On Monday I got "the 'phone call" - the one every TeachFirst participant waits for, the one telling you where you are going to be teaching in September. This 'phone call was going to clear up all those things that couldn't yet be resolved like where I was going to live. Except that my 'phone call wasn't what I was expecting. Instead of "Hey Mary, we'd love you to go and teach music in such-and-such a school in Coventry/Leamington/Rugby ..." it was "We have to reduce our music places from 6 to 2, and so we offering you the opportunity to teach your other degree subject ... RE!!" ... ... ... I was, you could say, underwhelmed.
Now, I know that RE is an interesting and important subject, especially in today's global society and schools of mixed ethnicities. But it's just not what I was looking forward to teaching. I tried. Tried to convince myself it would be good, I would be a fantastic RE teacher, my pupils would love and respect me, we might even occasionally have "fun". But I just couldn't. Then I reasoned with myself "this is a guaranteed job for 2 whole years! You could buy a house, get a dog, grow vegetables, have the children in their own bedroom." Somehow I just couldn't get beyond the "but it's RE" moment.
I've um'ed and er'ed. I've drunk gin. I've bored my friends. I've spoken to RE teachers.
And then this morning I remembered. When I originally applied to TeachFirst I had absolutely no expectation of being successful. It's an incredibly tough programme to get on. And I had already worked out that if I didn't get on I would do my PGCE in the usual way, getting a student load and the funding I'm entitled to and it would be fine. So that's what I've done. My application to Birmingham City University is winging its way across the ether and now I just have to wait to be (hopefully) asked to attend an interview.
So, it means I have to live in my little flat for another year, not get a dog for another year, look out onto a car park for another year and live off my ex for another year. But at the end of it I will be in control of where I apply to teach and I will be teaching the subject I actually want to.
And they all lived happily ever after ... well, until the next major twist in the road anyway.
I think the important thing is that you have to live with your life day to day and I know that living with something that is not right doesn't work. So, good luck with Birmingham!
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