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OxfordGuideToCareers2017
OxfordGuideToCareers2017
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EDUCATION<br />
EDUCATION<br />
Catrin Mayes<br />
PGCE Secondary (Modern<br />
Languages) at University of<br />
Oxford<br />
St John’s College, BA<br />
Modern Languages (French<br />
& Spanish), 2015<br />
WHAT: I will be taking up a<br />
teaching post at a state school in<br />
North Oxfordshire from June 2016<br />
following completion of a 1 year PGCE.<br />
During this training, I’ve had room to<br />
experiment with different ways of teaching<br />
and I’ve been consistently challenged<br />
throughout this year in a way that has<br />
been really positive and supportive.<br />
WHY: I wanted to do a job where I could<br />
see the results of my work and where I<br />
would never stop learning and improving.<br />
I also find young people entertaining – so<br />
teaching was an obvious choice!<br />
I decided on the PGCE route into teaching<br />
because I wanted to think more deeply<br />
about how to be an effective teacher and<br />
to be encouraged to think about why we<br />
teach children the way we do in the UK.<br />
The Oxford Internship has a good time<br />
balance looking at the theory at the start<br />
of the course, followed by two blocks of<br />
full-time school placements, so it was the<br />
best of both worlds.<br />
HOW MY DEGREE HELPED ME: Learning<br />
to teach is a pretty steep learning curve<br />
- there’s constant feedback, especially<br />
from the pupils ..! My Bachelor’s<br />
degree built open-mindedness and<br />
resilience, and taught me how to<br />
learn and to never stop learning.<br />
Juggling lots of different societies and<br />
clubs and essays over the course of<br />
my degree definitely developed my<br />
time-management skills, which have<br />
turned out to be very useful.<br />
TOP SKILLS FOR SUCCESS: Plenty of<br />
motivation; believing young people<br />
are great; liking to work out what<br />
makes people tick. Positive thinking<br />
and willingness to change your mind<br />
and admit that sometimes you might<br />
get things wrong!<br />
THE BEST BITS: Getting my year 7<br />
class to write their own raps – and<br />
performing my own as MC Miss<br />
Mayes so that they wouldn’t be<br />
so embarrassed! Also all those<br />
moments when a child who really<br />
believes they just “can’t do it, Miss”<br />
realises that maybe they can after all.<br />
Matthew Wood<br />
Teacher of History and<br />
Deputy Head of Sixth Form,<br />
Magdalen College School,<br />
Oxford<br />
Lincoln College,<br />
BA History, 2011<br />
WHAT: I teach 7 classes across a wide<br />
age range (13-18), and cover an equally<br />
wide range of historical periods from<br />
Cromwell’s Protectorate to Khomeini’s<br />
Islamic Republic, and from Victorian<br />
politics to the Nazi state.<br />
As Deputy Head of Sixth Form, I oversee<br />
the L6th (Yr12). This can mean taking<br />
a morning assembly on what makes<br />
effective study, having one-on-one chats<br />
with pupils to discuss their academic<br />
progress, having meetings with new<br />
pupils and parents to discuss how<br />
they’ve integrated into their new school,<br />
and arranging extension seminars for the<br />
summer term (often, all of these might<br />
happen on one day!). An equal weight is<br />
put into me coaching hockey in the Hilary<br />
term, or helping organise a trip to Berlin.<br />
Variation is the most exciting element;<br />
I’m never bored!<br />
EARLY CAREER: I’m currently teaching<br />
in my second school. I found the<br />
move between them relatively easy<br />
because they are similar kinds of school<br />
(academic, independent, day<br />
schools). In teaching, it’s possible to<br />
gain additional responsibility very<br />
quickly, be that as coach of a sports<br />
team, tutor to a form group, or<br />
pastoral role as head of year. These<br />
opportunities are readily available<br />
– you just have to be keen to get<br />
involved in the life of the school in<br />
the fullest sense, have to organise<br />
yourself well, and have confident<br />
presentational skills (and, of course,<br />
be willing to work the occasional<br />
long day!).<br />
ADVICE: The vast majority of<br />
teaching jobs can be found in the<br />
Times Educational Supplement<br />
(TES). Teachers are generally rather<br />
evangelical about their profession<br />
and it’s always worth asking an old<br />
teacher of yours for advice – I’ve<br />
already replied to several requests for<br />
advice from old pupils. Lastly, schools<br />
are always interested in dynamic and<br />
driven Oxford graduates. It seems we<br />
make good teachers!<br />
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