I have experienced what could be described as both an eclectic and a 'left of field' journey to St Andrews: I am first and foremost a qualified 11-18 classroom teacher, with a wealth of experience which extends from various mainstream state, independent and faith schools, as well as pupil referral units and young offenders' institutions - covering basic and life skills, KS3 & 4, GCSEs and A-levels through to the post -16 colleges'/training providers' sector - BTEC/Pearson and City & Guilds vocational portfolios covering the further and adult education frameworks and extending into HE - Foundation degrees, degrees and Initial Teacher Training, Offenders' Learning and Skills, High Needs, Learning Support, as well as a raft of government initiatives under the banners of welfare to work and preparation for employment and similar. My teaching subjects have included Geography, Environmental Science, Physical Education, History, Humanities, Religious Studies, Business Studies, Initial Teacher Training, Sport and Recreation, plus of course, Travel and Tourism, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. I began my teaching career as a Scale 1 Geography and PE teacher at a social priority designated school receiving an extra £200.00 per year for my travails.
In tandem with teaching I have had various educational management remits, primarily in colleges and training providers, both in the UK and abroad. The latter include a high profile training academy in Doha, Qatar, a top independent, not for profit Oxbridge school in the rainforest of Malaysia. These remits have included Head of Departments - academic and vocational, Head of Sectors, whole college Director of Curriculum and Quality, Managing Director of an International Training Provider. And most recently I was employed by Interserve Employment and Education International in partnership with SaudiAramco as a Vice Principal (Acting Principal) Curriculum and Quality at a leading engineering/technology training institution in the inhospitable desert oilfields of the civil unrest riven Eastern Province of KSA. In addition to the engineering/technology curriculum, I have managed such diverse curriculum areas, vocations, trades and occupations as Curriculum 2000 framework, business and IT, travel and tourism, hospitality and catering, health and social care, childcare, hair and beauty therapy, construction trades, retail, sport and recreation, as well as Initial Teacher Training and the Skills for Life, SEND, Functional Skills and Not In Education or Training agendas.
Rewinding to my first teaching post, I completed my probation period and swapped the classroom for 'pounding the beat' on the streets, I decided to fulfil my boyhood ambition to become a police officer. Subsequently, I progressed back into education via a stretch in a young offenders' institution as a teacher. And this lead me back to mainstream education and the college sector. The rest is history and I'm still on the journey.