Fatema Karim
A student who is now teaching the subject she loves has graduated from the University of Worcester.
Fatema Karim works at Trinity High School in Redditch, a school she grew to love during her placement there on the PGCE Secondary Business course. “I feel as though my PGCE really prepared me for this year and I hope to be able to continue to improve as a teacher and go far in the profession,” said the 22-year-old. “The PGCE was definitely a difficult year and it will be great to celebrate finishing the year of successfully and passing my course. It will also be a great opportunity to think back through the year and end it with a highlight like the graduation.”
Fatema decided on Worcester after hearing much positive feedback on the education faculty. She found the whole course interesting. “I really enjoyed the visits we used to do at schools as it helped us look at a variety of institutes such as private boarding schools, SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) schools and colleges,” she said. “The visits also helped me understand what type of school I would like to work in. The highlight for me was when we visited a school and were able to run an enterprise day for their Year 7s. It was amazing to see our hard work become a reality.”
However, she acknowledged that it had been a challenge to go from being an undergraduate student with limited classes to five full days a week of teaching and university classes. “I was involved in a lot outside of my PGCE and all this became hard to juggle,” said Fatema, of Hall Green, Birmingham. “My University tutor alongside my placement schools assisted me throughout the course with this so I could prioritise my PGCE and therefore make it to the end. These skills have continued to help me into my first teaching year and I could not be more grateful or thankful for that.”
The former Solihull Sixth Form College pupil added: “We were also given constant reminders that the University was always there to help whether that be financially or offering mental health support which I think is really important when being a university student.”
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