My name is Kelly Hjersing. Ever since school I have considered a career in teaching Art and Design: I knew that I wanted to teach young adults rather than schoolchildren, but I wasn't sure if there was a special teaching qualification for this. After gaining my BA in Art and Graphic Design and developing my career as a freelance illustrator, I started researching my teaching prospects in earnest. As always, friends and family helped and encouraged. I discovered that Cardiff University offered a PGCE in Further Education.

 

The application process was straightforward enough and, even though I had applied late, I was offered an interview. The interview was part of a familiarisation day when tutors explained about the course and teaching in further education. I panicked a bit when we were told to summarise the main points in writing there and then. I thought that because it was such an academic course and in education that my writing would have to be perfect. I knew that being dyslexic that would be impossible for me. However, the interview which followed went brilliantly and I was reassured that my dyslexia would be taken into account when assessing my writing. I would have appreciated having had this reassurance beforehand because it is so much easier to concentrate on getting the meaning right when you don't have to worry about spelling.

 

to top 

 

 

The PGCE course is challenging with intensive theoretical input crammed into the first three months before students go out on placement - lots of heavy reading and written assignments. Cardiff University has a Dyslexia Centre and I feel the support I have received from the staff there (and from the tutors in the Education Department) has made a lot of difference. I have been taught how to get the most out of the specialist computer equipment provided through the Disabled Students' Allowances and, more importantly, how to self-correct my work so that I have been able to do without this sort of support on placement. I feel that I have come on in leaps and bounds on this course. My academic tutors have commented on the improvement and I have received distinctions for all my written work. I am also a much better organised student and have not needed to ask for any deadline extensions. Of course I have worked extremely hard, but it has been worth it and being organised and up-to-date with work is the biggest stress-buster I know.

 

I cannot stress sufficiently how lucky I have been with my teaching placement in Weston-Super-Mare - I couldn't have picked a better placement. My mentor in the college was wonderfully supportive and I continued to receive advice and help from my tutors in Cardiff. I got a real buzz from working with the students and was made to feel that they found my teaching stimulating and creative.

 

I would say that doing the PGCE is the most challenging thing I've done to date, because of my dyslexia, but it is also the best thing I've done and has given me a real sense of achievement. I feel really confident about tackling further academic study and I am planning on doing an MA in a few years' time.

 

Teaching is very demanding and can be exhausting, so I make sure I keep fit with boxercise. This is when I can't indulge in my first choice of exhilarating activity - snowboarding. Now that my course is almost over I'm off to New Zealand in August for a well-deserved snowboarding holiday!

 

 

 

Apart from this, I shall be kept busy over the summer running an Arts Workshop for teenagers for the Newcastle Literacy Trust. Being dyslexic myself, my approach is empathetic, but I feel my strongest contribution is my skill as an artist. After that I shall be busy preparing for my own art exhibition in The Little Strawberry Gallery, Clifton, Bristol. My work for this particular exhibition can best be described as abstract views of nature using a very linear approach, but I work in many different styles of illustration to suit different projects and commissions. I look forward to passing on my skills and love of my subject to many students in the future.

My final advice for any student considering teaching - the most important thing is that you must really want to teach and you must have a passion and enthusiasm for your subject.

 

What does Skill do to help people like Kelly?

 

to top