Colin Greig

Last year I applied for a Primary School placement through the Student Tutoring Scheme and was very quickly given a placement with Claypotts Castle Primary School in Douglas, Dundee. Initially my placement was for eight weeks with a Primary 2 class helping with ICT (Information, Communications and Technology). Although the initial part of the first lesson involved a period of observation while the teacher gave directions to the class, it became apparent very soon that this placement was going to be a very hands on experience! Pretty soon I was supervising tables of pupils whilst helping them with their practical tasks as well as basic reading and writing skills.

After a period of Friday afternoon visits helping out with the Primary 2 classes, I was given the chance to help out on another day with the older Primary 6 class as it was thought the contrast of age groups would further my experience. In the end I decided to come for two afternoons a week and continue to work with the Primary 2 class which was too much fun to suddenly leave! I also stayed well beyond the eight weeks that I was supposed to, which was appreciated by the teacher.

The main benefits that I took from the Student Tutoring Scheme was being able to work closely with the contrasting set of classes, from 6yr olds in Primary 2 to the 10 yr olds in Primary 6. Having the experience of actually sitting down with pupils and helping them with their tasks was very valuable. Furthermore this enabled me to build up a teacher – pupil relationship which I had not envisaged at this early stage. On my first meeting with the Primary 6 pupils it became apparent that there were a few characters amongst the boys who could be very intimidating at first glance. I felt very proud of myself after quickly gaining their respect very early on when I managed to talk to them on their level, ie. talk football and playstation games! I must add that after that initial ice breaker, I hopefully contributed to motivating them in their tasks as the weeks went by. It must also be said that having a chance to observe and work with a highly experienced teacher who knew her craft was also highly worth while.

This placement, although did not give me general class room experience, did give me a small chance to become aware of the positive and negative aspects of being involved in supervising a class of children for an hour and a half period. For myself I enjoyed the positive aspects, with being there for only a short period of time, but can see that as a full time profession can be very challenging as well as a rewarding career. This placement has made me hungrier that ever to become a teacher after my degree.

As regards enhancing my CV, this experience will become invaluable as a way of strengthening my application for post-grad teacher as the competition for places becomes harder.