Helping young people

Why do you want to become a secondary school teacher? Sense of purpose often plays a role, Nienke Smit knows. As a teacher trainer, she helps lateral entrants get a teaching qualification.

‘Many teacher inspe are looking for meaningful work with young people,’ Nienke Smit explains. “They want to help young people stand firmly in their shoes so that they can build a future. Some discover through their children that they actually really enjoy explaining something to another person. Others find their current screen work too solitary. They seek more interaction with others and derive pleasure from sharing knowledge. For example, we are now training a lab assistant to be a biology teacher.”

Professionals can fully transfer to teaching or opt for a part-time construction. The big plus of a professional in front of the classroom? “They bring their work experience with them. A former Shell employee, for example. He can just shake examples out of his sleeve in class, and pupils love it! We also train a former member of parliament to be a social studies teacher. When an election was organised at this school, this MP was able to tell from his own experience how to prepare and conduct a debate. That appeals to pupils.”

You can obtain a teaching qualification before you start as a teacher or while you are already a teacher via the lateral entry route. Nienke: “We set aside a lot of time to get a picture of someone’s work and competences and to match these well with the tasks and supervision at school. You have to fully meet the entry requirements for teacher training, but if you can do it a bit faster after that, you can also run.”