Case studies: Primary school teacher: Nicky

Nicky came into teaching later in life, after a successful career as a pharmacy technician. Teaching was something she had always been interested in but didn't have the confidence. Nicky decided to pursue her ambition and graduated from Winchester University in 2006 with a BEd Primary Education, specialising in PE.

I was all set to study childcare after finishing school but I gained better grades than expected at GCSE level so decided to go to college to take A-levels. Things didn't quite work out and I left after a year to go into full-time employment as a pharmacy technician which included training, which allowed me to gain a BTEC qualification. I was still very much interested in teaching and felt that I had to try to achieve this. Going into teaching took a lot of planning as I spent three years undertaking night school courses in order to gain an AS level in PE as well as taking maths GCSE again in order to improve my confidence in the subject. I applied to Winchester University and was accepted onto the BEd course.

Prior to beginning university I had completed two weeks' work experience with a range of ages from reception to year 6. Each year group poses its own challenges and reception teaching is challenging as you have to be more serious and caring than you do with other years. By that I mean that with the older age groups you can be silly and have a joke with them without the class dissolving into mayhem.

Primary teaching is definitely not a 9am to 3pm job. I take a lot of work home and the long holidays are not as glamorous as it sounds as much of the time is spent planning lessons, organising the classroom and you still have to go into school for a few days to make sure you are ready for the return of the children. I think it's essential to appreciate how much hard work it can be - children are challenging and you have to work hard to understand why they are behaving the way they are. You have to be patient, resilient and able to respond to changes in an instant. The best planned lesson in the world is not impervious to outside influence and often you have to think on your feet. Above all it is essential to have a good sense of humour and have an understanding of children. I am now into my third year of teaching and this seems to be the year when you know that this is a career for life and I can definitely say that I am in it for the long haul.