3 minute read
MY LIFE IN TEACHING
How did you fi rst get into teaching? My journey into teaching wasn’t a traditional one. After leaving school with a pretty poor set of A Level results, I worked in a variety of industries from lending to recruitment. I settled in the fi nance sector because I found a company I liked. They recognised my potential and I was a director of multiple international companies before the age of 30.
On the surface, everything looked great. I was earning a high salary and drove a convertible, which seemed important at the time. But I wasn’t happy at work. I just didn’t see the point of providing “tax-effi cient corporate property ownership structures for international developer clients”. See what I mean? Dull. I lacked purpose. t g? fter tha A Level in a ies from ment. ancesector company I liked. my potential and I multiple international e the age of 30.
Why did you feel teaching was the career for you? At every stage of my career, I trained staff , not because it was in my job description, but because it was something I did well and loved. When I fi nally admitted it was time to leave my fi nance role, I became aware of a one-year maternity cover position, teaching offi ce administration, at my local FE college. I applied, was successful and never left!
What is your current position? I work at the Guernsey College of Further Education as its professional development and scholarly activity lead. I am also head of teacher and assessor education.
Can you run me through a typical day? There’s rarely a typical day. I could be teaching and assessing our initial trainees or TAQA students. Or dealing with professional development funding applications or collaborating on projects,
SECOND CHANCE After initially embarking on a lucrative but unrewarding career,
Martine Ellis is loving her decision to move into teaching
such as our professional development library initiative.
How has the Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) qualifi cation helped you? I’ve always struggled with ‘impostor syndrome’ as a teacher, most likely because I never went to university to do a degree or subsequent PGCE. Instead, I completed my FE teaching qualifi cation ‘on the job’. Achieving ATS gave me an enormous confi dence boost, so much so that I am just completing my fi rst year of part-time study for a master’s in education with the Open University. I feel far less of an impostor these days.
What’s the strangest request you’ve had from a student? Most of the strange requests relate to the subjects they wish to teach as part of their initial teacher training. Most recently, a student asked if she could bring her tortoises in and set up a tortoise race as a starter activity, so her students could become comfortable handling the animals. Of course, I said “Absolutely!”
How would you like your career to develop? Sometimes I feel the only available career path for an ambitious teacher is moving into senior management. But often, the higher up you go, the less you teach. The thing I love most about my job is teaching.
So I am focused on developing my teaching practice and supporting others to do the same. That’s why working with colleagues doing Qualifi ed Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) and ATS is such an important part of my role. It’s also one of the reasons I did ATS – becoming an advanced teacher felt like a signifi cant career development. That’s not to say I’d rule out a senior leadership role in the future, but it would need to have a specifi c teaching and learning focus.
What characteristics make a good teacher? A good teacher is always learning. We need to be obsessed with learning because when we aren’t, it shows. A good teacher also needs to prioritise self-care. Looking after yourself will enable you to give your best to your students. My version of self-care involves dog walks, knitting and not accessing work emails on my phone. And wine, occasionally.
What do you most love about teaching? The variety. From the students I meet to the weird things I end up learning how to do through being a teacher educator – shooting, weaving, making cocktails, surfi ng – it’s fantastic.
