Teacher Voices: Chris Nesbitt

This is number five in my ongoing blog series about the lives of former students who have gone on to become successful educators. This post features Chris Nesbitt (@cnesbitt1811 on Twitter), who graduated from Plymouth University in 2015 with a first class B.Ed degree in primary education in the same group as Hannah Shelton and Megan Douglas. Chris is now leading computing and teaching Year 5 at a primary school in Bristol. Here is his interview:

1) What made you decide to become a teacher? What/who inspired you? What were your motivations?
To be quite honest when I was younger being a teacher never crossed my mind. I was motivated by money and always aimed to be a barrister. However, after my mum bought me a GCSE law book to look at I suddenly realised that the office life wasn’t for me. It wasn’t until I spent a sometime coaching football and other sports that I realised I wanted to work with children. I spent some time in local primary schools and when I saw the impact I could have just as a teenager on work experience I knew teaching would be right for me.

2) What is the best thing about being a teacher in a primary school? What gets you out of bed in the morning?
I have been lucky enough to work in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, both of which have provided so many opportunities for smiles. There is nothing more satisfying than when a child that would find a piece of work difficult 'gets it', or when you can put a smile on someone’s face when they have been having a difficult time.

3) What does it take to become an excellent teacher? What characteristics do the best teachers have?
We could go down the route of the classic interview answer and say you need to be hardworking, dedicated and willing to do what required to be the best you can be. However, for me those things come with most teachers. In my eyes an excellent teacher is the person that can inspire. The person who can take the day dreamer, the class clown, the shy child, the child with a difficult home life and all others - and for one moment, engross them in their learning. Have every brain buzzing, engaged in what they are doing and every child feeling they are there for a purpose.

4) What do you consider your greatest achievement to date as an educator?
I think as a person I have grown. I was motivated during initial teacher training by the ‘outstanding’ grades but in actual fact that did nothing but boost my ego. Taking a step back and thinking about my learning, experiences and understanding of how children learn has allowed me to create better learning opportunities for my children. From this, I have seen children develop a deeper understanding but more importantly understand the 'how' and 'why' behind what they are doing.

5) How can we improve education? If you were the Secretary for Education, what would be your first priorities?
Firstly, teacher well-being. Through social media such as Twitter, I have seen several inspiring accounts that share great examples of how their schools try to make teachers' lives easier. It could be taking some time out of class, head teachers taking assemblies to allow for marking/same day intervention or providing moments to just switch off. Although the problem is this all comes from within individual schools. Where is the government support for teachers? Providing helpful tips to decrease workload or marking doesn’t help when we are held accountable for delivering ridiculous expectations. Secondly, funding is an issue. Every school across the country will say the same thing. Budget cuts do nothing but make our job harder and reduce the opportunities/support that we can provide for the children. There is more to education that tests and data. In fact there is more to life.

6) What are the most innovative uses of technology in education (that you have done yourself, or have seen)?
I have been fortunate enough to have been given the time to visit others school and watch some inspirational teachers. During this time I have been able to magpie ideas and merge them alongside my own to improve the use of technology in my school. Every teacher in our school now has an iPad which we know can be used in a variety of ways. One simple piece of software I would love to share is Air Server. It allows you to mirror you iPad display onto your SMART Board (without an expensive Apple TV in every room). I have used it to share work, model editing and inspire others using their peer’s ideas.

7) What is your favourite story or memory of teaching children you would like to share?
I think all teachers love the lightbulb moments, but for me it was when I saw one boy with many struggles both academically and at home succeed. For some his achievement many have been small but for that little boy it was the greatest thing in the world.

8) What advice would you give those who are just about to start out on the pathway to becoming a teacher?
It will be difficult. You will have moments where you think’ is it all worth it?’ But I can promise you once you get your very own class and you’re stood in front of them you’ll realise it was worth it. Most importantly, surround yourself with a great group of friends. Make it your priority when you get to University. I was lucky enough to have a great group that supported me and where always there to keep me laughing.

9) What are the most significant challenges facing education right now?
For me on top of our funding crisis it has to be our test culture. It serves no purpose except to provide data for the government ranking tables. Does it benefit the children? No! Then is it meaningful? No! We teach for the children, not for anyone else. The test culture only compels some teachers to teach to the test, making learning boring and creating unnecessary stress for everyone.

10) What will schools of the future look like? What would you like to see happening in the next 10 years?
I have experienced schools where they are completely child led. They are structured around the children and teachers are motivated by their thoughts and opinions. I loved being referred to by first name. Why should you address me as sir? I am no more important that the child in front of me. Some argue that it's respectful, but for me respect is earned it doesn’t come from a title. I would like to see more schools give up the regimented environment of ‘you must do this because this is how I like it.’ I want schools to have access to all the resources they need and for children to be given the choice of when to access them. I have seen first-hand that once the gimmick of something new disappears children make meaningful choices that support their learning. But they need the tools to make those choices.

Photo courtesy of Chris Nesbitt


Teacher Voices: Chris Nesbitt by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.