From local pupil to local teacher: Jeffrey’s journey to the front of the classroom

Here, Jeffrey shares what first inspired him to consider teaching.

I was inspired to get into teaching as I had the pleasure of being taught by great teachers.

Teaching was an idea that I always wrestled with. But honestly, I had no idea when I was in school. I thought it would be the last thing I’d do. I couldn't imagine being in my teacher's shoes and having to manage classrooms and behaviour.

After university, I thought about what I was good at and, looking back, I was always good at school. So it made sense to go back.

It's important to me to train locally.

It's a way for me to give back to the community that I was raised in. I'm able to serve as an example of what's possible, regardless of where you're from.

Why I chose SCITT

The Teach First SCITT has a good balance of the theory and practical. You get to see how one applies to the other. Whereas with a university-based training course, it's much more heavily focused on theory.

With SCITT, you get that balance of theory and practice.

And I chose the Teach First SCITT because, if you check their Ofsted inspection, they are outstanding in everything.

You may have a university day where it's focused on theory, but then the day after you'll be able to see how that theory applies to the practical. So you get hands on experience and can see how your learning comes to life when you’re inside the school.

Training together, learning together

The intensive training at the start of the programme was...intense! There was a lot of information, but it was all relevant. I had some previous experience as a maths tutor, but I didn't have any theory being taught to me.

So with the intensive training, it was nice to see how what I already knew was reflected in the slides and in the lessons. Doing the intensive training with other SCITT trainees is great, you’re all in it together. 

So when we struggle, we all struggle together.

We're able to get pointers from each other, especially because there are other maths trainees on the course as well. You can see what others are learning in their departments in their respective placement schools, and how you can apply that to your own.

There are other SCITT trainees in different subjects in my placement school, which adds to the sense of community. We always have someone there that understands what we're going through.

Support that makes a difference

I was swiftly integrated into the school community: football with teachers on a Friday, visiting different departments and getting to know everyone.

My mentor and my school are super supportive. My mentor makes sure that I know what I'm doing and that I stay on top of everything. He's given me pointers on teaching and how to balance school, university and life.

The training curriculum felt like quite a lot to navigate. But once you get your head around it, I think it becomes easy because you know what you need to do every week. There's a lot of things there that you can read and try to apply in your classroom.

Seeing that lightbulb moment is wonderful.

I hope to make kids see that maths is not so bad. At first glance kids can be quite reluctant to be resilient with maths questions. They see it’s quite hard and give up.

But seeing that light bulb moment in kids where they go from believing that they can't do it, then seeing that they can and flying off on their own... that's quite a wonderful thing to see.

Ready to make your impact?

If you’re ready to make a difference in the community you know best—just like Jeffrey—take the first step today.

Start your SCITT journey