Our people

Emily Miller

Emily Miller (’06) Social Anthropology, Manchester
Taught Citizenship Manchester Creative and Media Academy (Girls)
Now Programme Associate, Institute for Philanthropy

People do say six weeks, how can you learn everything you need to know in six weeks? But they generally haven’t been on the Institute if they said that, because it really was 8am ‘til 9pm, including socialising, every day. And it was really intensive, they really pack in everything they can to give you the practical knowledge you need for the classroom. So, very intense training. And then on-going training through your first year, it doesn’t stop when you enter the classroom, thankfully you’ve got loads of ongoing training during your first and second year.

Teenagers I find, at my school especially, are very, very self conscious, have very low self-esteem, so it’s a lot of the time, even ones with bravado who, you know, think they’re really hard, it’s about - about kind of building them up to show them their strengths. I also find that they’re not apathetic like I thought they were going to be. I thought they would really just hate learning, be bored by lessons, be asleep, but a lot of the time they’re actually very, very curious, and it’s just about channelling their energy and that curiosity into things that are relevant, and to inspire them with lessons that are relevant to them.

Yes, I do like being a teacher. It’s a crazy job. It is a job that is never ever boring, and I really value that. I find it tiring, exciting, challenging, frustrating, all those things in one day, but it really is a job that involves you being creative and I’ve really enjoyed that.

Last week we had our school Prom, our Year 11 leavers do, and there were awards for the teachers, and last year I didn’t get any, and I didn’t expect to get any this year at all because, you know, you just sit there and you just watch other people get them. Teachers who have been there for 25 years you expect this to happen, but I actually got two awards this year. I was just blown away, I was really chuffed. When that kind of thing happens it just makes all the bad stuff totally irrelevant. It’s just really worthwhile.