For almost 25 years, Wayne Hall served in the Army working his way up to warrant officer class 1, the army’s highest soldier rank. While in service, he also qualified as an electrical engineer, gained a degree in leadership and management and is now finishing a part-time PGCE supported by the Further Forces career programme. On discharge, he joined Vision West Nottinghamshire College as a full-time public services lecturer in September 2021
I left school with no GCSEs (I later found out I’m dyslexic). I tried a few YTS apprenticeships that fell through - even washing pots in a local hotel - and then realised I wanted more out of life. At 18 I went to Stockport College to redo my GCSEs and got interested in electrical engineering. I did enough to enter the Army in 1997 where I qualified as an electrical engineer at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham. In 2014, after three separate two-year ‘tours’ training new recruits in engineering, I realised teaching was what I really enjoyed and where I could add the most value. To check if I had the ability to teach full-time, I successfully studied for a part-time leadership and management degree at Northumbria University, which then led on to other niche level qualifications like my ILM level 5 diploma in coaching and mentoring while working with students in the military. And then in January 2020, everything kicked off - I discovered Further Forces.
In January 2020 a colleague mentioned over coffee that he was heading down to Portsmouth University that weekend for an induction to a Further Forces teacher training programme for service personnel wanting to teach in FE. It sounded just right and I got two days off to join him. Within five days I’d applied, got accepted and been through induction for a part-time two-year PGCE course, starting that month. I finish next February!
It supported me in finding a teaching placement in 2020 at West Notts in their uniformed protective services department while I was still in the military. So I’d spend one day a week in a civilian environment which helped me decide if the job was for me and started clocking up 100 hours of practical teaching required for the PGCE. I was used to identifying issues and solutions as a soldier, so that side of teaching wasn’t the shock it could have been. I treated the placement as training time; it let me develop as a teacher and I was able to sit in on other classes and observe how different teachers taught and managed behaviour. It must have paid off as my department, who knew I was about to leave the army, invited me to apply for a permanent position from September this year, which I got after beating eight other candidates. They’d all taught in many settings but didn’t have my public service experience of so many real-life situations. I was relieved to get positive feedback from students who highlighted the realism I brought into lessons.
Further Forces has guided me directly from the Army into teaching. It provides you with ready access to your course tutor to discuss any problems on zoom. There’s always someone outside your immediate working environment with whom you can discuss anything.
The whole nationwide Further Forces cohort uses the Slack online communication platform to raise any questions or issues. I just have to post a statement and I can guarantee within a few hours I’ll get someone coming through who is facing the same problem and has a solution. I get a response from my tutor within 24 hours. When I needed to discuss something one to one, and on Friday suggested a zoom meeting on Monday, my tutor immediately booked me in for 9am.
I’ve chosen to work four days a week rather than full-time — given I was 25 years full-time in the Army. I spend Mondays at home continuing my PGCE course, writing up assignments and weekly CPD portfolios. I teach level 3 diploma (16-18 years) and level 3 extended diploma courses (including some students aged 19) in uniformed protective services Tuesday to Friday each week, including a half-day for marking and preparation. The syllabus covers around 16 public services, including the Army, Navy, RAF, police, fire, ambulance and Border Force
Wednesday is busiest. I start teaching two or three hour-long lessons from about 9am and then the same after lunch. I’m currently teaching units in citizenship to diploma students and security and physical preparation for public services (extended diploma). I also get a half-day of ‘desk-time’ to prepare lessons and mark assignments.
I don’t do much work at home, apart from a few hours researching for PGCE assignments and preparing lessons in advance for next year.
Units such as citizenship run for a whole year and there’s a lot to learn. The students have two chunky assignments to complete but it gives us opportunities to get in guest speakers. Last half-term our local MP, Ben Bradley, gave a talk on multiculturalism, diversity and equality and how it related to our community. Outside visits include the military barracks just round the corner from us, along with several centres for reservists and the area’s police HQ.
Time management is a key skill you have to master in the military. Discipline is something I’ve both received and dished out while moving up the ranks. In fact, I teamed up with an RAF colleague to introduce a code of conduct that didn’t exist in writing before in my college department. And teamwork and leadership is something I have introduced. I’ve explained that you can’t work in uniformed public services as individuals - you’ve got to be a team. So we’re doing a lot more peer-to-peer reviewing of our work rather than seeing loads of marking piling up on my desk. Students look at each other’s work before submitting it and spot those silly spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes.
Uniforms! As a trainee at the college last year I noticed the dress code was to wear what you want. I was a bit miffed as the clue was in our courses title: uniformed public services. So since September and with full college and student buy-in, we’ve adopted a style of uniform that our students say they would be comfortable wearing and look the part in military combat-style trousers, black T-shirts and black or brown boots. They do look amazing when they are all standing together. Touchwood, 99% have conformed. We do two or three inspections each week and if I have to cancel one for any reason I have 16-year-olds asking when can they do the drill again! They love it as they feel part of something - a feeling they may never have had at school.
It’s fighting to ensure our students have what they need to study properly despite the continued lack of adequate government funding. For instance, the college teaches A-level and BTec sport yet our gym hall is almost empty, lacking the mats, rowing machines, treadmills and exercise bikes you’d normally expect. And last year I was teaching leadership which included students conducting leadership and command tasks but we had no equipment. I had to use contacts with my own regiment to ensure we got tyres, empty barrels, wooden planks and ropes etc to carry out the training.
I was apprehensive at first when told I’d be teaching citizenship; I had to research a lot. But once I’d written out an adapted scheme of learning so I could understand it, I started, for instance, to make connections in my lessons with UK citizenship tests and I could explain why certain policies worked within the armed services. I even had 130 students listening intently when our local visiting MP mentioned future plans for their town.
You have to be understanding and patient - you can’t treat students like soldiers. In the military, if you ask someone to do something, it’s expected and done. Not so in colleges, where students are still developing their cognitive learning skills and patterns. Rather than get frustrated early on, you need to be empathetic and see things from a learner’s perspective - it goes a long way.
It’s got to be unit 10 - outdoor activities, navigation, climbing, canoeing…
We had 108 students take part in a parade of remembrance on November 11 this year in front of the entire college.
Do you have patience? If so, please give an example.
You never have a ‘same day’ and the students surprise you, which makes it all worthwhile.
