Forces: Ex-RAF
Laura C - Aerospace Systems Operator
“When I joined the RAF it was for the challenge; I cannot stand the thought of being in an office doing the same thing every day. The same applies to teaching. I know how tough it is going to be, and how heavy the workload is, but the thought of being challenged every day is really exciting."
After a nine year stint as an RAF Aerospace Systems Operator Laura Clark, 33, from Coventry is about to start her training to be a specialist secondary school teacher – of RE! But she says that this is not as peculiar a change of direction as it might first appear: “I appreciate some people may see it as an odd transition, but I don’t see a conflict at all. We have a tradition in this country dating back to WW2 of troops becoming humanities teachers.”
Laura had attended a voluntary aided comprehensive school where GCSE RE was compulsory. She then went on to do her A Level RE, but when it came time to go to university she studied photography – a hobby that had become a passion over her teenage years. As time passed she realised that she wanted to work and to be more challenged and so aged 22 she swapped study for work and joined the RAF for nine years.
During her military career Laura was actively involved with the Air Training Corps, eventually becoming the Air Cadet Liaison Officer at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria, when she organised and ran weekend and summer camps. And she discovered two things about herself: firstly, that she loved working with teenagers - helping them develop and grow as they gained new knowledge and experience, and mastered new skills; and secondly, that she also developed and grew, and that this experience made her realise that teaching could be her own next career move. Being in the military gave her the confidence she needed to pursue this.
By now she was in the latter part of her contract with the RAF, so a natural exit point was on the horizon. Senior RAF colleagues and careers advisers could not have been more helpful. She was supported as she studied for her degree – graduating with a 1st class BA in Religious Studies and Philosophy with the Open University in 2013, funded by her Forces Standard Learning Credits and some Enhanced Learning Credits. She also completed the Culham St Gabriel online Teach RE booster course before applying for a PGCE, and gained classroom experience in a Civilian Work Attachment at a local high school as well as spending every Wednesday teaching RE (as a volunteer) at the same school during her resettlement period.
But why RE? As Laura explains, “My own history with the subject did make it an attractive option. Briefly at the start, though, I’d favoured primary teaching. But only very briefly. And the more I chatted to colleagues, friends and family about which direction to take, the more I realised that a lot of people have a really outdated view of RE. It might sound perverse, but this made the challenge of teaching it more attractive to me. The general perception is about as far from the truth as you can get – RE is exciting, stimulating, even fun. Once I had seen how dynamic the subject is when it is taught really well, and how passionate the pupils can be when discussing such huge questions, I didn’t want to do anything else!”
She has also discovered a vibrant community of RE teachers who support and nurture each other, much of it via social media. RE teachers often find themselves in a school department of one or two, and so a very active social media community has evolved.
The next step for Laura is to obtain her PGCE. She starts at York St John University in September 2015. And with the reintroduction of bursaries for RE teachers this year, it also means that she can keep back what remains of her Enhanced Learning Credits to improve her subject knowledge a bit further down the line.
Laura passionately believes that this is the right career choice for her – and could also be the perfect career for a lot of ex-Forces personnel still looking for a challenge not generally found in the 9-to-5 environment: “When I joined the RAF it was for the challenge; I cannot stand the thought of being in an office doing the same thing every day. The same applies to teaching. I know how tough it is going to be, and how heavy the workload is, but the thought of being challenged every day is really exciting. I think RE teachers are in such a privileged position – no matter how much you know there is always going to be a pupil asking you a question without an answer! And when it comes to the classroom in general, I think ex-Forces personnel have a wealth of transferrable skills to draw upon. We are focused and organised, used to long days and a heavy workload. I think that out greatest asset is our adaptability. If a lesson doesn’t go as planned or the IT breaks we are able to ‘adapt and overcome’. I think this will stand me in good stead for the classroom.”
For more information about RE teaching visit www.teachre.co.uk/ or to learn about the Troops to Teachers programme, click here.
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