IT’S often said that the successful teacher has to be a consummate juggler but recruitment officers in north London have, perhaps, taken this a little too literally, writes Warwick Mansell.
At a recent event to give 16 to 21-year-olds a taste of teaching, youngsters were asked to instruct each other in, you guessed it, juggling.
Recruitment strategy manager Joanne Mackrill, who ran the Camden event, said:
“I thought juggling would be something different - it’s a way of getting the youngsters to interact with each other in an informal, fun way.
“It puts each of them in the position o teacher, but not formally. It forces the ‘teacher’ to grapple with the different ways that a pupil can learn: some found it easier to watch the teacher doing the juggling, others just wanted to learn by experience.
“Within 10 minutes of starting, all had managed to juggle three balls, which was quite an achievement, really.”
As well as juggling, the youngsters discussed what makes a good teacher and learned about the different ways they could enter the profession.
The session appears to have paid off: all but one of the six participants are now looking to join the profession.
