Students from the University of Aberdeen’s teacher training course are the focus of attention in a new series to be aired on BBC One Scotland next Tuesday night (November 22).
Aspiring conquerors of the chalkface ranging from a former slaughterman to a guitarist in a punk band are to be featured in the programmes following would-be teachers.
Teacher Teacher follows six out of 240 graduates from the University of Aberdeen over the course of their training year, following their hopes and aspirations for the future, to the reality of classroom life through to the outcome of whether they do indeed pursue teaching in Scottish secondary schools.
The six weekly series covers the experiences of a 21-year-old fresh-faced graduate to a 36-year-old who has gone through such diverse jobs as a slaughterman and a pub bouncer to supplement his student income.
It also includes a keen horsewoman from Banchory with a passion for biology to a single mum from a high rise in Dundee. In addition, a mother of three from Orkney and an architect and full-time mum from Broughty Ferry are also featured.
Finding out in this series whether teaching is the job for them are:
Neil Thomson (36), who is originally from London but now lives in Aberdeen. He wants to be a geography teacher, having had a diverse range of jobs in his life including slaughterman and pub bouncer. He thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the series.
Blair Paton (21), from Burntisland in Fife, who now lives in Aberdeen. He wants to teach Technology. Skateboard enthusiast Blair is currently lead guitarist in a pub band called Quik. He said: “I had important reasons why I decided to part in the series – firstly, for the fun element, secondly that it would be nice to track a bit of my history, and thirdly, to de-stigmatise what people think of students.”
Jane Hunter (40), is originally from Leeds but now lives in Orkney. A mother of three young children aged nine, six and four; she decided to aim at a career as an English teacher in the wake of the breakdown of her marriage. She decided she wanted to take a chance by taking part in the series. She said: “Having met the producers of Tern TV, I knew that they were not going to produce anything ridiculous. I decided to turn things upside down and take a chance by taking part in the series. I thought, why not?”
Sheila Docherty (32), is mum to six month old Jamie and lives in a high rise block in Dundee and is hoping for a better future for them both by aiming for a career as a drama teacher.
She said: “I think being a teacher is a very different job and it’s a lot of effort and it takes a lot of attention and a lot of emotion as well, you have to put an awful lot of yourself into teaching. I’m not going to be a teacher for the money or for the holidays, you’re doing it for a reason because you want to teach and you want to, especially at (my) sort of age, you want to help the pupils develop and to be the best they can.”
Fiona Ferguson (36) of Broughty Ferry, who studied to be an architect in the 80s before becoming a full-time wife and mother, and then returning to work. She is now a technology teacher.
”When you’re not very confident about your own abilities, having to go and stand in front of them and teach is a bit daunting. However, it was a really good experience to be part of and made me stop and think why I was doing things. I became more reflective in my role.
“If I can do it, anyone can do it. I hope that women watching the series will be encouraged to come into what is essentially thought of as a male-dominated area of work.”
Anna Cashmore (23) of Banchory, though she now lives in Forres. She is a keen competitive horsewoman, who wants to impart her passion for biology to her classes. She explained: “I thought this would be a great way to have a record of what I was doing during my teaching year. Becoming a teacher is certainly not as easy as you think, as I am sure you will find out in the series – it’s not a case of only working 9am-3pm.”
The series, which follows the trainees over the course of their year-long teacher training, was made by Director, David Peat and Tern Television, production company behind award-winning documentaries.
The University is delighted to be promoting teaching and to have been involved in the series. Cathy Macaslan, Vice Principal, Learning & Teaching at Aberdeen University, said:
“Tern Television Productions are well respected producers of documentaries as evidenced by their BAFTA awards, including Chancers and Gutted.
“David Strachan, Joint Managing Director, Tern TV, is a distinguished alumni from the University of Aberdeen and we were delighted to be approached by him to work with his team on this.
“The University of Aberdeen and the School of Education staff were very keen to participate in the series, Teacher Teacher, working with Tern TV to show the inner workings of teacher education and of teaching and the sheer hard work and dedication of those involved. Sensationalist negative press can often try to paint a different view but these programmes take a very balanced and realistic approach.
“The programmes feature six students from our PGCE (Secondary) course and is an excellent opportunity to highlight the course and the University and to promote teaching as a rewarding career to potential students.”
Liz Clark Acting Head of the School of Education added: “There are lots of great things about teaching and becoming a teacher that we wanted to share and this venture gave us the opportunity.”
Joe McDowall, Director of the PGDES Programme at the University, has been involved in the series from the outset and appears in some of the episodes. He said: “For many years the University of Aberdeen has had a teacher training programme which has been very successful. When Tern TV approached us to see what it was like to learn to teach through a student’s eye, we were confident to become a part of it, considering the sensitivity and professionalism shown by Tern TV in previous productions.
“The programmes illustrate the dedication and sheer hard work required for success as a beginning teacher as insights are provided into the professional lives and thinking of six student teachers across a range of subjects.
“All the students who participated were volunteers and they were all, as well as their families, part of the production process. All the schools who participated were very obliging and the programmes were made with the full co-operation of all the families and schools involved.
“I am very much looking forward to watching all six episodes.”