Chartered Status

Gemma Campbell (@gemlcampbell), English Teacher, Teaching and Learning Lead and mother of two explains how she used her second maternity leave to complete her CTeach qualification and use her mentoring skills to support the growth of this exciting new pilot. 

When my workplace asked for the costings for the IB Programme, I knew the end was nigh after 25 years of the college offering the course. My three-year stint as IB Coordinator now had an end date and so I decided that the time was right for baby number two. Unfortunately it seems, making the decision to have a baby and actually managing to get pregnant wasn’t as simple as it had been the first time round.

Fast forward two years and my last IB cohort were preparing for their final exams and I was now teaching A Level Government and Politics and Media Studies, neither of which were my subject specialisms. I had applied for and been accepted on to the Chartered Teacher Pilot Programme, however my career was failing before my very eyes. I had just been told that the Government and Politics A Level was being pulled as well and I had just stepped away from my GCSE English Resit Coordinator role. I was now simply an FE Lecturer, who had no subject but could turn her hand to many. The creation of my Personal Development Plan as part of the initial phase of the Chartered Teacher Programme saw me identify key areas I needed to focus on to make progress in my career and saw me determined to regain my role as a Teacher of English.

Just as I was getting my teeth into the Chartered Teacher programme, those two lines appeared on the

plastic stick and suddenly I was faced with the reality that both of my “much wanteds” had happened almost simultaneously. I’d finally decided it was time to return to being a secondary school teacher using my (hoped for) Chartered status and yet here I was actually pregnant!

The timings were just about right to juggle my commitments for the Chartered Programme whilst I was still in the classroom. I managed to record my three Iris Connect lessons (Phase 2) and with the help from my assigned group, we completed the required feedback and identified interventions in the final weeks of my summer term – some eight weeks before schools’ end of term!  For the Project (Phase 3), my ‘replacement’ was in fact a PGCE student teacher and I provided him with a PowerPoint of direct vocabulary instruction (from Alice Vissar-Furay), a Padlet, a Quizlet and enough little blue vocabulary books for the class: the class I had fought hard for – an A Level Literature class. I set up my 10 week project with a three week introduction in the September, ready for him to take over as part of my Research Project, before I left, and then I went on maternity leave a week earlier than planned as I’d managed to book an earlier date for my elective C Section.

I had my son on October 19th and my final Reflection, Report and Research Poster were due in the following February. Juggling day to day lessons, marking and prep as well as completing the reading, research and write ups for the Programme had been challenging enough and I had thought that I was lucky in that I didn’t have the additional work pressures of Parents Evenings, Open Days and everything else you have as a teacher/lecturer as I was on maternity leave. But baby number two was not keen on sleep, nor not being attached to mummy.

I took half hour’s here, there and everywhere. I would scribble notes as he lay on my chest. I would read articles on my phone whilst feeding him. And the days where I downloaded results or started the write up, he was in the rocker at my feet as I played white noise through Alexa. Unfortunately during this period, my brother in law was diagnosed with Leukemia and my support network was diminished by 3 – no Nanna; Daddy was suddenly forced to move work premises (self employed Director of a garage and car sales business), and ‘Uncle Peter’ (my daughter’s Godfather) was trying to support everyone, all at the same time. Friends were at work, my family were based in Manchester, and going to baby groups didn’t help with having time alone to get on with anything much. I must confess, I felt slightly guilty in that I was reading research papers and typing up results instead of sitting in hospitals supporting my brother in law. But babies are germs and Leukemia patients need an almost fully sterile environment. Completing my Project was a great distraction, for me anyway. 

Once I’d submitted my final work for the Chartered Teacher Programme and realising that things were very different this time round, I applied for part time and my Assistant Principal; recognising the challenging home circumstances, granted it. She also asked if I would return early as there had been problems in my absence and they needed me to step into the breach. Suddenly KIT days were a thing and my academic year off, was abruptly shortened to six months, in essence. I was back at work in the April, albeit only a few hours here and there. 

In the May, I received the news that I’d passed the Chartered Teacher Programme and was now able to use the post-nominals “Teach”… and then I applied for a job as a secondary school teacher… and was asked to apply for the role of Teaching and Learning Mentor at my current place of work… and was successful in becoming a Coach Supervisor for the Accelerate Programme… and a mentor for the current cohort of Chartered Teachers! 

Only 18 months earlier everything had seemed to be going downhill, and I wondered just what was going to happen to my career but today I am a Chartered Teacher, Mummy of two, Teaching and Learning Mentor, Network Leader for WomenEd Wales and the North Wales Representative for The MTPT Project. I will say, however, I didn’t achieve any of this alone. The coaching provided by The MTPT Project as part of the Accreditation was instrumental in supporting me to carry on when I didn’t believe I could, in asking me the difficult questions when I was burying my head in the sand, and for making me actually think rather than just survive.

I’ve completed FutureLearn courses at 4am, Attended Chwarae Teg’s Women in Leadership courses around my KIT days, and undertaken Webinars whilst feeding a baby and parenting my seven year old daughter.  My brother in law is in remission after a successful bone marrow transplant.

All in all, it has been a year…but what a year!  You can actually do it all, whilst sleep deprived, going it alone and taking on more than you ever thought you were capable of. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but I’m telling you, you can do it (if you needed to!)