Sowmya Mony, 33, from Sheffield, is using her background as a software developer to inspire more young women into STEM as she trades tech for teaching, supported by Transition to Teach.

Transition to Teach is a Department for Education funded initiative which enables eligible career changers, those at risk of redundancy and early retirees to train for new teaching careers. Recruitment for the 2021 programme beginning in September is now underway across the Yorkshire region.

Using the Hogan Personality Assessment, Transition to Teach identify participant strengths and help to support with potential challenges participants may face in teaching. Analysis of data from the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) across the two Transition to Teach cohorts (2020 and 2019) has revealed that the main motivation for candidates to move into teaching is the desire for a career where they feel they are helping and supporting others, or adding to the greater good of society.

For Sowmya, it was her tech role and becoming a parent that helped her to see the difference she could make as a teacher:

“I moved to the UK around 10 years ago, attending the University of York to do my Masters degree before moving to Sheffield, a beautiful city that I now call my home. Sheffield is where I built my career, met my husband and we started our family.

“In my old job, I worked for Twinkl as part of the website development team. We made resources for teachers. It was a tight knit team and a very busy environment. I worked at Twinkl for around 5 years and had great relationships with teachers and former teachers. When I’d hear them talk about ‘my children’, referring to their pupils and the drive, determination and ambition they had for their students, it inspired me to think about teaching.

“Becoming a mother myself, and my child growing up and going off to school, also developed my interest in teaching as a career. I could see first-hand the passion that teachers have for their profession and the difference they make to a child’s life.

“In 2020, the time was right for me to move into teaching. My application at Sheffield Hallam was accepted just as the pandemic hit, so there was already a lot of change in my life, moving to home working and both my husband and child at home. Lots of people dropped out of the course due to the uncertainty but I almost used the uncertainty to my advantage. Everything was changing anyway, so changing my career suddenly didn’t seem like such a big jump.

“The transferable skills I will take into teaching include professionalism, collaboration and the ability to come up with creative ideas. But, training as a teacher has also helped me to develop new skills, like resilience and adaptability. As a parent, you often feel guilty about how much time you’re giving your child. Having support and workarounds helps hugely. The one thing I’ve learnt is that you don’t have to be perfect, just efficient.

“Having support from Transition to Teach has really helped too. My guidance and development adviser is the person I go to every time I need help, whether it’s with an interview or a question about an assignment, my GDA always has the answer. I’ll receive support from Transition to Teach right through to the end of my first year as a newly qualified teacher.

“When I qualify, I will be teaching computer science at secondary level and I like the idea of teaching KS4 and KS5 where the subject gets quite complicated. My industry subject knowledge will help me a lot there.”

Data has also been released from Transition to Teach’s 2020 cohort. 105 candidates made up the 2020 group, bringing over 1500 years’ work experience into the teaching profession. The majority of 2020 participants trained to teach maths (37%), followed by modern foreign languages (17%), chemistry (10%), physics (8%) and computer science (6%).

Further insight from the HPI data found that, as well as being motivated to help others, candidates moving into teaching are motivated to work with the latest research, data and technology, enjoying creativity and innovation. This was also key to Sowmya’s move into teaching:

“Some people might have the perception that only boys like gaming and computing, and I hope to use my role as a teacher and my past industry experience to encourage more girls into STEM subjects. In my old career, I used to volunteer for projects to encourage women into tech, helping them to code, so this will be similar in that way.

“When I was younger, I was lucky in that my brother was into computers and did an undergraduate degree in computer science. Computers and coding was quite normal to me but not everyone has that. Teaching is one way that I can give back and share all that I have learned, hopefully inspiring others.”

Programme Manager at Transition to Teach, Rebecca Waring said: “As we recruit for our 2021 cohort of trainee teachers, it’s incredibly positive to see that participants are moving into teaching because they want to make a difference in the lives of young people. They’re ready to be the role models that young people need, challenging perceptions that might exist about certain subjects or professions and inspiring the future generation.

“Our service is there to help people work out if teaching is for them, and if they choose to proceed, then we support with the practical tasks like finding an initial teacher training provider, support through placements and even job applications when the time comes. If you would like to learn more about Transition to Teach, get in touch to see if you are eligible and you could be starting your teaching journey this September.”

https://www.transitiontoteach.co.uk/