BA (Hons) Primary Education with QTS

Adam

Hi! My name is Adam and I’m just entering my third year of Primary Education with QTS. I’ll be honest I never thought university was going to be part of my plan. I thought Greenwich would be great for me because trust me if you can teach here you can teach anywhere. Whenever I go back to my home town of Swindon I love to see the look of fear in other teachers eyes at the thought of teaching kids from South East London. In all honesty though the idea that all the schools around here are run down with awful behaviour is just plain wrong. It’s the variety of schools that you will come in contact with that really helps you to hone your teaching skills. In my first year I had a placement in Chislehurst which is one of the most affluent areas of the country and in second year my placement was in a far more deprived area. Personally I didn't find one group harder to teach that the other, each just presented their own set of challenges. During placement you really do have to work hard as you’ll be expected to begin teaching groups or even the whole class from week one. It is nerve racking to begin with but the more you teach the easier it gets. In the end even teaching music on a Friday afternoon won’t seem that bad. The endless lesson plans do take their toll during the evenings but as someone who’s tried to blag it and teach lessons on the fly, you will be found out and you will look like an idiot.

The course itself is split up just like being back in primary school with all the subjects taught separately with a few other ones thrown in for good measure. All of them very hands on. In the later years of the degree you can even specialise in your favourite subjects. The essays are hard and get a lot harder as the years go on but if you prepare properly you’ll everything you could ever need will be in the library which is only a few minutes’ walk from Avery hill campus. But be warned don’t think that handing in an A level standard piece of work will be accepted any more, the jump in standard is huge and you are left a lot more to your own devises to complete your essays. On the upside though this means that the work feels a lot more like your own personal work that reflects the effort that you've put into it.

I especially loved hearing about all the other opportunities that there are for people with this degree beyond teaching in a school. There are opportunities to be consultants in other countries and as well as in museums and observatories.

On the whole I've loved the first few years here and the bad times you learn from and the lecturers (as well as your mates) are always there to help you.