“At some point, I was no longer on tenterhooks before my sessions but instead brimming with excitement to display the lesson I produced and distribute the hand-outs that I had carefully crafted.”

From the outset, it was clear that the FTS programme endeavoured to emphasise experience in the classroom rather than learning how to teach in a lecture theatre. Of course, this experience in the classroom started out as small, ten-minute starter or plenary sessions. Bite-sized pieces of practice. Gradually, these ten-minute activities become fifteen-minute sessions, then half an hour; before you realise how far you have progressed, you are stood in front of a classroom for the full hour delivering a lesson.

The job interview process was enjoyable: I was permitted a tour of the school, a meeting with many of the amazing staff, and I delivered a small session to a class with the other interviewees. From the experience I had gained, I felt no trepidation at delivering the session—it was nothing that I had not experienced before. This allowed me to flourish in the interview and really display the skills and knowledge that I had developed over the years.