Samantha Alvarez
1. Tell us a little about your current job. What do you enjoy most?
At the moment I am a Raising Standards Manager for A Levels in a large Further Education College. I am responsible for ensuring that teachers are supported in developing an excellent grasp of how best to foster high level learning in our A Level learners.
I am also responsible for ensuring that learners know how to learn so that they can achieve the best possible results and progress to higher education or employment as confident and successful learners.
What I love most about this job is the combination of operational activities such as working closely with learners and teachers, whilst also having a leading role in strategic activities such as designing the A Level agenda. Plus I still teach my own A Level group, which helps to keep my ideas grounded in reality.
2. I see you have come some way from doing the MTeach. What would you say are the key things about the MTeach that have stayed with you?
Taking part in the MTeach has been the highlight of my learning experiences to date. With the support of the MTeach staff and my peers, I realised that shifting the focus from teaching to learning was the best way to become an outstanding practitioner. The course helped me to understand the metacognition of learning. Understanding how students learn has been the number one contributor to the success I have had as a teacher, leader and manager since graduating from MTeach.
The other thing I have to thank the MTeach for is the addiction it started in me for practice-based research. Prior to this course I hadn’t even heard of practice based research - let alone done any. My research supervisor, was hugely supportive, patient and challenging. Somehow he managed to convert me from a relatively new teacher with an idea of what I wanted to find out, but no idea how to go about it - in to a confident small-scale practice based researcher.
After the MTeach, I went on to complete a number of small research enquiries with funding from the then Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)- and now I support other teachers in undertaking enquiries of their own.
3. What did your dissertation/ practice based enquiry (RPBE or PBE) explore? What did you find out and how did it influence you?
My MTeach dissertation looked at how to develop analytical and evaluative skills in the context of A Level Business Studies. This was fuelled by my disappointment at my first set of A Level results where my students had scored highly for knowledge (representing only 25% of the A Level at the time) and poorly for analysis and evaluation.
The bottom line of what I found out was that my approach to teaching and the questions I asked students didn’t give them enough scope to do anything other than repeat what I’d taught them. Since then my whole approach to questioning has changed. My lesson plans now revolve around 3 or 4 key questions - questions that require students to think, explore, experiment and collaborate.
4. How was the MTeach work different from School or other professional development courses (e.g. INSET)?
The main difference between other INSET and MTeach is that MTeach requires you to implement educational theory in your own classroom -consistently over an extended period of time, testing the theory and adding to it given your own experiences. The work feels more genuine - longer lasting, rather than a rushed (and often unquestioned) quick-fix.
5. The MTeach is for teachers only, it often uses the sharing of participants classroom experiences/practice as a starting point, how did this work for you?
The fact that MTeach is only for teachers is a huge bonus. Sharing experiences felt hugely supportive - helping me to realise that understanding learning is complex and likely to be a lifelong endeavour.
6. What is your next career move?
My next career move is coming up very soon. I will be moving on to pastures new. After 17 years in the FE sector, I am moving to a secondary school where I will be one of the Directors of the Sixth Form. I am really looking forward to this exciting new chapter. I also hope to get started with a PhD -something I was supposed to embark on straight after finishing the MTeach in 2004.