Why I Decided to Change Careers to Teaching
The butterfly effect is a wonderful phenomenon…
Have you ever taken a step back and retraced your steps, or your choices, which have led you to where you are today? That’s exactly what I did over a year ago.
To preface, in September 2020 I was fresh out of university with a BSc (Hons) Economics degree and had managed to land one of the most prestige graduate roles in audit accountancy. On the outside, it seemed I had won the jackpot in terms of graduate outcomes, but I didn’t feel the same excitement that others expressed. As cliché as it is, I felt like “a small cog in a big machine”.
Recently, on my teacher training course, we have been discussing “teacher narrative timelines”. This is reflecting upon and interconnecting meaningful events within our own narrative, which have guided us to undertake a PGCE course and have formed part of our teacher identity. Essentially, it is identifying why we aspire to become a teacher.
I left my graduate accountancy role wanting to “make a difference” … as most up and coming teachers say. Of course, this still stands, but having reflected on my own narrative timeline, it is so much more than that. I am a born educator; so many experiences in my life have pointed in such direction, yet I missed the signs! For example, during my summer break between 1st and 2nd year of college, I wrote and published an AS Level Economics revision book. Clearly, this event indicates a strong desire to help others gain knowledge in subjects that I hold expertise. No wonder accountancy wasn’t a right fit for me.
I encourage all of you reading to try writing down a narrative timeline of your own. You will be surprised at how interconnected your meaningful experiences are. Each choice you make will lead you down your own path of “why are you here?”. Hence, we round off full circle: why not make sure your butterfly is flapping its wings in the right direction?
By Abigail Barber
Find Abigail on Linkedin as Abigail Barber, or on Twitter as @Abb_brbr
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