I just wondered what other people's experiences of teaching were in regards to how much help or advice they were given before teaching for the first time. Were you just thrown in at the deep end? I've been given the readings to be discussed at the seminars I am running but some don't tally with the course outline. I will also be sitting in on the lectures for the course but that seems to be all I have to give me guidance.
The other GTA for the course has complained that the readings aren't all correct but the course convenor says it doesn't matter. The other GTA is in her final year and has apologised to me that she is too busy to help me out and she thinks the convenor is doing an appalling job so he should be made aware of my concerns rather than her helping me. Just wondered if this is normal?

pamw, i think what you are describing is not unusual. at my uni, all GTAs had to take some uni-wide courses on "teaching" which were actually not too bad. but obviously they did not touch the content. concerning content, it's the department that has to be active - and it depends very much on individual people.

i felt let down a bit by the department too at one point, and tried to take it up with the according people. however that was to no avail and i stopped bothering. somewhat disillusioned, i realised that the department does not really care about the teaching. so now i just do my job, and where failures of the department result in bad teaching on my part, well then the students just get bad teaching. i'm sorry for the students, but i can't solve the institutional problems that no one else cares about. not on that pay, anyway.

i did some teaching as an MSc student and it was awful, i was given no support and didn't really know what i was meant to be doing. The main thing i learnt from this experience is preparation is the most important thing. The uni i am at now makes all would be teachers attend a uni wide teaching course. Whilst it doesn't cover content it does give a lot of advice on how to prepare for seminars. There is lots of information on the Higher Education Academy website, some of which is subject specific. If you plan your seminars as best you can, then the students will get a lot out of them, even if they don't quite match the learning outcomes. Either that, or approach the course convener and say you have some queries/issues you'd like to discuss.

No support here either but fortunately I have some prior experience. I also have found the reading lists somewhat outdated and sometimes update them myself depending on my time and enthusiasm. I also have given feedback when it's clear a course has been taught very badly. I do think insufficient priority is given to teaching - and organising the course content.

I have just started teaching and like you have had very little in the way of prep, a few grad school courses and a meeting with the teaching sup. But to be honest I look at what the students need to achieve and set my own pace, with my own style (or lack of it). A gap in their critical analysis of readings was identified so I made a handout with some tips for them and distributed it at the first seminar. Also had a chat about how to be critical (geez I really went off an a tangent though using Razorlights 'america' as an exercise in deep analysis...although they seemed to grasp that concept about looking beyond the tune into the lyrics harmonies record label etc...just hope they apply it to the reading now!). Put yourself in their position and see what you would need to get the course done.

Pamw, I have had the same experience as you! Luckily I feel quite confident with the content which is a bonus. I find that preparation is totally eating in to my PhD time and I'm really behind with my personal schedule. I attend the lectures and that is about it - not even a one off course on how to teach or what to do! I feel sorry for the students, I know I wouldn't like it if I was in their shoes with someone who had no experience or training - but that's the nature of the department.
One of the disadvantages to this is that I am not sure whether what I am doing is helping them and some weeks I run out of ideas with seminars.
Does anyone have any links to good websites about seminar preparation and ideas?

I was given no support at all when I started teaching, I was just expected to get on with it. I wasn't very good and I was really nervous. I have a little more experience now (but teaching is looked down on in universities) so I still find it a stressful business.

Prepare - make sure you have enough to say and some real life examples that the students can identify with and they will talk and discuss. Then you just need to direct! The thing is to involve them, then they aren't scrutinising you and they're learning.

I did a GTP (on the job teacher training) before working in industry and then starting a PhD. The teacher training was challenging, very demanding in terms of time, although I should say I enjoyed it because of the fantastic support I got from staff. After ITT I only did my NQT year and a few months before leaving for an R&D job in industry. I just couldn't handle student behaviour. Having been born and raised in Africa, the behaviour was such a culture shock for me. But if anyone is considering teaching, my advice would be go for it, the rewards are immense if its the thing for you, although of course with a PhD one would be over-qualified for the job.

Sorry I've posted my previous posting on the wrong board. Apologies everyone