My Journey Into Teaching
A wry smile came across my face when given the title of this directed writing. Call it fate, call it serendipity, call it déjà vu, but if the truth be told, I’ve been avoiding what I’m going to call my ‘date with destiny’ for most of my adult life. Sometimes my avoidance has been passive; sometimes it has been active, wilful and deliberate. Whatever the descriptor though, it has been avoidance plain and simple. Until now… I guess a bit of background is in order.
I’ve never been one to subscribe to the notion, the idea that one is destined to fulfil a particular career path or take on a particular job. My reticence, resistance and reluctance is even deeper when that ‘path’ is defined on the basis of being directed by family; because mum and dad have particular jobs or are in a certain ‘profession’, it follows that ‘junior’ will carry on the family tradition. Admittedly, in Victorian times nearly half – 46 per cent – of children followed in their parent’s footsteps. But analysis by Ancestry.co.uk supports my anecdotal reticence and resistance, and shows that just seven per cent of children now follow in the career path of their parents.
Me – I come from a family of classroom teachers! My grandfather was a teacher; my mother a head teacher and my brother and sister are both qualified primary school teachers! Not that I have done so, but I would not be surprised if it was revealed to me that other family relatives were also teachers! To say, ‘it’s in the blood’ would not be overstating the fact! And my reticence, resistance and reluctance increased...
As a teenager between the ages of thirteen to seventeen, I recall every Sunday my mother would get me to ‘teach’ math to the children she personally tutored in preparation for their entrance exams. I did it, not for recompense or reward mind you, but because in her words, that’s what I was ‘called’ to do. I must admit, I did not mind and to my surprise at times I quite enjoyed it, but...