I arrived here after leaving straight from school. My offer from Dundee was a conditional which meant that in my final year of school I had to work extremely hard in order to achieve the results I needed to secure my space in university. When my results came through the letter box and I saw my place at Dundee University was confirmed I was extremely happy that I was about to begin a new stage in my life and soon become a qualified teacher.

My decision to apply for primary teaching was made after the voluntary work I had been undertaking. From 4^th year I volunteered in our local Sunday school where the children ranged from 0-13 years old, I would be responsible for different stages throughout my time which allowed me to gain experience working with different age ranges. It was at this point I began to think that a career with children was the route I wanted to go down. My final decision to follow a career in education was confirmed when I carried out my primary placement during 6^th year. I volunteered in a primary school in a deprived area which truly opened my eyes to what some children were going through. This made me realise how in one school you can have so many different variations of children from the ones whose parents took interest in their education and were interested in helping their child develop to parents who sent their child to school in the morning and had no enthusiasm in what their child was doing in school. This made realise that I wanted to be involved in a school situation like this so I could be the one to take interest in each and every child and help them develop their knowledge and allow them to reach their full potential. During my placement I mainly focused working with the upper stage in school. My work with primary 6/7 was challenging at times but overall I found it interesting and enjoyable, I worked with all children on topic work, science and ICT but I supported one pupil in particular in areas of literacy and numeracy where he struggled. By doing this I had to be patient and learn how to encourage him when he felt like giving up. I got great satisfaction seeing his gradual improvement and seeing his delight when he realised how much he had progressed and how well he could do things he never imagined possible. This made me realise that a teacher needs to prepare on a daily basis for a wide range of abilities and rates of progress within one class. This placement allowed me to develop my understanding of the role of a teacher but also clarify that there was no other career path for me to go down as I wanted to continually help children improve and see their potential.

My goal for being an undergraduate is to make a difference to the education a child receives. I hope to influence and broaden a child’s knowledge and give them greater opportunities within education. Being an undergraduate at Dundee University will involve determination, commitment, hard work and enthusiasm but these are all things I am willing to carry out. During the next 4 years I look forward to gaining the valuable experience and opportunities that university has to offer me.  After a year in University I I feel that I have gained a lot of experience and gained so much more knowledge and I am ready to take on the next year and be one more step towards becoming the teacher I want to be.