Teenager David Wilson (not his real name) was close to rock bottom. He hovered on the edge of society - and incarceration - in one of the most socially disadvantaged areas in England as he struggled with life in and out of care - he’d lived in more than 10 separate houses before the age of 10. Repeated involvement in fights and minor drug-related issues had him placed in care after he’d decided to leave home although he was still a minor. With no fixed abode, he ended up sofa-surfing and continuing to hang out with rough company before another court order returned him to care.
It was in his mid-teens that he admits his behaviour really got him into trouble. It was more his own doing than anything else - and he was put into care. He felt he was “a bit of a lad and just did things considered ‘normal’ by my peers”. By that time he’d left home, he was on his own and had no one to reel him back in and say ‘Look, what are you doing? Sort your head out!’ But he’d never been in prison or done anything really serious; although he says he might have faced that possibility at one point if he’d carried on down the route he was going. In those days no actual gangs existed so it was not a case of ‘us vs them’, although David says he and his peers were actually growing up around everything that is now associated with gang culture.
Then, fairly early on after coming out of his final period of care, he was allocated a council flat. “I needed money and had to work,” he says. “And anyway further/higher education study was not seen as a normal route where I came from.” He chose the building trade yet his anti-social behaviour continued to let him down and when he did start his first vocational training course of plastering at FE college, he was removed from the class.
After four years in various labouring jobs, David tried a 16-week college taster course in construction. As luck would have it, the teacher on his plastering course was now head of department at the college. “I see you’ve sorted yourself out!” he said. “Well, if you pass this course, we can get you on to our two-year NVQ level 2 bricklaying course.”
David duly signed up and went on to win an award for overcoming life-challenging and difficult circumstances. The award helped him gain the confidence to join the army after a number of labouring/construction jobs; joining up was something he’d always wanted to do but not necessarily as a career.
One thing led to another. In the army, he took a whole range of courses, including paramedical training, which helped kindle his interest in science, a subject that had fascinated him since childhood. “Science somehow got hold of me properly and the more I got through it the more I wanted to do!”
The army gave him the confidence to go on to the next thing, and without his military service, David feels he would not have had the mentality to start from the bottom in his studies and move up. It showed him a different way of life, made him more disciplined and gave him self-respect. He learnt that when sometimes things were hard, he just needed to keep going and he’d get there.
Four years’ service was all it took to confirm David’s growing desire to help young people avoid making the same mistakes he had made and realise their full potential. He saw his interest in combining science and teaching could make that possible.
There followed around seven years of study self-financed by a regular summer seasonal job. Back at college, and despite possessing several GCSEs, David still had to enrol for functional skills before resitting his English GCSE while doing science A-levels and resitting maths while gaining a human bio-science degree at the college that was validated by a local university. He went on to take a masters in medical science at the university and then, this summer, gained his PGCE teaching qualification through his college. This term he’s started his first full-time teaching job as a specialist practitioner in cellular and molecular biology at his college’s university centre.
He says college has massively changed his outlook on life.“It’s given me a platform, offered me support whenever I’ve needed it. I’ve also had good feedback from students and staff in my teaching practice. The first part of the teaching placement was online but when we went back to classrooms, I felt I was just flying.”
Why does he think he achieved a really good rapport with his students? “We’d all come from similar catchment areas . . . and I spoke in the same accent . . . maybe I sounded familiar!
“Multiple teachers too many to mention have all helped me make the transition to teaching. Without the college’s help and its links with the university, I doubt I would have got my place to do a masters. College staff are really good at understanding where people from the same environment are coming from. I’m proof of that really. When I’ve needed help, they’ve been there. Some of my mates are going through the system four years behind me - and that says a lot about the college.
“I feel now that I’ve got myself a normal, fully-functioning place in society. It took me time and a lot of confidence-building to come through - I suffered a bit from imposter syndrome and asked myself what was I doing here? But I already have publications to my name - everything gives you more confidence and I’m now in a position to help others.
“My aim is to become a successful HE lecturer in molecular science and eventually go for a PhD and a professorship.”
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