[MCN] Hi, my name is Mr McNamara. I’ve been teaching for about
4 years now, having completed my post-graduate in education at
the University of Strathclyde. Prior to that, I did a degree in Law and
Taxation. Before starting at this school I was teaching at Lasswade
High School for two years and before that I was teaching in
Castlemilk in Glasgow. So, this is my fourth year - I guess - if you
take my trainee year into account as well.
So, where were you born?
[MCN] I was born in Romania and then I was adopted when I was a
baby and raised in a town in Ireland called Tipperary.
Why did you decide to come over to Scotland from Ireland?
[MCN] When I came over to Scotland, I actually kind of followed
my girlfriend over. She came over initially to do her post-graduate
in education to be a primary school teacher. I followed, and kind
of saw that the SAS (the Scottish Authority that pays for postgraduates)
offered lots of good opportunities for future teachers
meaning that I didn’t have to go and pay for a Masters and all that.
Also, a lot of people in the past have told me that teaching could
be something for me, so I took up the opportunity to utilise the skill
set I had and decided it might be a good option for me to study
here in Scotland and do that.
When you get home, what is your hobby? How do you spend your
free time?
[MCN] I suppose most of the boys know that I spend most of my
free time in the gym, or else playing, watching or coaching rugby.
I’m also very interested in history as well and documentaries,
so - if I’m not playing sport or in the gym - I’m watching YouTube
videos on the rise of the clans or something else interesting on BBC
iPlayer. I’m also into murder mysteries, documentaries and stuff
like that, delineating the murderer from the innocent man as the
tale is told.
Have you always wanted to be a teacher or when you were
younger did you want to be a doctor etc.?
[MCN] No, I’ve not always wanted to be a teacher. Although in
primary school I wanted to be a teacher, the idea kind of went
away for a while, and obviously I did Law at University. So, I seemed
to have decided that maybe Law would be something that I’d like to
do or Taxation. But then things kind of came full circle and I came
back around to teaching again. Yeah, it was something in my mind
when I was younger, lost the appetite for, and then kind of gained
an interest in again.
If you didn’t go into teaching, say something went wrong down the line, what
would you be doing now?
[MCN] What would I want to do and what I would actually be doing are two
different things. What I want to do is to be a professional rugby player, one
million percent. But otherwise, maybe journalism or something like that,
sports journalism in particular. With the enhancements in technology now -
you know, the podcast industry, the YouTube industry and all the content that
is out there and the opportunity to create content because of ICT - I like to
think I would be able to do something with all that.
Why did you come to Stewart’s Melville?
[MCN] I came to Stewart’s Melville because of the ethos: it is very much alike
to the school that I went to. I went to an all-boys, Christian Brothers school
in Ireland and it had very much an ethos of “you do well on the sports pitch
and you do well in class”; it’s about, you know, achieving in everything that
you put your hand to. So, yeah, the performance ethos and the values that go
with the school were important to me and, you know, I love rugby as well, so
this was all part of the reason that I came to the school.
Why Economics / Business management? Why not become a PE teacher?
[MCN] I guess that, while I love my subject, my hands were tied with that one:
I’d also love to be a PE teacher but the modules that I did at University were
more related to Business and Economics rather than Sports Science modules
which would’ve meant that I could’ve tried my hand at PE teaching too. So,
when I wanted to be a PE teacher it was less about the subject and more
about what I had, because I just enjoy teaching. But I also think, you know,
that if you’re a good teacher you can teach almost anything, really. And it’s
worked out well! Though maybe I might add PE on in the future - that could
be a target down the line. I personally like both Economics and Business Management
because of their relevance to real-life and current affairs.
What were you like at school?
[MCN] I was going to mention a pupil that I was very much like at school, but
I won’t say that because it’ll be too controversial, that pupil knows who they
are. No, I was studious enough at times. I started off studious in first and second
year, but lost my way a little bit in fourth and fifth year, like some pupils
do. You get a little bit older, maybe get a little bit wilder, but then, by the end
of sixth year and going into my first year of university, I had gone full circle
and become more mature again, much more on the ball with things. But as
you can guess, if you know me, I was obviously quite loud, very giddy and
full of energy the whole time. I would say the teachers liked me, but I’m sure I
did their head in as well.
What’s your worst experience you’ve had with a pupil in school so far?
[MCN] I haven’t really had a bad experience with a pupil in school. That’s
something that I can say about this school, that I haven’t had to lose my
temper with a pupil yet. I think that anytime in your career that you lose
your temper with a pupil, you look back on it and you’re a bit like, “I wish I
wasn’t put into that corner”. I didn’t want to have to say that, you know what
I mean? It’s not a nice thing to happen but, yeah, there have been situations in
the past where I might have gotten annoyed a little bit and been a bit ruffled
over a pupil’s poor effort.
You spoke about how you had a year of your life where you were unemployed,
and it was one of the worst years of your life. Do you have any tips to people
maybe leaving S6 or earlier on how to avoid this?
[MCN] I had just finished college and Ireland was experiencing a very bad
recession. The few jobs available were in Dublin and I didn’t have the finances
to relocate there. To the S6s, I would say pick a degree or pick a qualification
that potentially doesn’t need you to have an extra qualification again after you
do it, so it’s more like a degree for a job. Especially with things like engineering
and stuff like that, it can be a lot easier to get into industry with just a degree,
whereas with other degrees you kind of need some further Masters or
post-graduates until you can get into those industries. Another thing I would
say is to try to be mindful of saving and stuff so that when you come out of
university with your undergraduate degree you may have a few pounds put
away to help you towards paying for a Masters straight away. That way, you’re
in a good financial position already and you don’t have to try and look for
work.
Have you got any tips for any students that might be stuck, regarding what to
choose to study when they leave?
[MCN] I guess, like I said before, it’s about finding and doing a degree that you
can see yourself actually doing as a career afterwards. I know its corny and
everybody says it, but you should do something that you enjoy doing and that
you would like, but it’s not always about doing something that you would
absolutely love as well; it’s about doing something that you’re good at and
something that you feel you could give back to and something you could
imagine spending 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for however many days a year
doing - that’s the most important thing. If you don’t see yourself sitting in an
office doing financial accounts for 8 hours a day, don’t do something like that.
So yeah, picking something you’re good at and that you think you would enjoy,
as well, and something that makes you employable, as well. So if you’re going
to do a degree, make sure the degree has the modules in there that they look
for on a CV and that relate to industry as well.
What does the future hold for yourself? Are you going to stay in teaching or are
you going to do something different?
[MCN] Yeah, I mean I have always said that I wouldn’t teach forever, but I’d
certainly always like to stay in a profession that deals with young people in
some form, either through teaching, coaching or sharing knowledge - some
kind of profession that shares knowledge. Whether that be in secondary school
teaching, whether that be third level, whether that be coaching or whatever
that may be - I’m not sure. But, I mean, a lot of teachers have said that they’re
not going to teach forever and, as you say, in 40 years down the line they’re still
teaching. It’s a great job; every day is different, every pupil is different, and every
year is different, even though you’re still teaching the same sort of content.
It’s definitely not something that’s boring, anyway.
A big thank you to Mr McNamara for letting me conduct this lengthy
interview with him. From all the staff and pupils at SMC we wish him a
warm welcome!
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