Guest Posted April 30, 2006 Posted April 30, 2006 I have been asked to write a brief reference for a teaching student who did a placement in my class and is now applying for teaching jobs. I have never written one before and was wondering if anyine has any tips or examples of references they have written and wouldnt mind sharing. Thanks JO
Susan Posted April 30, 2006 Posted April 30, 2006 Hi Joanne. Not sure about school etiquette here, but you may find it a good idea to run this past your head and to get some headed notepaper! If you had a student, did you not write a report at the end of the placement? You must be homest about what you say but do not be detrimental, its a bit like writing a child's report really look for the positives and couch the other bits positively too--if there were any, she must have passed the placement to be applying for jobs? Dont say anything that doesnt need saying! Have you got a format ie questions to answer or is this in the form of a testimonial?
mundia Posted May 1, 2006 Posted May 1, 2006 Hi Joanne, i have to write references too for final year trainees and usually we get a format to follow which might include things like punctuallity and attendance team work plannind and assessment relationships with pupils, teaching' ability to reflect and evalutae own performance, take advice from others etc. Also to include any obvious areas for development, and the trainee would be expected to know what they are! As Susan said, the final report you would have written should pretty much cover eveything. Sometimes the Leas send out their own guideleines as to what they want to see in a reference if the trainee is applying to some sort of pool. Hope that helps?
Guest Posted May 1, 2006 Posted May 1, 2006 I always start a reference by saying how I have known the person - this is one I have on file. I have known Jane Smith for 10 years, firstly as a parent when her daughter Mandy attended our nursery and more recently when Jane did some voluntary work at our nursery. Jane has good interpersonal relationship skills and on all occasions we found her to be polite, reliable, a good time keeper and generous with her time and support. We never had any reason to question her honesty. With the children she was always friendly and responsive but could be assertive when required. I am confident Jane would make an excellent mid day supervisor. This is for someone applying for a Mid day supervisor you may need to pad it out for a teaching post.
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