Sunday 29 September 2019

Why I became a teacher...

OK. So not content with the 280 characters provided by Twitter, I thought it was time for me to join in the web-log or blogging phenomenon.

Much like my attempt to join the Crouch End Festival Chorus is more of a renewed interest since I originally rehearsed with @theChoir in 1984, I've actually had access to a rival blogging content management system for a long time. But it was Dr Emma Kell on Twitter @thosethatcan who has eventually inspired me to do this to answer the question, "Why I became a teacher..."

My story actually begins in 1986...or maybe before that in 1982 when as a 14 year old I got the "how I see myself in twenty years time" writing assignment for an English lesson. I wrote that I that I saw myself as a teacher.  The response I got from my English teacher at the time was that I would not be good enough.  Yes, being a secondary school student in London was not as nurturing and encouraging as it has become in this first quarter of the twenty-first century as I'm finding out with the round of Open Evenings for Year 7 Admissions I am currently doing but that's another story.

Anyway, with my handful of GCE O-Levels in 1985, I managed to scrape my way into the Sixth Form of the school I was attending only to find a term and a half or maybe two terms later that I really wasn't cut out for studying A-Level Maths, Physics and Chemistry. So with the help of the  Local Authority careers service, in Summer 1986, I managed to secure myself a job with the newly formed Crown Prosecution Service - the mid-sized Government Department that had been created to be the independent criminal prosecuting authority for England and Wales taking on those duties from Police Prosecution units under the direction of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Wind the clock forward to 1997 and the electoral landslide that heralded the beginning of the Tony Blair Premiership, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) underwent a significant structural review which for those in the know or were involved in the experience will remember was led by Sir Iain Glidewell.  The review marked a personal turning point as it made me realise that although at the time, working for the UK Civil Service was thought of as a work life that could see me to retirement, colleagues of mine were being offered significant financial incentives to leave the organisation.  It was at that point I decided that if I was ever offered the opportunity, I would or should have a plan.  1997 was also the year that I completed my undergraduate degree from Birkbeck College, with a Lower Second in in Economic and Social Policy which I got having studied on a part-time evening class basis.

So my plan was to be ready to leave the Civil Service if ever I was given the incentive to do so and to be ready to re-train into another 'career'.  Following the organisational re-structuring at the CPS, I was promoted into a middle management - Higher Executive Officer position where some of my duties included being responsible for the training and development of others.  Senior colleagues at the time regularly commented on my formal appraisals and informally across Whitehall that I was thought of as somebody who was very much a people person and formed good relationships upskilling others.  So it kind of slowly emerged in my mind that I should or would consider a career in teaching.

The opportunity came in January 2010. As the last days of the Labour Government under Gordon Brown's leadership realised that the money had run out, I was invited to apply for what was known as the Voluntary Early Release Scheme.  It was surreal when I opened the offer to see two years salary plus pension payable in 2028.  I signed the agreement to say I would accept the offer.  Then followed nearly two months of "are you sure?" being asked of me as part of the procedure.  I was certain and on 31 March 2010 I left my duties as desk jockey for the final time after almost 24 years.

I was initially convinced given my skills and experience that I would become a secondary school Computing and Business Studies teacher and did the rounds of applying for a PGCE place.  However, the Admissions Tutors at Middlesex University said that I really didn't have the personal skills to do so and seriously needed to think about how I could become a teacher.  With no offers of a Secondary Computing PGCE place that Summer after leaving the Civil Service other than the possibility of having to travel across London for the PGCE programme at Roehampton (which would have been really interesting given what I know now about its connections with @mberry), I had the luxury given the payout of  taking a year off to undertake some volunteering.  My wife and I were also with our first born who was just over a year old when all of this was happening so was a chance for me to be a 'full-time' Dad.

I managed to get two volunteering opportunities.  One was through a programme offered by the Open University which I was studying a short course with after I left the Civil Service.  Called the Student Association Scheme, it placed me at a Secondary School for some hours of experience over six weeks.  I also managed to secure a role as a reading volunteer at the wonderful Brookfield Primary School in Camden.  It was through my experience at Brookfield and becoming its paid part-time computing technician that I decided that becoming a Primary school teacher was what I wanted to do.

I qualified with my PGCE in Summer 2012 but it hasn't been plain sailing.  I did not complete my NQT until Spring 2016 with the wonderful and amazing school I currently work for.  With my current employer, I have had some amazing and wonderful experiences which has kind of continued but is also slowing down too which is causing me to re-evaluate how I see myself over this coming school year and beyond.

Hope this helps and thank you for reading...

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