Katie Hazel

After completing her undergraduate degree in BSc Computing here at Edge Hill, Katie decided to take her skills and specialist knowledge and share it with young, curious minds in secondary school classrooms. She tells us about her experience as a PGCE student, as well as some top tips for those considering the option. Katie has developed a strong passion for media literacy through her own social media account, where she shares her personal experiences with her chronic pain in her wrist. This has inspired her to return to Edge Hill to study her MA in Education.

Since graduating, I have completed two years as an Early Career Teacher.  Through my social media platform, I have contributed to the Medical Research Foundation and featured twice on a podcast—once solo and once with my best friend. 

While teaching Media last year and managing my chronic pain at home, I researched how to keep my lessons current, particularly engaging with debates around programmes like Adolescence and ongoing discussions about media literacy in schools. Since then, I have been actively building my presence as a media literacy advocate in numerous ways:

• Collaborating with charities and educational organisations, including blogging for the National Science & Media Museum in Bradford.
• Creating an online magazine through my chronic pain platform, exploring media representation, including endometriosis in Waterloo Road, deaf representation in ITV’s Code of Silence, and commentary on Gok Wan’s openness about his wrist condition, which relates to my own experience.
• Launching a LinkedIn news series focused on media topics.
• Contributing commissioned articles in education magazines about media literacy, particularly in relation to recent curriculum reform.
• Since returning to Edge Hill, my personal tutor, Francis Farrell, has encouraged me to contribute to his and Claire Hawkins’ Educational Insights.

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, ever since primary school. I was lucky enough to have dedicated ICT teachers – in both primary and secondary school, which many children don’t get, and I remember asking them both how they got into teaching. They are what really sparked my love in for the subject, and they were my inspiration throughout school. Everything I have done since then has helped me gain experience, including volunteering in a library and being a supply teacher throughout my undergraduate.

I loved studying my undergraduate degree here, and I thought, what better university to train to be a teacher than Edge Hill. It has such a strong history and reputation for teacher training, not to mention the campus has everything you need in one place. I’ve always felt at home in Ormskirk, coming from a small town myself, so staying here was a no brainer for me.

Edge Hill’s Careers team gave me excellent support with my PGCE application. I’d definitely advise going to them for support and start your personal statement as early as you can. PGCE study is quite a change from undergraduate, because there’s a lot more academic reading involved. It can feel like a big jump at first, but I’ve had support from my tutors.

Whenever I told people I was about to start a PGCE, they’d say “good luck, they’re hard work!”. They weren’t wrong. It was hard work, and you’ve got to be dedicated and organised. Writing at Level 7 requires much more critical thinking, and I’m balancing assignments with my placement too. My placement was amazing though! I was based in a supportive school, with a good mentor and the connection between university and the school made me supported every step of the way.