  It's starting to get a bit real now - I'm having to buy my rail season ticket weekly instead of monthly. 3 weeks today is my last day at my job. I started to believe a bit ago that the decision to quite my job and go into teacher training was a bit of a brave, unlikely act.
Turns out, I'm Mr Fucking Average. urlLink Turning to teaching New teachers are increasingly entering the profession later in life, often after training in another career first. An analysis of Teacher Training Agency data, published today, shows that where in the past the majority of would-be teachers trained straight after university, more than half are now aged 25 and over. Under the increasingly popular employment-based graduate teacher programme, 94% of trainees are mature. The scheme is also proving far more successful than university-based training in attracting men, significantly under-represented in primary schools. Almost a quarter of employment-based primary trainees are male, compared with only 12% at university. Alan Smithers, head of Liverpool University's centre for education and employment research, said late entrants to teaching brought expertise gained in other careers.
Professor Smithers said: "This can work very well for school because people are bringing experience of real life with them. Late entry can also be an advantage given behaviour issues in schools - I think teachers are more likely to command respect if there is a bit of distance. " Employment-based training has also helped boost the numbers of maths and science teacher trainees. The number of trainees gaining qualified teacher status was 29,094, up 14% on the previous year.
Ah well. It is confirmed 100% now that I am spending my two weeks at St. Paulinus. I don't find out anything else about the course or which schools I'll be working in until Friday 10th September. Now all I have to do is work out what teachers actually wear nowadays. 
