Work Experience as an adult

How did you get that job? Is something I've heard since I entered the world of work. I started working in care in 1988 and always knew I wanted to be in this line of work. I like helping people and getting results. But care work had a shelf life for me when I was injured in the work place. It happened more than once and affected me emotionally as well as physically.

I started moving away from care towards working with children and young adults. by volunteering with a Scout Group through a friend. I then had relevant experience to apply for a job as a Youth Worker in 1994 and then moved into being a Teaching Assistant around 2000. In between I worked in supermarkets and a chip shop to boost my income, before doing a NVQ through a training scheme and finally obtaining my Cert Ed around 2007. I continued working with children and volunteering to run the local football club.

Whilst training I worked as a Lecturer at the local college and finally combined everything to work as a Child Welfare Officer for the local English Football Association.

Then in 2011 we moved to South Africa and my career came to an end. I continued teaching in a volunteering capacity and became involved with a couple of charities assisitng with education and general support in several townships, from art projects to new buildings, with fund raising and obtaining donations.

On moving to Dubai I taught FS1 for 18 months in a paid capacity, using my recent experience in South Africa to show a range of skills and diversity. I had to pack that in due to a family situation but I then started volunteering on the DP World Tour as a Marshall, which turned into being offered some occasional paid work when the Tour was in the UAE. I let the Production Team know I was now in the UK, but sadly due to the fact I returned to paid work as a Teaching Assistant in a local Secondary School, I've been unable to take time off to date other than the weekend of the 22nd-24th July at the Cazoo Classic in Southport.

All of this has been achieved by hard work, putting myself out there, networking, studying and hours trawling the internet looking for jobs and opportunities. I've also accumulated quite a variety of sports gear/uniform.

The first week in August I was volunteering at the Commonwealth Games in the Athletes Village in Birmingham. I had an interview back in September through my application and experience and I was initially turned down for a role. But I'm guessing lots of people drop out so I was asked if I wanted to work with Cleaning, Catering and Waste, front of house in the Olympic Village Restaurant meeting and greeting athletes and associated personal. 

It's another thing to put on my CV as I continue to search for opportunities wherever they take me. Pay isn't the issue, it's the opportunity to do something new, different and exciting.

What are your retirement plans?

Have you thought about your retirement? I don't mean the financial planning side or the thoughts one has about not having to go to work and having time for their hobbies. What I actually mean is what the hell are you going to do all day, every day in-between all the plans you have.

I retired in 2011 when we moved to South Africa, my visa prevented me from working. I worked full time as a volunteer. My youngest child left home for boarding school in the UK in 2013 and the last child left home in 2014. We moved to Dubai and I came out of retirement for a year to return to teaching.

Last year was spent travelling, then my father died. I sold my mums house and cleared out all my fathers belongings to allow her to downside and move. We moved house in Dubai.

This year has been spent travelling, UK, Belfast, Germany, Greece next week, Dubai, South Africa in September, Dubai and back to the UK until the end of October. December my mum will visit.

2019 I will be off to Australia, child 2 and 2a will visit in February, March UK, April-June Dubai, June till September UK and back to Dubai. There's still another 2 and a bit years to fill.

Lots of lovely travel plans. But the bits in-between are boring, I'm doing nothing other than drinking coffee, reading, housework and seeing my mum and friends in the days and weeks when I'm not travelling. The UK and Dubai trips aren't holidays, they're day to day life. Food shopping, cooking, cleaning, ironing. Peter will travel with work when I'm in Dubai, so it'll be the same as when I'm in the UK, I'll be on my own. I'm 47 now, I've a long time ahead of me to fill.

We plan to buy a camper home when we return to the UK full time, but when the work stops, so does the income and although we've invested for our home, day to day life and an annual holiday, we won't have the income to continue with this level of travel.

A day on the beach at Barry Island, we visited here from Dubai.

We'll buy a house that needs some work doing on it and in the garden. We may have a dog to walk, we'll go out for coffee, to the pub, the housework will still need doing, we may even have grandkids by then. Peter will play golf, I'll go swimming. But what will we do in the gaps? The time in-between?

Whilst I spend my time visiting the family and friends, some local to the flat in South wales, some over seas, in between I do very little other than food shop, cook, clean, sort out paperwork, (insurances, tax returns and pay bills for our UK flat, UK house we rent and our Dubai home). I have to dedicate a several weeks a year to our daughters care home paperwork. I watch TV, I go for walks, I blog, I read, I get bored.

When Peter retires I won't be on my own most of the year, we'll still travel, we'll still do all the other stuff above, but what will we do on a day to day basis?

Why I quit teaching in Dubai

I'm a good teacher. In fact, according to my last Governors Observation, I'm actually a very good teacher.

I'm also organised and work well under pressure, my data is always up to date, my planning is always ready on the weekend, my gap analysis is under close scrutiny and I differentiate my planning for the children.

Having an occupation for me, forms part of my identity, something I lost when we became expats in 2011.

I was always 'Hi, I'm Suzanne, a wife, mother to 5 and a teacher'

It has always been important to me to be able to say that.

Suddenly over night I became 'Suzanne, a wife and a mother to 2'

Then I became 'Suzanne, Peter's wife' as we moved to Dubai and the kids left home.

I needed to reinvent myself, I needed to feel that I was something more than just 'Peter's wife' So I took a job teaching British Curriculum in an Arabic School in FS1.

But it wasn't for me. Having not worked for 5 years, I needed something that defined me. I blog, but I don't describe myself as a blogger or writer and I certainly didn't earn a living from it.

I spent 4 years in South Africa as a volunteer working with children's charities.

But everything in my life started with 'When I lived in South Africa I was a .........' Prior to that it was 'When I lived in the UK I was a ...........'

I needed something for the 'now' and I got it wrong.

As much as I loved teaching the children, I wasn't trained to work with this age group, I had no phonic's training or training on how to teach a child to hold a pencil, let alone work on letter formation and blending words.

But I learnt, I hadn't written a formal lesson plan for 5 years.

But I'd also never worked under such close scrutiny, never had to deal with unannounced short deadlines for inputting data and all of a sudden being told the data needed to be entered in a completely different way than the last time. I'd never in my entire life been observed so much, not even when I did my Teacher Training. I'd never had to work 12 hour days, work most weekends and still be told that being very good just wasn't good enough, that I could be better, I could achieve more and then being given a deadline in which to improve myself.

My background is teaching special needs, yet I felt I was being taught how to suck eggs. I'd worked in Child Welfare, multi agency, yet I wasn't allowed to work off my own initiative.

I felt I was being moulded into a one size fits all mould. My planning had to be done in a certain way, my activities had to be the same as the other teachers, my resources were often used, yet little was shared back. Then I was told I had to treat the children as individuals, teach them according to their needs, it would appear no one actually read my planning that was differentiated, colour coded according to ability, language and special needs.

I could have done so much more if I'd been allowed my individuality, if I hadn't been lumped in with everyone else, if I wasn't dragged into meetings for group discussions on the importance of submitting planning on time, setting up classrooms, use of resources, when I clearly did mine, above and beyond what was asked for.

But it seems that the more I did, the more I was asked to do, until in the end I felt like I just wasn't good enough, like I was failing.

I don't know if it was the management, the demands of the British Curriculum, the environment in which I was working, me or a combination of the above, but I decided enough was enough and I quit.

So now I'm back to being 'Suzanne, Peter's wife'

The sad part is that on reflection, I could have played the game till the end of the school year, I wasn't struggling with the teaching or the paperwork, I was struggling because I just didn't feel good enough.

I feel good enough to be Peter's wife though. I'll just have to find another way to reinvent myself for the rest of the world.

Week 41 - My Sunday Photo

Last Sunday I had a phone call out the blue. I'd met a woman a month or so back who asked for my CV for the school she worked at. At this point I'd given up looking for employment and was booking my promised trip back to South Africa to work with a couple of charities for a month. I'd sent off endless emails and CV's, knocked on numerous doors and considered returning to the UK for work .

I was invited for an interview on Monday as a Learning mentor, then asked if I'd be interested in shadow teaching. My interview went well and I was told I'd be employed and I'd hear from HR in the week.

I then had another call in the afternoon and was asked to come back in on Tuesday for an interview with the principal and her deputy. I left with a job offer after discussing my involvement in whole school SEN and an idea of a pay scale and my working hours.

I'm off to South Africa on Thursday for 5 weeks to work with a couple of charities and on my return I'll start the job.

It's been almost 5 years since I was in full time paid employment. I've was working as a volunteer for the 4 years I was in South Africa, but volunteering was flexible.

I'm neither excited or nervous about returning to the world of work, for some reason people think I should be one or the other. I'm just aware that this is another huge change for me, a new identity, a new routine that I will have to adjust to.

After giving up work and the kids leaving home and 2 international relocations in the past 5 years, I'd sort of got used to the me I am now, sort of got used to managing my own time, going out when I wanted, cleaning as and when needed, shopping if I felt like it and numerous coffee mornings.

Hopefully we'll start to save some money now with me out the house everyday as it is getting cooler week by week, we'll still need the air con for the cat and dog, but we'll keep them in the conservatory with access to the kitchen during the day and only run the one unit.

Winter is coming in the UK and I'm sure you'll be switching your central heating on soon. Do any of you heat your house to 26c to keep warm? We're battling to cool our house down to this temperature. Our average monthly bill is around £500.

What's on your wish list?

Wish List

Solar Panel, battery and convertor.

Lethabong Township has no electricity or running water, the local Municipality delivers water once a week.

Electricity would allow the people who live there to set up and run a sewing group. They can supplement their salary to provide lunches for their children in the day and stationery items their children need for school. A group of parents will make school uniforms for the children, book bags and will be able to teach others basic sewing skills to mend clothing.

Ink Cartridges, printing paper and data allowance.

To be used by Santa Shoebox in Gauteng for advertising and recruiting individuals and companies to donate approx 42,000 filled shoe boxes to distribute to children in rural locations around the province. Printing work sheets, lesson plans and information.

School Uniform and Stationery.

For Legora Primary School in Mamelodi. Children are in classes of 40+ often 2 to a chair, there are few resources and teaching is delivered by ‘chalk and talk’ if the children don’t have stationery they can’t write down and improve their learning. There are 1956 children on register.

Buttons and Beads.

For Kungwini Protective Workshop for Adults with disabilities for improving fine motor skills, encouraging team work and making crafts to sell at the Nickel Xmas Market.

Toiletries.

Kungwini Childrens Home for 15 children. They require toothpaste/brushes, deodorants, soap and shampoo.

Toiletries, stationery, books, sanitary pads, hand sanitisers, cleaning materials, detergents

For The Viva Foundation, Kungwini, Lethabong.

Can you sponsor me some stationery and printer ink?

I’ve been involved with The Viva Foundation in Mamelodi since December 2012 whilst volunteering for Santa Shoebox. In March 2013 my son and I took part in the Viva Township Art and Living Art Gallery and I’m currently delivering training programmes to the teachers at the Early Learning Centre. I also raise funds for specific items used in the day to day teaching and raise awareness through social media.

I am currently delivering training sessions to the teachers at the school, for children aged birth to 5, focusing on discipline and engaging the children in their learning. The school day is long from 8am often till 6pm and the teachers are struggling to keep the children engaged throughout the day, especially when they have very limited equipment, mainly in the form of stationery items.

There are 3 class rooms: 0-2, 3 & 4-5 year olds. Part of the training I am delivering is to develop the curriculum and introduce new methods to deliver literacy, numeracy and life skills.

The following items of equipment would make a huge difference to the way the teachers deliver lessons and to the students learning.

Plain and lined paper

Crayons

Paints

Pens

Pencils

Erasers

Sharpeners

Rulers

Glue

Scissors

Sensory items: Soft balls, play doh

In order to deliver training sessions and develop lesson plans I urgently need a sponsor for the printing costs involved.

I develop worksheets and activities for the teachers to deliver to the children, as you can appreciate drawing 46 worksheets just once a week is time consuming. The worksheets designed teach the children body parts and how to keep safe, recognising shapes and letters in preparation for writing and I provide information sheets on child development for the teachers to gain a wider understanding of the stages of development. I also plan on delivery child protection courses for the teachers.

I am a qualified learning support teacher and have trained teaching assistants in the UK, taught in pre school, secondary school and in further education. I was also employed prior to a move to South Africa as a Child Welfare Officer for The English Football Association.

Once an expat always an expat?

I’m ready to go home, although I’m not sure where home is anymore. I’ve always associated ‘home’ with the kids, but now they’ve all left and are spread out over the UK, where would I go back to?

We still own a house in Malvern but that stopped being our home when we let tenants move in, their subsequent trashing of our house made it even easier not to consider it a return to point anymore.

The first 2 years in South Africa was all about settling in, adjusting to a new way of life, culture, language and a whole different way of doing things. The 3^rd year was been all about sorting out the youngest education, which has resulted in him returning to boarding school in the UK and the other son completing his Matriculation and the ‘what next?’ which has also involved a move for him back to the UK.

So hubbies job continues here, but what about me? I was depressed, I did struggle, but I had the boys to support with their schooling, activities, cleaning the ever messy house and begging for 5 minutes peace and quiet.

Well I’ve got it now, by the bucket load. 9 years before hubby retires, another 9 years here? To do what? I have plenty of voluntary work I can do, have already taken up new hobbies crafting and sewing. I swim and walk the dog daily, I have some good friends, but they all work during the day and have young kids. Hubby and I go out together for meals, picnics, dog walks and holidays, but there is just too much time left in the week when I’m on my own and bored.

My idea to return to the UK just won’t work, there is no job for hubby over there and with 28 years service it would affect his pension and at 56 he’d find it hard to walk into another job. I’m not just going to walk into a new career over night and I know how hard it was for me to go from full time work to stay at home mum without asking hubby to do that, except there’d be no kids at home for him to look after.

So I guess our only option is to move to another country, one where I can work and we’re looking into Dubai for February 2015, there are plenty of training and educational jobs on offer for me, but I need to check the reality of how easy it is to actually get a job there.

In the meantime I'm swimming everyday, blogging, raising awareness of disabilities in South Africa, fundraising, voluntary teaching, enjoying new activities, learning new skills which I'll take with me and continue doing where ever I am in the world.

For now, I have plenty of projects to work on, to keep me busy, 6 months left of a degree to keep my mind active, but it's not relieving the loneliness, I'm struggling to motivate myself to get things done.

When you have all day to do nothing in, one tends just to do that, nothing.