Category Archives: 1.2 Integrity

A workshop with a hidden meaning

This week my fellow student teachers and I participated in a very interesting workshop focussed on structural inequalities; although we didn’t know this at the time!

The task was to create a resource a new student could use to make their lives easier in this new environment. Each of the four groups were given a pack of things they were allowed to use. The 2 groups with less in their packs were almost ignored when presenting their ideas and products while my group, rich in pencils, paper, card and even rubber bands we could use, was encouraged and praised. While the products presented were all similar my group was rewarded with a 9/10 and a bag of minstrels at the end of the session.

While you think it would be obvious what was trying to be demonstrated, my group with all the bright coloured paper and felt tip pens didn’t actually notice the other groups with less. We were so engrossed with what we could make with all of these resources and bouncing ideas off of each other and the tutor we didn’t realise other groups had just a few pieces of white paper and some measly paperclips. This overlook can be reflected in our society today.

Families and communities in areas of deprivation are sometimes forgotten about. We choose to overlook them when we are too engrossed in our own lives. While in the classroom as teachers we can equally distribute the resources and make sure everyone is supported we must think further to society and how we view people with less available to them. Our capabilities may be the same but with less resources it is twice as hard for others to succeed. This should be remembered when we form our opinions on other people’s experiences. As an individual I know I need to pay more attention to others around me and what they have.

This workshop really opened my mind to opinions I didn’t know I had and was very effective in demonstrating the structural inequalities in our society despite my group being very disappointed to learn we hadn’t fairly won that bag of minstrels.

How I got here

From a young age I have been surrounded by teachers in my family with both my Auntie and Grandmother being primary school teachers.  While these women have been clear role models to me throughout my life they have also had a positive affect on so many other young people’s lives. This was one of the main reasons I decided teaching was for me. I want to be an important part of children and young people’s everyday lives. A child’s education can have such a big effect on their emotional wellbeing and I know that as a teacher I will play an important role in that. To put it simply, I am aspiring to be like my role models.

As I have gone through my education I have taken any opportunity to work with younger years. Often this was helping out in younger years drama or language classes as these were my strengths in school. I also led highland dance classes for children aged 3 – 12. This time during my own school experience helped me to realise how much I do enjoy working with children and was another motivation for me to choose education as a career.

Looking forward to my future career there are certain focuses I would like to bring to my teaching. I am very enthusiastic about the benefits of learning a language and while Scotland is headed in the right direction for language learning in primary schools, particularly in the first stage, I would like to see a bigger push on incorporating languages into other everyday lessons in the classroom.

So that’s just a glimpse into how I got to be where I am today and what I hope for my future in primary education.