Secondary Alumni Spotlight: Katie

This case study highlights Katie’s journey into teaching Maths despite having a degree in English Literature and shares how she embraced the opportunity of training outside her degree specialism. Through her reflections, she details her progress from the start of her training to her current role, where she now mentors trainee teachers and contributes to curriculum development.

Since graduating from Nottingham Trent University in 2014, I have worked in the retail sector in various roles, with my final role being a store manager right before I started the application process to train to teach. I had wanted to train to teach since graduation, but I wasn’t aware of the options I had available to teach a subject outside of my degree specialism. I thought that, having a degree in English Literature, I would have to train to teach English, as that was what my highest qualification was. Before applying, I wanted to see if the A-level I had in Maths was something that would be considered by ITT providers, so I used the application support process to speak to an advisor about what providers would want to see.

I had always been interested in Maths and had enjoyed it throughout school. When I was doing my GCSEs and A-levels, I really fell in love with the subject. I wanted to complete a joint honours degree so I didn’t have to choose between Maths and English, but the advice I got at sixth form was to pick just one. I found that the Maths I used while working in retail was something I was passionate about, ensuring young people had a solid understanding of it.

After being offered a place with Inspiring Leaders Teacher Training, they arranged for me to complete a Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course to ensure that my subject knowledge was of a sufficient standard before starting my training year. The SKE gave me confidence in my subject knowledge and provided a strong starting point that the training year developed as I learned how to teach mathematical concepts that I had only known how to do myself before. I started to see connections between the strands of Maths and gained a respect for how concepts could be broken down to enable student comprehension.

Due to training during the pandemic, I had one placement school in my ITT year. I found that staying in the school for the duration of my training allowed me to really immerse myself in the culture of the school. I built fantastic relationships with the students in my tutor group and the classes I taught. I worked closely with all members of my department and built professional relationships that have thrived since continuing to work in the school. One of the highlights was getting to work with and learn from some fantastic practitioners who have helped mould me into the teacher I am today. I saw the time and effort that these teachers spent observing my lessons and arranging time to meet me to provide me with quality, constructive feedback that continued to develop my skills, and it is something I want to give to future trainees now that I am in the position to mentor trainee teachers. One of the highlights was the relationship I built with my mentor and the class teacher that went on to mentor me for my ECT years.

Training during the pandemic made routines in the school change, especially during the term I spent teaching on Microsoft Teams. I had to think about how to adapt my approaches to questioning, assessment, and modelling so that I wasn’t just lecturing students in their online lessons, but instead providing them with an experience as close to in-school learning as possible. I collaborated a lot with members of the department and other trainees about how they were adapting to new ways of teaching. Using technology in my lessons is something that I incorporate where necessary, and I now feel confident using it.

In my ECT years 1 and 2, I joined a Maths and Science Shared Approaches workgroup run by the Maths Hub. This was interesting, as it allowed me to see how Maths concepts were taught in Science lessons and to work with teachers in other disciplines to see if we could develop shared approaches to aid student understanding. As a Maths teacher with a degree in English Literature, I wanted to make sure that my A-level subject knowledge was sufficient before I took the step to teaching A-level. I went on a course to deepen my understanding of Mechanics, and the next year I was given a Year 12 class to teach, which I have now carried through to Year 13. As an English graduate, I have been able to apply some of the knowledge I gained in my degree to developing literacy approaches on a departmental and school-wide level. I have been able to run disciplinary literacy teaching and learning groups for the school alongside an English specialist.

More recently, I have started working with the SCITT and have taken on the role of mentor for the 2024-2025 cohort. I have also become the Maths subject specialist for all Maths trainees in that cohort, and over the course of nine full days, I will provide them with Maths-specific CPD as well as conducting observations. I have also taken on the role of KS3 Curriculum Area Leader this year, which is a fantastic opportunity to be given a teaching and learning responsibility and to assist in the running of the Maths department.

If you have thought about teaching for a long time and are in a similar position to me, in that you are wanting to change careers—do it. There are countless transferable skills that you will have from your previous roles that you can apply to education.