Rachel Diver: Primary SCITT Trainee 2021/22
"My first term has been fantastic! I’ve received really great feedback from my mentor, head teacher and course leader and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every day of training in my school. I find myself wondering why I didn’t do this sooner! "
Rachel Diver, Primary SCITT trainee.
Rachel, a mum of two entered our teacher training as a ‘Career Changer’. Rachel provides a great insight into how skills gained from her past career in marketing and motherhood have helped with her new teaching career.
Although I have always thought about being a teacher, after completing my business degree I didn’t want to stay in education anymore and jumped straight into work in Marketing. I had an exciting Marketing career before taking a break to start a family. Two children later and I found that my priorities along with my outlook had changed dramatically which lead me to finally pursue my dream of being a primary school teacher.
The only experience I had with children was raising my own so I did worry that this would hold me back. However I had many transferable skills in planning, analysis and giving presentations that could be applied to teaching as well as the sheer focus and desire to finally go for it and give it my best.
My first term has been fantastic! I’ve received really great feedback from my mentor, head teacher and course leader and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every day of training in my school. I find myself wondering why I didn’t do this sooner!
My first day was INSET day which gave insight into how teachers plan for the year ahead and how they apply safeguarding policies in school. I proceeded to have responsibility for a small group of children on a school trip the following week and also contributed to parents evening before the end of my third week which made me feel fully immersed in all aspects of school life and also helped my confidence grow quite quickly.
“By the end of my first term I was teaching almost half the lessons every week and thoroughly enjoying each one. ”
I feel very lucky to have such a supportive, welcoming and invested mentor in school. Andrew has been a big part of my journey so far and has helped to shape my ideas for lessons and lesson delivery as well as providing insightful, applicable feedback. Not only are the teaching staff throughout St Joseph’s supportive, but the SCITT staff are great too. They’re all very warm and friendly and my mentor Jheni has been so positive and encouraging on her visits.
I can’t wait to get back into the classroom and face a new challenge on my second placement where I’ll be working with Year 6 children in a new school. One thing that has surprised me is how quickly my confidence has grown over the last term and I hope this to develop further as the course continues. Each week that goes by I feel more and more prepared to reach the end goal of being a qualified teacher and running my own classroom, this now feels like a very real, tangible dream.
If you are considering a career change and would like to know more about our training, please join us at our next Get into Teaching open event.
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