What, Or Who, Inspired You To Become A Secondary Maths Teacher?
Whilst at school, I had always given teaching a thought as I believed I had good understanding of the profession due to my mum being a head of maths. I had also given other career paths a thought, for example accounting, whilst at university but being able to teach maths allowed me to use a wider range of maths in a way that I enjoyed which other careers would not have let me.
I knew that I wanted to pursue a career which used mathematics as it’s always been my favourite subject and I enjoying solving mathematical problems, even when I would spend hours on it! This is a passion that not all students share and so I thought teaching would be a great opportunity for me to share my passion with children and hopefully inspire them to pursue some form of maths in the future.
This led me onto pursuing mentoring with my university where I was able to go into schools and work one-to-one with 6th formers, providing subject help as well as my expertise in studying towards A-levels and applying to higher education which allowed students to make well informed decisions about their future.
I really enjoyed being able to share my experiences of university life and living out and giving advice on how students could improve their personal statements. Furthermore, being able to share my subject knowledge for chemistry and maths as well as tips and tricks to certain types of questions was enjoyable as I could see that students were learning and appreciating the extra help they were getting.
Alongside mentoring at university, I also worked as an online tutor supporting schools and students through the national tutoring programme which I felt was very beneficial for the students as they were able to get the additional help they required. This tutoring also benefited me as I gained lots of experience working one-to-one (or three-to-one) with students and was able to get an understanding of the types of misconceptions students have within a topic that I may never have thought of. This also gave me the chance to practice new methods of explanation and realising that students were learning and enjoying the lesson was very rewarding.
Finally, my decision to teach maths at secondary school came when I underwent a placement at a grammar school in Birmingham as part of my final year of university. I found this enjoyable and speaking to teachers at the school, I realised that teaching was a profession that I would like to pursue as it is a rewarding career and allows me to continue using the mathematics that I enjoy.
By Juskarun Gill
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Message from the Scholarship Team
You can apply to the Scholarships with a 2:2 degree classification, providing you can demonstrate 'significant relevant experience'. Also you can apply before completing your subject knowledge enhancement course. See our eligibility criteria on our About Us page and our FAQs.
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