“What do you want to do when you’re older?”
It’s a question everyone gets asked in the second year of high school when it’s time to pick your subjects. While many people around me were unsure, I couldn’t have been any more certain: I wanted to be in a job where my career revolved around sport, and PE teaching was the perfect fit for me.
I spent my school career being involved in the PE department as often as possible, whether that was by playing sports at lunchtime or after school, or helping at any chance I could get. This was my dream job, and I was going to make sure that dream became a reality.
I believe the role of a teacher to be the most important job in the world, and that sport and high-quality physical education are such important vehicles of lifelong personal development. By teaching through sport, I can make a difference to pupils’ lives, helping them achieve their goals and maximise their potential while providing equitable learning opportunities. I can also help pupils build life skills such as organisation, teamwork and leadership, while promoting literacy and numeracy.
As a young boy growing up, my family life always revolved around sports or keeping active: my dad was a very good footballer and I idolised him growing up; my sister was a cross-country runner who competed for Team GB on several occasions; and my mum was always keen for me to get involved with as many sports and activities as I could, instilling confidence in me that I could achieve anything.
Once I left school, I progressed to college and then university, which helped me build confidence and a greater knowledge and understanding of the theoretical side of sport and how to apply it. I have since worked as a sports coach, been a Camp America counsellor and worked for Street League, a youth unemployment charity. I’ve also volunteered as often as possible to see what the life of a PE teacher is like, and what I need to do to be successful.
My journey to PE teaching hasn’t been an easy one. There have been many occasions when I questioned if I would ever get accepted, but year on year, interview after interview, I made sure that I would take on any feedback, build on it and make every application better than the last. I took dance and gymnastics lessons, completed mock interviews and spoke to lots of people I knew who were already in the field, in order to be successful. I worked hard, remained resilient and had an inner drive and self-confidence that I could achieve anything if I really wanted to.
It may have taken me six attempts to finally get accepted onto a postgraduate teaching course, but I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason and that all the previous unsuccessful attempts only strengthened my desire to become a teacher.
It’s been a long journey to get me to this stage, but I am only just getting started and cannot wait for the next part. Bring it on!
Adam Martin is a postgraduate PE teaching student and a youth and community football coach, based in Scotland
