Final Post and The Real Secret

I can't believe it's now six months since I completed the DTLLS course. What's happened since then?

We all passed the course and received our DTLLS qualification - most of us went to a jolly degree ceremony in October at the Cathedral and were handed our scrolls by a very charming Stephen Fry.

Hugh is teaching Psychology at a sixth form college - working hard but thoroughly enjoying it. Bethany got a job teaching Design part-time at another sixth form college, which she enjoys, but is currently on a break for three months in Thailand. Asif is working for a local education organisation teaching English and Citizenship; and Kelly was teaching Hairdressing in another FE College, but hated it and has resigned.

Sarah dropped out of the course after the first term and problems with her teaching placement. Natalie has moved house and gone back to being a Weight Watchers Leader. Big Jay has become the Business Manager of a local Management Training company, which he is well suited to and enjoys. Dan, who had health problems all through the course and still has, is applying for jobs - not necessarily in teaching.

And me - did I go into teaching?

No. I did look for jobs last summer, but there was nothing at our college; from a starting point of saying they wanted to employ all of us post-qualification, the college ended up making swingeing cuts from early this year, made 10% of all staff redundant and have not been able to offer any of us teaching work. I didn't find any other teaching jobs in Creative Writing, Journalism or even Literacy (all off campus courses were axed at our college, including the Sure Start Literacy course I taught on - terrible shame!). I did sign up with a supply teaching agency, but bottled out of the first day I was offered - admittedly at 7am that morning and I had no childcare in place. Thankfully, I haven't been offered any more!

Although the college wasn't able to offer me any teaching work, I have delivered training workshops to staff there in my previous area of expertise, Work-Life Balance.

Having started the DTLLS course thinking of myself as a writing failure, in July I found a publisher for the self help book I had written the year before and it has just come out today. Much of my time in the last few months has been taken up with the publication and publicity process - and building a coaching and training business around The Real Secret. Next week I will be delivering my first workshops, "An Introduction to The Real Secret" to college staff during Learning Week - all my slots are over-subscribed already, so I can only hope I deliver the goods. Although I'm not strictly "teaching", the input from the DTLLS course has made a difference to the way I do training, coaching and deliver workshops.

Our tutor, Jen, has told me she's coming to one session - so I'll have to try not to recall the observations on my teaching she did! Mike, our first tutor, went to work at another FE college which has subsequently had to make cuts and he is now developing computer games and apps - we're talking about one for The Real Secret.

Thanks for reading this blog - if you want to find out who I am, go and look at:

The Real Secret website

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