Food and technology teacher with 27 years’ experience, teaches at Linlithgow Academy, West Lothian, is about to complete the Chartered Teacher Programme through the MEd route “The professional enquiry in education course at Stirling, part of my chartered teacher programme, has been my most rewarding CPD experience.
“The chance to spend three years meeting and collaborating with other teachers, being outside my own comfort zone and getting other people’s ideas has been very meaningful.
“I very much embraced the concept of chartered teacher. I chose this route because I am really interested in learning and teaching and didn’t want to go into management, although now I am facilitating a collaborative action inquiry group across eight departments in my school.
“I would say from my recent experiences that sometimes as a teacher you need to do a bit less to achieve more: you need to get out of the classroom and observe and work with others to make more of an impact.
“I am happy that what I have done has improved my classroom practice. I have seen changes in attainment. Time is a big issue, but it’s very refreshing and invigorating.
“Once you get involved in professional development, you can see a change.
It’s a culture change; younger teachers will come through with a completely different view. After 27 years in the classroom you can still change your practice.”
