Introduction to the Primary Education degree

Primary Education is a full-on course, with scheduled learning on campus from 09:00 – 15:00 every weekday, with some longer days. However, this doesn’t mean that all our time is spent sat in lecture halls, the course is instead seminar based. This means we are split into groups of around thirty and have lessons together, focusing on elements of the curriculum. Being largely seminar based encourages a community of learning, in which we all collaborate freely.

Our time spent outside of seminars provides us with the opportunity to complete our assigned reading. Although there is a lot of reading to do, they all prove to be extremely helpful when writing our essays. These essays make up a part of what our grades are marked on, as we do not have any exams.

Key Subject: Maths

Our days can start with any curriculum subject, as we do not have a fixed order of study.

When studying Maths, we explore the reasoning and pedagogy behind the relevant materials and methods we can use in the classroom.

Typically, we spend the first hour going over the most relevant methods for a particular operation, for example, using Dienes blocks for methods of addition that branch through to two-digit numbers, as the physical material changes from single cubes to a stack of cubes.

We then use the materials to try out the operations themselves, finding any relevant “shortcuts” or misconceptions the children might have. We follow this by playing maths games that revolve around the materials used in the sessions.

Key Subject: Science

Our Science lessons take place in our science labs, which replicate what a primary classroom lab may look like. We spend most of our science lessons engaging in practical activities, ranging from ice experiments to leaf crowns to even looking at live snails and their anatomy.

Science offers the opportunity to engage in the outdoor classroom, where we spend our entire lesson in a forest school setting.

As we spend a lot of our time doing practical work, the PowerPoints are all provided on the ‘MyBrighton’ SharePoint, and the relevant readings are attached to them.

Break Time!

We typically have our lunch break between 1 and 2, and many students choose to sit in the Checkland Building huts or grab food from the Westlain Café!

The Open Learning centre is a great place to sit, as it is the Primary Education specialist library, and offers both amazing learning resources and brilliant views over campus.

Key Subject: Design & Technology

D&T is a very exiting lesson, as it is also largely practical based. We spend a lot of time being creative and making items such as torches, race cars and moving pictures!

We spend a lot of time exploring how we can adapt these to different needs within the classroom, ensuring that every child can take part and express themselves.

A day in the life: Conclusion

At the end of a learning day, we will make notes from our readings and look through the PowerPoints for the next day, to ensure we haven’t forgotten anything!

The rest of the day can be spent winding down, enjoying the sights of Brighton!

Click to find out more about studying Primary Education (5-11 years) BA(Hons) with QTS at the University of Brighton.