With recent aggression towards the teaching industry, and ever-changing curriculum, it has become apparent that teachers are not in this occupation purely for financial gain but more so for the priceless reward of watching the young populations potential grow and mature. At Charles Darwin School, I interviewed 3 teachers about what stimulated their passion in what is to be debated to be an unfairly paid occupation.
After asking various questions, Mrs Garner, an English teacher replied “I was a teaching assistant first for many years, and I got great job satisfaction from it. I found myself a single parent of 2 children, so I needed a career that paid well. I kind of knew this was what I wanted when I was in my twenties; I didn’t go to university until I was nearly in my forties. I did my degree in English literature whilst still working part time. Then, I joined the Graduate Training programme and did a year teacher training course whilst teaching at Coopers Technology College.”
Meanwhile, Mrs McIntyre, a Modern Foreign Languages teacher quoted “I didn’t decide until I was about 40 and so I was already running little French clubs in Primary schools; I realised I liked being in teaching. I decided because I was bored of my current career. I found out what qualifications I needed and I had the right language degrees, however my maths GCSE wasn’t good enough. I had to take evening classes, which I enjoyed!”
Miss Currie, Head of Drama stated “I was about 18/19 when I began thinking of it and University helped me to decide. When at university, I did a module in creating theatre for students, working with 12-13 year olds. I really enjoyed it- more than I thought. I very much enjoyed seeing students enjoying drama the way I did. I worked in a secondary school afterwards with the drama department. That gave me the experience I needed to do a post graduate degree and I started teacher training.”
It is apparent that hard work is needed for teaching; however it seems to be worth it in the end! I asked “What is the best and worst part about teaching?” The responses given were all very similar. Mrs Garner said “The best is doing English all day; I love it. The worst is having to follow the governments orders as far as the curriculum goes.” Mrs McIntyre quoted “The best is seeing all of the young people every day and the worst is the paperwork!” Lastly, Miss Currie replied “Seeing the creative things the students come up with, and watching their confidence grow! The worst is the marking!”
By Laura Reilly, Charles Darwin School
