Why Teaching?

What I’ve noticed is that many people have influential factors from films, books, magazines and videos but my reasons for wanting to join the teaching profession are different.

My primary school years were the best start to my education, especially in the early years. When I tell people that I have wanted to be a primary school teacher since Primary Two they generally look at me and wonder why on earth I have wanted to go into such a career from such a young age.

Miss Duff was an extremely enthusiastic, organised and happy person and her personality and ways of teaching influenced me to join the same career as she did. I wanted to be the same person as my Primary One and Two teacher. I loved the way that each lesson seemed to captivate me and made me interested to learn. I even noticed that her classroom environment and teaching styles engaged the other pupils that many believed to be troublesome with their education.

From there, I moved on through my primary years and had many more teachers. They all had an influence on me but the strongest to this day is still Miss Duff. I have not changed my mind about the career I am choosing but many of my friends throughout high school were still uncertain about where they wanted to go or whether or not their choices were the right ones for them. Sometimes I even amaze myself when I think that becoming a primary school teacher has always been the option and has never changed.

Taking part in work experience really helped to make my choice stronger as well. I enjoyed my last year in high school being part of the Primary One class at our local primary school. It made me realize that even although I didn’t seem to help very much, the children still developed a sense of trust with me and were happy enough to have me there in the classroom with their teacher. I recognized where my potential strengths are within teaching and it helped me to begin my observations as to what type of teachers there are and what kind of teacher I can work towards achieving.

What type of teacher do I want to become?

I realized that I won’t have the same personality as my Primary One/Two teacher but I know that I can develop into someone similar with the same enthusiasm towards the development of children and their education as she did.

I want to become the primary school teacher that all of my pupils inspire to be like as a person. I want to be able to see the children develop their personalities and grow into people that are very much appreciated within society. I want my teaching career to last as long as possible and I’d like to be able to say when I retire that I had a huge impact on so many children’s lives because I like to have that sense of helping someone and ensuring that they can get as far as possible with what they want to achieve.

As a primary school teacher, it’s important to be up-to-date with the way in which the world is moving through life. This means that I should be able to find my way through the world of digital technology and introduce that as much as possible throughout the primary school that I become a member of when I finish my MA (Hons.) Education course.

My main ambition is to find ways to help improve the education system throughout my career, to improve the way in which pupils learn and interact with their education not just within Scotland but around the world. I know that many people reading this will think that is an extremely bizarre thought and far too ambitious, but I’d like to be able to make connections globally to change the way people see education and make comparisons to the many differing education systems around the world. Many have grown up in a world believing that education is a thing that we are forced to partake in and I want to change that perception. I want to be that teacher that is enthusiastic about the way that education is developing and I’d like to be able to have that opportunity to pass that on to the children of the future.

Having that feeling that you have impacted upon a child’s life and being able to witness the children beginning to understand the lessons that you are teaching to benefit them throughout life are two things that I am most definitely looking forward to in my career and I’m ready to embrace everything it takes to get to the top of my dreams.