“I've got a lot to learn”

Teaching gets a bad press, but when Matthew Godfrey wanted a career change, he decided to try his hand in front of the class

This article appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 8 January 2000

EARLY last year, at the age of 27, I experienced an "early career crisis". On paper, all was going well: a good degree from Durham, two years with a leading IT consultancy and, latterly, more than four years in a managerial role with a rapidly growing business. But this apparently seamless progression from graduate to professional had left me uncertain and anxious about what I really wanted to do with my life.

Once, I had bounded along happily with the graduate crowd but now I felt an urgent need to reconsider. I had always liked the idea of teaching but had been repeatedly distracted by other opportunities and the poor press the profession receives. I had also been reluctant to return to education so soon after having left it myself.

My foray into the commercial world had given me some skills, experience and confidence but it had also left me somewhat uninspired. The education system was crying out for fresh, skilled recruits and the political world was turning its attention - and money - towards education. Suddenly, teaching seemed attractive.

A financial sacrifice would have to be made - I would be spending a year as a student and, to start with, my teacher's salary would only be modest. Fortunately, my wife was happy in her job and we could afford to lose my salary. We had already bought a flat and, provided I was conscientious, my income would soon rise - particularly with the imminent arrival of performance-related pay and other incentives.

Teaching would not make us rich, but it would offer perks that up until now I had largely ignored, such as job security, a clear career structure and mobility. Most importantly, I felt I could do it well.

So, last September, I exchanged my briefcase for a student union card and embarked on a one-year post-graduate certificate of education (PGCE) course at London University's Institute of Education. I had decided to train as a secondary teacher of English. Reactions from friends and relatives ranged from "How wonderful!" to "Why on earth?" I, too, experienced a mix of exhilaration and apprehension as I gawped at my 140-page course booklet on the first day at college.

The course began with an intensive four weeks of lectures and seminars covering such topics as the history of the education system, computers in schools and classroom management, supplemented by some morale-boosting orations from inspirational educators - perhaps in anticipation of the hard grind that lay ahead.

We were also thrown into our subject-related studies, exploring how the various strands of the English curriculum could be approached in school. Interesting though this early stage of our course was, it all seemed too comfortable, and all of us "beginning teachers" (Institute-speak for trainees) were looking ahead with trepidation to the second stage, practical teaching experience (PTE): two consecutive 12-week periods of "sustained practical teaching" at two schools.

My first placement was to be at an inner-city comprehensive, where 67 per cent of the pupils are entitled to free meals, 85 per cent are from single-parent families, and just 18 per cent pass five or more GCSEs at grades A to C. "It's what we call a 'challenging' school," my tutor explained. So, I was to jump in at the deep end. "Look at it this way," my teaching mentor said when I arrived at the school, "if you can teach here, you can teach anywhere".

The school - Hurlingham and Chelsea in Fulham, south-west London - was almost closed by Ofsted five years ago, when more than 40 per cent of the pupils were leaving with no qualifications. Since then, it has slowly been turned around by a new head, who has built up a committed and professional team and implemented new codes of discipline. Two years ago, it was named one of the most improved schools in the country. Clearly, there was a lot I could learn here.

My first two weeks were spent observing lessons, tracking pupils, getting to know school procedures, planning and preparing learning materials. Gradually, I started teaching and now, 10 weeks on, I have full responsibility for 12 periods a week - around 60 per cent of a teacher's timetable.

It has been a remarkable experience. My most successful classes have been the ones where the children have understood the aim and purpose of the lesson, and when both my expectations and instructions have been crystal clear. The tasks themselves have not always been riveting, but if the pupils have been kept busy and have felt they are achieving something, then they have usually worked willingly and behaved reasonably well.

Poor behaviour - and at times appalling behaviour - has occurred when they have felt out of their depth, confused or bored. I learn a lot from observing their reactions to my lessons - and they are certainly not afraid to tell me what they think. I have now been told that my next placement school is one of the country's leading independents, where, no doubt, I shall encounter an entirely different range of challenges. In the meantime, I leave Hurlingham and Chelsea having been taught some life-long lessons myself.

Matthew Godfrey will be reporting from time to time on how his career develops

Published in The Daily Telegraph on 8 January 2000