Aspiring teachers from Whitley Bay and North Shields share what it's like to do a teaching apprenticeship

Emma Moffatt and Molly Hetherington are studying the Teacher Apprenticeship (PGCE Primary Teaching) at the University of Sunderland. As part of the apprenticeship, they are both working as apprentice teachers at special educational needs school, Sir Charles Parsons in Newcastle.

Emma, 27, who lives in North Shields, said: “My favourite part of the apprenticeship is when I’m teaching the students, when they learn from my lesson, and they achieve small steps in preparing for adulthood. It gives me a great sense of warmth and joy.”

Emma balances teaching with a number of other duties within the school, such as being a first aider, a lifeguard at the school swimming pool and a cover supervisor, where she supervises pupils and carries out pre-prepared exercises when teaching staff are on short-term absence.

“The apprenticeship is setting me up for the real world of teaching, providing me with the subject knowledge and assignments which will benefit my teaching practice and creating resources for my future lessons,” Emma added.

The apprenticeship is also keeping Molly busy. As well as teaching, Molly’s responsibilities include supporting swimming sessions and feeding plans and supporting students socially and emotionally in their everyday lives.

Molly, 29, from Whitley Bay, said: “The apprenticeship has given me a lot of hands-on experience to further my career.

“I feel like I am able to see first-hand how teaching works and what it will look like for me and my career. I feel so inspired seeing how much the students can do and how much they lift me up to do my best at work.”

Dr Ben Middleton, Academic Dean of the Faculty of Education, Society and Creative Industries at the University of Sunderland, said: “Emma and Molly are brilliant examples of how our approach to partnership working with schools is helping to train the teachers of the future.

“We are delighted to be expanding our apprenticeship offer further, with new primary and secondary teacher training apprenticeships in development to start later this year.”

The University launched its apprenticeships programme in 2017. Now partnering with more than 150 organisations, there are currently just under 1,000 apprentices covering a range of sectors and job role.