The journey to becoming a certified teacher in New Zealand can be rewarding, fulfilling, and exciting – but it can also be immensely challenging.
The process is often complex, and it can be difficult to navigate the guidelines, standards and requirements as you work through the certification process as a provisional teacher.
There’s a lot to grapple with – from adapting to the way things work at your centre to understanding how the codes and standards align to your teaching practice.
With all that going on, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and unsure of your next steps.
But you know what? You’ve made it this far, and you’re not about to give up now!
All you need is the right information and support to gain clarity on your journey and step forward with the confidence that you’re on the right track.
Let’s take a few moments to pause, plan, prioritise, and get purposeful about how to manage your overwhelm as a provisional teacher.
How To Beat Overwhelm In Your Provisional Teacher Journey
Review Your Goals
When life gets overwhelming and we feel pressured, it can be tempting to go into panic mode. We tend to rush around trying to tackle everything at once at high speed.
But without purpose or clarity, we just end up running around in circles. We add exhaustion to our pile of overwhelm but don’t end up any closer to our destination!
So, start by hitting pause. Remind yourself that you are capable of gaining clarity and reaching your goals. And don’t forget to take some deep mindful breaths to help slow your mind down.
Once you’re in a better headspace, it’s time to revisit and review your goals. Forget about how you’re going to achieve them for now – that comes later. Simply state what you want to achieve.
Remember, your goals are your destination. Without being clear on them, you’ll find it difficult to know which direction to head in!
Refocusing on your goals will also help motivate you to take the next steps.
Gain Clarity On the Process
Right, now that you have your destination front and centre, it’s time to get clear on the route you need to take to get there.
Ask yourself what exactly needs to happen to help you achieve your goals, and list all the tasks that need to be done.
This can look different for everyone, depending on whether you’re just starting to work as a provisional teacher, in the middle of your journey, or nearing the end of your two-year experience.
Here are some sample tasks for each stage:
Beginning your provisional teacher journey
In order to build a great foundation to work with, it is worth ensuring these key components are in place.
- Having – and understanding – an overview of the essential components of the certification programme.
- Involvement in and an understanding of an induction and mentoring programme.
- Regular, prioritised time, scheduled within the mentoring programme for meaningful discussion, including exploring and unpacking the Standards and aligning these with your everyday teaching practice.
- Scheduled opportunities for discussion regarding what you are noticing about your practice, the environment, the children and their whᾱnau and identifying areas to investigate further
Midway through your provisional teacher journey
Have you got a solid foundation in place?
The mentoring process involves receiving positive critical feedback, supporting you to evaluate where you are in your teaching practice. Is this happening for you?
Consider the following:
- Do you have clarity and understanding about the new Professional Growth Cycle?
- Have you got an understanding of how the Professional Growth Cycle ties into your certification journey?
- Are you regularly reflecting on Our Code Our Standards and aligning them with your everyday teaching practice?
- Do regular collaborative discussions occur with your colleagues and mentor, enabling you to hear others’ perspectives and to receive feedback and support for your ideas.
Nearing the completion of your provisional teacher journey
- Are you feeling confident about tying everything together in order to gain full certification?
- With the support of your mentor, reflect on and review your journey to date.
- Consider the areas you have focused on in order to give direction for finalising the components required ready to apply for full certification. This might uncover further areas to unpack and enhance as you maintain the ongoing certification requirements of the teaching profession.
Not Sure About What You Should Be Doing?
If you’re unclear on any of this, don’t panic! Just make a note of the areas you’re confused about and write down the questions you need answers to.
Once you’ve finished your list, you can go back and methodically work towards gaining clarity on those tricky areas. You may find some of the information you need online, such as:
Guidelines for Induction and Mentoring and Mentor Teachers
Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
If you’re still confused, that’s okay – there’s a lot of complexity involved in being a provisional teacher and working towards full certification. Set aside your list of questions, and we can address them later.
Prioritise Your Steps
Overwhelm usually hits when we have too much to do or aren’t clear on what we need to do next.
That’s why it’s helpful to take that list of tasks and prioritise them. Identify which tasks are the most important and which ones can be tackled later.
Organise them by importance and immediacy, so you know what to focus on next.
Zoom In On Your Next Move
Your master task list is a great resource to map out your route, but if you try and focus on everything in one go, you’ll end up back in the land of overwhelm!
Choose one thing to focus on at a time. Devote all your time and energy to that task, tick it off, and then move on to the next.
This stage does require some commitment and boundaries. People are often drawn to procrastinate when feeling stressed.
To avoid falling into this habit, schedule your tasks into your day and commit to completing them.
Reframe Challenges As Learning Opportunities
Our mindset can change the way we perceive challenges. Is it really a setback, or is it a learning opportunity? Are the difficulties you’re facing ruining your life, or are they building resilience, self-awareness, and knowledge that will help you become a better teacher?
Seek Support
Remember those unanswered questions you had earlier? Here’s the best way to find answers – get help from someone who’s been there, done that and understands the nitty-gritty details!
This is one of the most valuable things you can do to beat overwhelm and find your way forward as a provisional teacher.
You are not alone in your teaching journey: we are all learning as we go! There’s a reason why mentorship is part of the two-year provisional teaching requirements: we need help, support, feedback, and guidance as we grow and learn.
Reach out to your team members or mentor with any questions you have. They have been on a similar journey as you and may have valuable insight to offer.
An external coach or mentor can also help you realise your potential, beat overwhelm, and restore balance to your life.
As an ECE coach and mentor, I understand the unique challenges you face as a provisional teacher.
If you would like some help building a solid foundation and finding direction, I can offer you support, accountability and clarity as you work towards full certification.
Call me for a no-obligation chat or click here to discover more about my specialised Kete Ako programme for Provisional Certified Teachers today.