hubalicious.org - Professional Profile: Fiona-Primary School Teacher

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Professional Profile: Fiona-Primary School Teacher

What is your name?
Fiona

What is your profession?
Primary School Teacher

What does it entail?
Teaching! Planning, resourcing, teaching and assessing all curriculum subjects.

How did you get into it?
I always wanted to do it so I did A-levels to get me on to a 4-year degree course at Winchester University.

Did you need any qualifications?
I have a BA (Hons) in Primary Education with Qualified Teacher Status. I needed A-levels and GCSEs in English, Maths and Science to get on to the course. I am now studying for my Masters to help me to progress professionally.

What tips would you give to someone interested in your profession?
Get as much experience of working with children as you can. Try different age groups and if possible Special Needs as this will give you a real insight into the challenges and rewards of teaching.

How competitive is it to get into your area of work?
The teaching degree course is alot more intensive than other degree courses and alot of my friends didn\'t last the full 4 years. Once you qualify, it can be difficult to get a job - you need to be in the right place at the right time and do your research. It\'s not unusual for 80 people to apply for 1 position.

What do you enjoy the most about your profession?
Working with children is amazingly rewarding. They are incredibly entertaining and have some bizarre and creative ways of thinking.

What do you enjoy the least about your profession?
Assessments. Children take SATs in Year 2 and Year 6 but are actually continually assessed throughout Primary School. Their results are then analysed to aid target-setting. It can sometimes feel like we treat children as numbers rather than individuals.

What’s the most interesting thing you have done or the most interesting person you have met?
My career has allowed me to meet hundreds of interesting people. Recently I have worked with a number of artists and observed them creating some incredibly impressive works with really young children. It was very inspirational.