Cameron >> I'm Cameron Stout and I'm the primary five to seven class teacher at the North Walls
school in Hoy. It’s quite a strange day because I commute by car and by boat every
day so once I come across on the ferry I come straight up to the school and get set up for
the day. We probably do a combination of maths, project work, a bit of literacy input, some
health and wellbeing, a bit of ICT, there’s a whole range of things that a class will
do on any given day but it’s great, it makes it really interesting for me and hopefully
interesting for the children too. When I was at school I wanted to be a teacher but it’s
taken a long and circuitous route to get here. First of all I trained in international trade
and languages, I worked for two companies as the export manager, I had a fantastic time,
I was based in Orkney and yet I could travel the world. After that I got involved with
a big television programme called Big Brother and since then I’ve been freelance in the
media doing some broadcasting, some writing, some performing, some event hosting – a
really big mixture of things. And then about three years ago I decided to apply to be a
primary teacher and our local authority has a link with Aberdeen University. I did the
distance learning over two years part time and last year I completed my induction year
at the school where I went as child. So it was really strange to have three teachers
who had taught me, to be working alongside them as a colleague rather than a pupil. And
now here I am, a fully fledged teacher. Some of the personal qualities you need to be a
teacher: You need to have endless patience, and endless resourcefulness. I’m just learning
both of these at the moment really, but flexibility, adaptability, resourcefulness and patience
I think would be the four keys to the job. I’ve had a wonderful journey getting to
be a teacher. There are pros and cons about becoming a teacher straight out of training,
same as there are pros and cons about becoming a teacher later in life. I don’t think I
would change anything because I’ve had an absolutely wonderful time getting here.
