A LOCAL teacher is part of a drive to try and encourage more people to enter the profession.

The ‘Teaching Makes People’ campaign targets university undergraduates studying science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects as well as people currently working in STEM industries.

It is based on research showing people attracted by and suited to teaching are generally motivated by helping to develop others and making the most of their own knowledge. 

It builds on the success of last year’s ‘Inspiring Teachers’ campaign which saw a 19 per cent increase in applications for education post graduate diplomas (PGDE) at Scottish universities compared to the previous year.

Victoria Wall, maths teacher at Wallace High School, recently joined the campaign and hopes that sharing her experiences will encourage others to consider a career in teaching. 

She said: "I genuinely love being a teacher. Whether it is developing relationships with staff and pupils, acting as a mentor to young people, or simply sharing my love for maths, I find that there is a great deal of job satisfaction on offer.

"The job of a teacher is not without its challenges, although I always aim to improve pupil performance and implement my behavioural policies which I feel benefit my students in the long-term. 

"As a teacher, it is also important to nurture young people within a social capacity so I am always happy to lend my time and help out with various after school activities and events.

"Moving forward, my primary aim is to focus on becoming an excellent maths teacher. 

"One crucial aspect of this is motivating my pupils so that they are more enthusiastic about STEM subjects. 

"I personally feel that this comes back to the important fundamentals of teaching – we need to shake off the ‘boring’ tag and this starts by reinforcing your own passion, otherwise you are going to find it hard proving them wrong."

A video of Victoria talking about her experience of teaching can be viewed on YouTube.

For more details about becoming a teacher in Scotland, visit the Teach in Scotland website.