What Our Trainees Say About Us

Deciding to change your career as you hit the big 40 is a bit cliché but that’s what I decided to do anyway!  Previously a Marketing Manager I was then lucky enough to spend 6 years living and working overseas and in that time I also became a Mother.  Needless to say this gave me a very different perspective on life.  My subject is languages and I simply adored the experience of living abroad and being exposed to different cultures, languages and ways of living.  I was inspired by how the countries I lived in placed languages as central to learning from an early age and I felt really passionate about being part of that within UK education.  I also wanted to be a role model for my own children.  And so started my new career in teaching …

I knew of the i2i Teaching Partnership from its high reputation and loved that there were so many schools within the Partnership that were all within a reasonable commute for me so it was easy for me to put it as first choice on my application form and they have not disappointed.  The training is first class and the positivity and enthusiasm of the training team is infectious.  The course is detailed to the week and you are incredibly supported as a trainee in the entire process and not just in the teaching but the pastoral side as well because it is a demanding year.  In addition to our two placements that are organised for us, we have benefitted from placements in specialist schools, Primary schools and been to trainee Conferences on key education issues that progress our own learning.  As trainees we have become a tight knit group who support each other and also share some fun times in our training sessions.  I am doing the PGCE element of the course which is, of course, extra work but the support from Sussex University is great too and I would strongly recommend this to bolster your training and get you under the skin of the profession.

 For anyone considering this career I would strongly recommend some school experience days to immerse you into school life and the daily life of a teacher.  It’s a great learning experience and the i2i were good enough to even arrange this for me.  The teacher trainee year is a challenging year no doubt so being super organised is key.  The course is managed so deadlines are well spaced giving you little windows of breathing space but keeping on top of things is good practice.  I would have no hesitation in recommending the i2i Teaching Partnership to anyone thinking of going into teaching as I think they have been marvellous.

Update 2021: Karen is now qualified and teaching MFL at Weydon School in Farnham

So, training to be a teacher is not for the faint hearted!  It was a steep learning curve for me and, being a mature student, I was out of practice in doing assignments and essay writing!  However, I persevered and everything that we covered in the i2i SCITT programme was amazing in setting me up with everything I needed to know to do the job effectively.  I loved all the pedagogical knowledge and theories that were taught to us - it really transformed my thinking about the teaching profession.  As a Mum of two children myself, I think it also gave me skills and strategies to use as a parent, and I value these every day.  

So, now I'm fully qualified how do I find it?  I'm loving it!  It's so different from the training year as your classes are your own and you have real ownership of them.  There's none of the paperwork that there is in the training year so you can focus on the most important things of knowing your students and enthusing and teaching them with your subject.  Lesson planning becomes easier as you are more practiced at it and, if you spend time producing good resources the first time, then you can re-use them which cuts down on your planning time.  I really valued that this year as I managed a family house move and trained to become a Zumba instructor also!  Learning to be a teacher is a bit like driving a car really.  Your training year is spent concentrating on what you're doing but when you qualify you get better at reading the road and other drivers - or the classroom and students in this case!  When you make that transition, reacting to the learning of the students in class makes the classes more interesting, dynamic and enjoyable.  Now I'm qualified, it's the full package of assessments, markings, parent's evenings, tutor programmes etc. and it's still a lot of work ... but I believe that things that are really valuable and worthwhile in this world are ...