Tom Baston

1. Tell us a little about your current job. What do you enjoy most?

I am currently Head of Geography and have been for the last five years. I really enjoy taking students out the classroom and showing them what they have learnt about in the real world. It’s also great to run trips and expand students’ horizons to help them appreciate the world they live in. Alongside this I truly believe in the value of education and that it is essential for the young people of today.

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?

One of the biggest things that has stayed with me from the MTeach is that I am a much more reflective in everything I do, giving time to evaluate things. Being a teacher and Head of Department means you have to make hundreds of decisions a week and sometimes you forget to take a step back and evaluate what you are doing and why you are doing it. So making sure I reflect and evaluate is essential, the second is to not be afraid to try new ideas or approaches, some work, some don’t but it’s always worth trying as it invigorates and stops you become stale.

3. What did your dissertation/ practice based enquiry (RPBE or PBE) explore? What did you find out and how did it influence you?

I investigated Virtual Learning Platforms and Environments, bearing in mind this was quite a long time ago these were new at the time. I basically found out that they could be very useful if used correctly and driven forward in a school with everyone using them. If this was done they can be a great asset to education.

4. How was the MTeach work different from School or other professional development courses (e.g. INSET)?

Sometimes you do CPD and you leave having had a good lunch and with a few different short term approaches or ideas, however, the MTeach makes you think differently, more long term and critically about your profession, a lifelong skill.

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?

When I did my MTeach I was only a year or so out of my PGCE so it was great to realise that I wasn’t the only one going through some of these things. It was really useful to talk stuff over share experiences and good practice, this was a great starting point to becoming more reflective.

6. What is your next career move?

I would like to work my way up to senior management to effect change and lead a larger team than just my department. I am under no illusions that this would be a challenge, but a worthy and worthwhile one. Every day is a school day so lots to keep on learning.