As a trainee teacher, you will usually be asked to prepare plans for the lessons you teach. The level of detail can vary depending on your course, placement school, subject, mentor and stage of training, but the aim is always the same: to help you teach with purpose, structure and enough flexibility to respond to what happens in the classroom.
Lesson planning is not about creating paperwork for the sake of it. A useful plan helps you understand what students need to learn, how you will teach it, how you will check understanding and what you may need to adapt during the lesson.
Your placement school may have its own teacher planning template to maintain consistency. You may also need to keep evidence notes, mentor feedback, observation records and reflections as part of your training. This guide explains the main types of planning trainee teachers use, how to stay organised on placement and which planner format may suit your training year.
Quick Guide: What Do Trainee Teachers Need To Plan?
| Planning area | What it helps with | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| Lesson planning | Preparing what students will learn and how the lesson will run. | Objectives, activities, timings, resources, assessment points and follow-up tasks. |
| Placement organisation | Keeping track of where you need to be and what is expected each week. | Timetables, meetings, duties, deadlines, observations and mentor sessions. |
| Observations and feedback | Learning from experienced teachers and improving your own practice. | What you noticed, what worked well, questions to ask and actions from feedback. |
| Evidence notes | Building a record of your progress during training. | Examples of planning, teaching, assessment, reflection, behaviour support and professional development. |
Long-Term, Medium-Term And Short-Term Plans
During your teacher training, you will usually come across three broad types of planning: long-term, medium-term and short-term. These are often used together, but they each have a different purpose.
Long-Term Plans
Long-term plans cover the wider academic year. They outline which topics, units or curriculum areas will be taught across each term.
These plans are often created by the class teacher, department, subject lead or school before the autumn term. As a trainee teacher, you may not be responsible for writing the whole long-term plan, but you do need to understand how your individual lessons fit into it.
If you are teaching in a state school, long-term planning will usually connect with the relevant national curriculum, exam specification or school curriculum map. Familiarising yourself with the curriculum for your subject or year group will make your short-term lesson planning much easier.
Medium-Term Plans
Medium-term plans usually cover a term, half-term or unit of work. They break the wider curriculum into weekly topics, learning sequences and assessment points.
As your training progresses, you may be asked to prepare or contribute to a medium-term plan. This can be useful because it helps you think beyond single lessons and understand how learning builds over time.
Short-Term Plans
Short-term plans are the detailed plans you prepare for individual lessons or a small sequence of lessons. These are the plans trainee teachers usually spend the most time writing.
As a trainee, your short-term plans may need to include more detail than an experienced teacher would normally write. This is not because every teacher plans this way forever. It is because detailed planning helps you show your thinking, prepare for the lesson and reflect on what happens afterwards.
Your training provider or placement school may give you a lesson plan template. Use that first. If there is no set format, make sure your plan clearly explains what students are learning, what they will do, how you will support them and how you will know whether the lesson has worked.
What Should A Trainee Teacher Lesson Plan Include?
Lesson plan formats vary, but most useful plans cover the same core information.
| Lesson plan section | What to think about |
|---|---|
| Learning objective | What should students know, understand or be able to do by the end of the lesson? |
| Prior learning | What have students already covered, and what do they need to remember before starting this lesson? |
| Lesson sequence | How will the lesson move from starter to input, practice, checking understanding and review? |
| Resources | What worksheets, slides, practical equipment, texts or examples do you need? |
| Support and adaptation | Which students may need extra support, scaffolding, challenge or a different route into the task? |
| Assessment | How will you check whether students have understood the key learning? |
| Reflection | What went well, what needs changing, and what will you do next time? |
Don’t forget to evaluate your lessons afterwards. What went well? What could be improved? Were there students who exceeded expectations? Were there students who needed more support than expected?
These reflections are particularly useful during training because they help you turn each lesson into evidence of progress.
Lesson Timing And Pacing
Timing and pacing improve with practice, but they are worth thinking about carefully from the start. Too few activities can leave students with too much unstructured time. Too many activities can make a lesson feel rushed or confusing.
Transitions between tasks can also be difficult for trainee teachers. A lesson can look strong on paper, but still lose momentum if students are unsure what to do next or how long they have.
Give clear time warnings during activities. For example: “You have three minutes before we come back together” or “You should be about halfway through the task now.” These small prompts help students manage their time and help you keep the lesson moving.
When planning activities, make sure they connect with the intended learning. Students are more likely to engage when they understand what the task is for and how it helps them make progress.
Planning Around Placement Timetables
One of the hardest parts of teacher training is that your timetable can change quickly. You may be observing one week, team teaching the next, then taking on more independent lessons as your placement develops.
A simple weekly planning routine can help. At the start of each week, record:
- Lessons you are teaching
- Lessons you are observing
- Mentor meetings
- University or training provider deadlines
- Assessment or evidence tasks
- Break duties, form time or wider school responsibilities
- Any lessons that need resources prepared in advance
This is where a physical planner can be useful. A visible weekly overview helps you see what is coming up without switching between placement emails, school systems and training documents.
Observation Notes And Mentor Feedback
Observation is one of the most useful parts of teacher training, but only if you record what you notice. When you observe another teacher, try to look beyond the surface of the lesson.
Useful observation notes might include:
- How the teacher starts the lesson
- How instructions are given
- How transitions are managed
- How questions are used
- How students are supported or challenged
- How behaviour is handled
- How the lesson ends
Mentor feedback also needs somewhere consistent to live. After feedback conversations, write down the main action points and connect them to your next lesson plan. This stops feedback becoming a loose note that gets forgotten by the end of the week.
Evidence Notes For Trainee Teachers
During your training year, you may need to gather evidence of your planning, teaching, assessment, reflection and professional development. This does not mean writing everything down twice, but it does help to keep short notes as you go.
Evidence notes can include:
- Lessons planned and taught
- Feedback received from mentors or class teachers
- Changes made after reflection
- Examples of adapting tasks for different pupils or groups
- Assessment notes and follow-up actions
- Behaviour routines you have practised
- Professional conversations or training sessions
A planner, diary or notebook can help you keep these notes in one place before you transfer anything important into your formal training records.
Who Else Needs To See Your Lesson Plans?
Lesson plans are mainly for you, your mentor, your class teacher, your department or your training provider. Occasionally, other people may need to see them too, depending on the placement context.
The most important thing is that your planning is clear, purposeful and useful. A highly detailed plan is not automatically a strong plan. It needs to show what students are learning, how the lesson supports that learning and how you will respond if students need more help or more challenge.
To make the best use of your planning time, focus on elements that directly support learning. Avoid unnecessary documentation that does not improve the lesson or help you develop as a teacher.
There is also no need to start from scratch every week. You can build on existing schemes of work, previous lessons, mentor guidance, department resources and your own reflections.
Time-Saving Tips For Trainee Teachers
Lesson planning takes longer when you are training. That is normal. You are learning how to think like a teacher while also trying to produce practical classroom materials.
These habits can help reduce the pressure:
- Use existing schemes of work as a starting point rather than a blank page.
- Ask your mentor what level of detail they expect before over-planning.
- Keep copies of lesson plans, resources and reflections for future use.
- Use a consistent structure so each plan is easier to write.
- Plan assessment points before choosing activities.
- Write down feedback quickly while it is still fresh.
- Keep a weekly overview of lessons, observations and deadlines.
- Review what worked before planning the next lesson in the sequence.
Collaborative planning can also be a time-saver. Working with colleagues allows you to share resources, discuss lesson flow and learn how experienced teachers make planning decisions.
Choosing A Planner For Your Training Year
A trainee teacher planner needs to support more than lesson planning. It should help you manage placement timetables, observations, deadlines, mentor feedback, evidence notes and reflections.
The best format depends on how you work.
| Need | Planner option | Why it may help |
|---|---|---|
| More writing space | A4 Teacher’s Planner | Useful if you write detailed lesson notes, reflections and records. |
| Something easier to carry | A5 Teacher’s Planner | A compact option for moving between classrooms, meetings, university sessions and home. |
| Flexible organisation | Loose leaf planner and ring binder | Lets you add, remove or reorder pages as your placement requirements change. |
| Tracking marks and records | Record Books | Helpful if you need a separate place for marks, attendance notes, homework records or progress tracking. |
| Big-picture dates | Year Planning Chart | Useful for seeing placement dates, deadlines, holidays, assessments and key school events at a glance. |
If you are comparing planner types more broadly, our guide to the best teacher planner for primary, secondary and trainee teachers explains how different planner formats suit different roles.
How Educational Planning Books Can Help
Educational Planning Books offers a range of planners and organisation products designed to support teachers, trainee teachers and school staff throughout the academic year.
Our Teacher Planners are designed for lesson planning, timetables, notes and school-year organisation. The A4 Teacher’s Planner gives more writing space, while the A5 Teacher’s Planner is a more compact option for teachers who want something easier to carry.
You may also find Record Books, Notebooks and Year Planning Charts useful during your training year, especially when managing observations, deadlines, notes and evidence.
For help choosing the right planner, call 01433 651010, email sales@edplanbooks.com, or contact us online.
Trainee Teacher Planning FAQs
Do trainee teachers need to write lesson plans?
Yes, trainee teachers are usually expected to write lesson plans for the lessons they teach. The level of detail depends on the training provider, placement school, mentor and stage of training.
What should a trainee teacher lesson plan include?
A trainee teacher lesson plan should usually include the learning objective, prior learning, lesson sequence, activities, resources, support or adaptation, assessment points and space for reflection after the lesson.
What is the difference between long-term, medium-term and short-term planning?
Long-term planning covers the wider academic year, medium-term planning breaks learning into terms, half-terms or units, and short-term planning focuses on individual lessons or small sequences of lessons.
What is the best planner for a trainee teacher?
The best planner for a trainee teacher is one that helps manage lesson planning, placement timetables, observations, deadlines, mentor feedback and evidence notes. A4 planners are useful for more writing space, while A5 planners are easier to carry.
Is an A4 or A5 planner better for trainee teachers?
A4 planners are usually better if you want more space for lesson notes and reflections. A5 planners are better if you want something compact to carry between placement, university sessions and home.
Should trainee teachers use a loose leaf planner?
A loose leaf planner can be useful if you want to add, remove or reorder pages during placement. This may help if your timetable, mentor expectations or evidence requirements change during the year.
How can trainee teachers save time on lesson planning?
Use existing schemes of work as a starting point, ask your mentor what level of detail is expected, keep a consistent planning format, reuse useful resources and reflect briefly after each lesson so your next plan improves more quickly.
How should trainee teachers keep track of mentor feedback?
Write down feedback as soon as possible after a mentor meeting or observation. Record the main action points, connect them to your next lesson plan and keep short evidence notes as your training progresses.