The typical teacher dreams of their future career from a young age. You read a dozen exemplar personal statements, and they’re all the same: passion explored through repetitive clichés.
“Ever since I was a child, my dream was to teach…”
“My Year 5 English teacher inspired me to head towards this career…”
“I had an awful teacher, which made me want to make a difference…”
I am not the typical teacher-to-be. I did not dream of teaching from a young age. In fact, I frequently dispelled the myths made by family and friends, who prophesised that I would one day shape the minds of students. “You’d be so good at it, though!” I’d hear them chant. “Not a chance,” I’d cry in defiance. Looking at the career from my unexperienced mind, the decision was clear: the hours were horrid, the workload intense, and the pay mediocre. And how could teachers deal with delivering identical content every year? Plus, plenty of kids would never show interest in lessons, regardless of the hours you pour in to planning to make them entertaining. What a dull life to lead!
The premise was soul-crushing.
I thought of that dated mindset with a smile when signing up to UCAS’s teacher training website. Growing up, I decided to stay as far away from teaching as possible. I refused to give the profession a chance. But over the years, I’ve gained a whole new perspective on the incredibly noble career. After gaining insight into teaching, it has become so much more appealing.
With that, I’ve decided to chronicle my journey towards Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). I’m going to provide insight into my thought-process, tips and tricks with applications and gaining school observations, and update you all each and every week on my progress. I briefly spoke about my plans to teach in the past, but will be going much more in-depth with these posts. If you’ve thought of studying a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education), but never had the motivation or the desire, then there’s no time like the present! Get involved with the application process as I work towards submitting mine.
In the meantime, I’d highly recommend joining the Aspiring Teacher Forum group on Facebook. Nearly 2,800 members are posting comments and concerns all the time, and it’s come to feel like a support group for PGCE applicants.
Let me know in the comments below if you’re training to teach or thinking about it. Equally, if any qualified teachers have words of wisdom to share, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s kickstart our careers together.
I’ll be posting updates to my teaching journey every Friday at 5pm GMT. The only chance you’ve got of staying up-to-date with my blog is by subscribing to my socials all over the web:
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Hardly Hamilton 
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