Current role: maths teacher
School: Thomas Deacon Academy, Peterborough
Route into teaching: PGCE
I left school at an early age and having always enjoyed numbers I decided to embark on a career in financial services. I studied while I worked and became a qualified accountant. I enjoyed my job at the start, and there were some perks, but mainly I was dealing with data and spreadsheets. To be honest it was very solitary.
It was when I became a governor at my daughter's school that I started to think about being a teacher. I knew it was going to be a big decision to make and that there would be a lot of planning involved for both my family and myself. I had a lot of questions to ask, one of my main concerns was how much money I might earn. I talked to the parent-teacher association (PTA) of my daughter’s school and was invited to sit in on some classes. This was when it really hit me that teaching was what I wanted to do.
The satisfaction on their faces spurs me on to teach.
After starting my PGCE, I asked the local secondary school if they needed an assistant and I was invited to help teach a class. I was still working at the time, and it was quite hard to juggle the course and my work commitments. Luckily I didn't have to do a maths enhancement course, as my accounting qualification was the equivalent of a masters.
I have been teaching now for almost two years. I love the interaction with the kids and also knowing that you're making a difference every day. And although I had to take a drop in salary, I know there’s plenty of opportunity for quick pay progression. My work/life balance is so much better now; it actually allows me to have a life! My previous work experience helped me with my teaching as I bring those elements into my lessons, and it usually answers that common question about maths: 'why do I need to know this?'