Blog: A change of career - "When someone asks me what I do, I proudly reply 'I’m a teacher'"

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Published on 05/06/20

At a time when schools are working tirelessly to adapt to new ways of working, an Inspiration Teacher Training trainee has shared her experience. Carol Simpson is training to become a teacher during the Covid-19 crisis. Read her blog below:

For us 2020 cohorts our final months of teacher training have been very strange indeed. It involves online curriculum days, adapting to new ways of working and creating remote learning lessons from home. But every single one of us has agreed that what we miss most is the classroom and our pupils.

My journey into teaching started a year ago when I saw an advert from the Inspiration Trust and NowTeach promoting the ‘later life/second career’ journey into teacher training. Who would have predicted that a ‘pop-up’ on my computer would change the direction of my life? I was considering retirement, a former science researcher, and in the blink of an eye, I was aspiring to become a teacher. 

Over the next month, I’d filled in the UCAS form, attended an interview and was accepted onto the course. I was ecstatic. 

My family were 100% behind my decision. It was mostly my friends that surprised me. They asked: “Why on Earth would you consider teacher training at your age?” I had to wonder whether they knew something I didn’t.

I have to admit that there have been difficult times. Do I go to bed before 9pm most evenings? Yes. Do I regret starting this journey? No. It has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced. 

I didn’t know a classroom of 11-year-olds could be so daunting. But I also didn’t know the overwhelming joy I’d experience from planning the perfect lesson, or when you’re finally acknowledged with a “Morning Miss” in the corridor by a year nine. The sense of fulfilment when you walk around the classroom and your mentor gives you that well-done nod of approval.

When someone asks me what I do, I proudly reply “I’m a teacher”.