PGCE Primary!! HELP!!!!!!!!

[doing-good]

Hello,

I'm new and found this site as I was looking to see if there are any others in the same situation as me.

In my second year of my undergrad course I was diagnosed with dyspraxia and it was like 'ahhhhhhh' it all makes sense. I was ok at school and in the top sets but GCSE and A level I found so hard but everyone thought I was just being anxious about exams etc. Anyway I was diagnosed and got help from uni for my course. My undergrad course was very much sit and listen to a lecturer and the discussion seminars which I could cope with.

However, I have now started my PGCE in Primary and finding each day more and more difficult. I am shattered in the evenings we are in lectures from 9 - 5 some days and my brain can't function. It is a very interactive course so lots of talk to the person next to you and group work and doing things. I am becoming more and more aware of how hard I'm finding things in comparison to everyone else. An example is watching once and then doing sign language to a nursery rhyme. Well it was awful - I am trying to do one move for a good few mins whilst everyone has moved on. My arm goes one way and everyon elses goes another. I am very very good at direction and left and right but can't pick things up that easily. I am finding my processing and understanding is hard and some lecturers are helpful and will go over and one I quote "How can you not understand that" admitedly I am not sure they all know about my dyspraxia. I spoke to personal tutor yesterday about it as she didn't know and she said I should tell people at the start of a session so they are aware and she would circulate an email. I know I can do this and want to do it but I feel at the moment I am not getting much support and struggling more and more each day.

I have hardly done any reading too as I don't know where to start!?!? : ( the lists are so long and there is no list to say you must read this it is all well this could be helpful as could this book and this one has some good bits in.

Why can't they be more specific it would help so much!!

Any ideas?

d-g
xx

[AlleyCat]

Hi. I've only just noticed your post or I would have replied sooner. I'm a qualified teacher, but in secondary music- I originally wanted to do a primary PGCE like yourself, but a 'delightful' headteacher from a school in which I had got a significant amount of KS2 experience insisted on putting in a reference that I had 'grown in confidence' over the course of my time there, which caused the PGCE primary tutors to focus on confidence as being an issue at interview, resulting in me not being offered a place. There were still places available on the secondary music PGCE quite late in the application cycle, so as a result of parental pressure to 'go off and do something' I embarked on that course instead, although secondary teaching is ironically the worst area of teaching for someone who supposedly 'lacks confidence' to go into. I wasn't diagnosed with dyspraxia until May of the PGCE year, having decided to be assessed for possible dyslexia after having problems on placement. Despite me having been assessed with dyspraxia, my university tutor allowed me to go on and fail the placement, instead of recommending at that stage that I defer completion of the course. My mentor had already been determined to fail me before I had been diagnosed and showed little understanding or interest in me having dyspraxia when I tried to explain the condition to her. I did eventually complete the PGCE course successfully after a significant break, but I am forever left with potentially having to explain to employers why I had a large gap in my PGCE course. I actually would still like to work with (and think I would be better at) working with younger children, even though I am secondary trained.

The reason why I am mentioning all this is that I really hope something similar won't happen to you and that you will be able to get your primary PGCE in the 'normal' amount of time. There is still quite a lot of ignorance and prejudice out there about what dyspraxia is and the capabilities of people who have it, so I would strongly suggest that you enlist the support of Student (Disability) Services at your university to enable you to complete the course successfully. Disability Services should act as an advocate for you, which is important, as you might find that your university tutors/lecturers don't actually know that much about the condition, and you might also come across mentors on placement who are ignorant about it, causing them to criticise you for things you do which are a direct result of you having dyspraxia.