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What the first year felt like for teachers: summary
- most teachers agreed it was hard to teach groups with wide ranges of prior knowledge and wide differences in behaviour
- a few teachers disagreed with the change to mixed-ability teaching at first
- most teachers were positive and saw difficulties as areas for development
- most teachers focused on the development of good work habits
- in one school, teachers were concerned about some students’ low levels of arithmetical knowledge on entry to the school
- teamwork was important, especially for NQTs
- in some schools, it was newer teachers driving change
- a few teachers were explicit about the value of department management support enabling them not to worry about teaching every little bit of the national curriculum – they could spend more time on central ideas and ways of thinking and the rest would fall into place.
