A television news presenter is leaving the bright lights behind to retrain as a teacher. Karen Thornton and Michael Shaw report
TELEVISION presenter Anne Dawson has moved from the news studio to the classroom, and her career change is proving “pretty mindblowing”.
Her shift into teaching broke up the longest-running partnership in ITV, when she left co-presenter Wesley Smith and Central TV’s Abingdon studios to start training at Oxford University.
But she has no regrets about retraining to be a secondary English teacher. “It is so completely new. I have been in the same industry for 20 years and the same job for 13. I wanted a new challenge, and suddenly I am faced with a whole new world. It is incredibly exciting,” she said.
“Apart from a loving home, the most important thing children can be given is a good education, and as a parent myself I wanted to make a contribution to that,” said Mrs Dawson, a mother of two.
She is hoping her communication and presentation skills will be useful in the classroom, but is more nervous about her subject knowledge. And the 44-year-old has been overwhelmed by the genuine desire of people to help - in contrast to the competitive world of TV.
As a student, she had considered teaching and later realised how much she enjoyed passing on her television experience to new colleagues and giving workshops in schools. The more flexible, family-friendly hours also appealed.
“I never got home until after 7pm. Now I can take my children swimming if I am prepared to put in the hours after they have gone to bed. And you do have the holidays.” However, she expects to earn less than a third of her previous salary if, as hoped, she starts work next year on around pound;20,000.
Meanwhile, another former TV broadcaster has been piloting a training programme aimed at helping new heads to develop leadership skills.
Maggie Mylchreest was one of 130 heads to take part in the course, New Visions, run by the National College for School Leadership.
She trained as a teacher but spent 15 years as a newsreader and producer, including spells with Yorkshire Television and a production company in Paris.
She rediscovered her passion for teaching 11 years ago and has been head of Astbury St Mary’s school near Congleton, Cheshire, for a little over a year.
“My background was in TV, which was a tough, go-getting world. I rarely had time to reflect and when I did, I did not use that time effectively. It is only since I did this course that I have appreciated the importance of reflection, of taking time to look at what you have done and to assess it,” she said.
On the New Visions course, newly-appointed heads share personal experiences, tackle real issues from their schools, and draw on research on leadership, with a focus on improving pupil learning.
Applications for the next intake of the New Visions course (starting in January) close on November 8. The year-long programme costs pound;1,500. See www.ncsl.org.uk
