Joshua Wengraf
PGCE in Secondary Science: Physics
Joshua is combining his passion for physics with his love of storytelling and caring for others. His empathetic nature and motivation to succeed have secured him a role at an independent school in 探花直播.
聽鈥淒uring my time at sixth form I was able to undertake some teaching experience. It allowed me to gain early exposure to the profession, explore teaching as a career path and assess whether it aligned with my interests, skills, and aspirations 鈥� which it did!聽
To me, the main appeal of becoming a teacher was the pastoral side of the role as well as my enjoyment of physics. I see my subject as a way of capturing the kids' imaginations and telling them stories, and ultimately聽inspiring them to achieve more.
You work with lots of pupils聽on a daily basis and you聽have the opportunity to聽change all their lives at least a little bit. Helping kids every day through pastoral care is the best part for me; they come to you with a problem, and you can help them聽work it out. Once, a pupil came to me having a panic attack and it was rewarding to help them through it. As a science teacher, you can sometimes come up with questions that really hook the kids, you talk it through with them and they respond with things like 鈥渢hat鈥檚 so cool!鈥� which is also really satisfying for me.
Being a BCU student has opened up many collaborative and interdisciplinary opportunities for me. I鈥檝e been able to work together with fellow students from different subjects as well as researchers and professionals from other disciplines. This multidisciplinary approach has broadened my perspective and inspired me to cultivate diverse ideas and techniques. My course has also helped me to develop pedagogical knowledge and skills, subject matter expertise, provided me with hands-on classroom experience and the opportunity to work amongst other aspiring teachers.
At the start of my course, I dealt with imposter syndrome and felt as though my work wasn鈥檛 good enough. I dealt with this by prioritising the practice of self-care. I would recommend this to any current or prospective student; exercise, take up a hobby, meditate, spend time in nature and generally look after yourself,聽产别肠补耻蝉别听ultimately, looking after yourself means you can bring your best self聽in to the classroom.
Being a teacher is transforming me into a better person; I鈥檓 more organised, more confident, better at public speaking, and my time management has also improved. To be a teacher, you have to be able to receive feedback, including constructive criticism, and be prepared to make changes as you go through聽the process. It鈥檚 a big surprise to me how much of teaching is actually about establishing your identity and your confidence.聽聽
To me, I AM BCU means having the space to develop as an individual as part of a wider community. I鈥檓 grateful to have had the opportunity to learn and to be able to go on to shape young people鈥檚 futures.鈥�