Experience

Teaching in lower primary has appealed to me as a career for a long time, once my childhood ambition to be a fire fighter had receded into the background. From the general aim of working with children I have gradually developed an ideal objective of playing an active role in the development of children's early educational and social foundations. For me the obvious route for this is through becoming a teacher. From my experiences in course placement with Year One and Two cohorts, the challenge of teaching and the feeling of accomplishment when witnessing a child's progression throughout the year only reinforced my enthusiasm about entering the profession. 

Although my degree course does not lead to a degree in a specific National Curriculum core subject, I believe that on graduation I will still have a sound educational basis for teaching at primary school level. My under graduate course, delivering a borderline first BA (Hons) in Early Years, has provided me with a greater in-depth understanding of children’s:  physical and cognitive development; special educational needs; effective use of ICT in varying settings; and the legislative policy that impacts on the early years. Furthermore, my A-levels in maths, history and art were chosen with teaching in mind as all are National Curriculum subjects and central to the skills for providing a balanced and informed approach to teaching at my chosen level. 

As well bringing to teaching a strong theoretical basis as laid out in the degree syllabus, I have started to build good practical experience in the classroom itself. As part of the course-work for my degree I have been fortunate enough to be involved in two six-week professional placements, for both of which I have received very positive feedback from my qualified-teacher colleagues in the schools.  This practice in an educational environment has helped me set forth on developing a range of practical skills that I am confident I can expand and apply successfully in the future. The tasks that I undertook in the placements were varied, so that I was able to participate in such activities as reading, marking, helping with phonetic tasks and explaining parts of the lessons to those children who were having difficulty understanding the points being made. 

During my placement experience it became clear that the ability to work as a team player is central in making the transition into becoming a productive and effective teacher. I believe that I clearly demonstrated this technique as well as successfully working on my own initiative during my time with a Year Two class. In addition I was perceived by my colleagues to be a valuable resource within the classroom, showing confidence, enthusiasm and motivation. As should be the case with every teacher, I was seen to be a good role model for the children to follow.  

In my opinion the most important attribute for the aspiring teacher is having the capacity to be creative in making information accessible to children of varying abilities in order to hold their attention and stimulate their interest. One lesson that I learnt was the importance of making connections that children will remember almost effortlessly; an example would be associating letters of the alphabet with names of their friends, which can also help to expand the children’s vocabulary. Further, because of the lesson structure followed within the class during my placement, I was able to work with different ability groups each day. In doing this, I demonstrated my ability through careful questioning not only to support the less able children of the class but also to advance the more advanced learners.

From my work experience in education, it is clear to me that my career path in the short- to medium-term has to be to work with children in a lower primary setting, as I am keen to make a positive impact in their academic lives. I believe that, as outlined above, I possess the necessary skills to make a good teacher, such as relevant knowledge, resourcefulness, communication and leadership.