I'm starting college one week from today on the 7th of September. The course I'll be doing is a PGCE in ICT (Post Graduate Certificate in Education in Information Communications and Technology) at Edgehill University in Ormskirk just outside of Liverpool. So I'm making the big move over to the UK on Wednesday. The course runs from September to June and includes 3 different placements in schools were I'll be getting teaching practice and at the end of the year I'll become a qualified teacher.

photo credit: wouter_kersbergen

As I mentioned, I've was away in Liverpool before and this was for a interview to teach maths (this course was also at Edgehill). I received an offer for the maths course but only for entry in September 2010. I was told to brush up on my subject knowledge over the next year. I was happy to be accepted but becoming a teacher has been on my mind for years and I finally decided that now was the time to do it. Having to wait another year was not an option in the times that's in it so I re-applied and went for ICT.

photo credit: solofotones

I returned to Liverpool for the second time and was successful in gaining entry for the ICT course in 2009. It's probably worked out as a blessing in disguise as I'm much better equipped to teach ICT than maths. I selected maths initially as it's one of the core subjects on the curriculum, couple with the fact that I really like maths, I wanted to challenge myself to teach it. As I say though I have a feeling that everything has worked out as it should have. Although it's all a bit rushed; I've only known that I've been accepted on to the course for a couple of weeks. I'm really looking forward to making the move and getting stuck in to the course.

photo credit: jnxyz

I'm not alone, my girlfriend has also been accepted on to the course and will be making the move with me We have worked in 3 jobs together since 2005 so we're used to helping each other out. A lot of people might see this as a bad thing but we've worked on the same projects right at the next desk. We moved to Microsoft and worked on different projects but worked on the same floor. We then worked in an office with 20 people were everyone was quite close knit and we've never had a problem (apart from the odd wee disagreement, which probably would have happened even if we worked in different jobs anyway ) The course itself if meant to be really tough so it'll be nice having my best friend there with me to help me along every day

photo credit: derek*b

I've decided that I will be blogging about my PGCE course as it helps to structure the workload and it'll act as a diary of my experiences throughout the year to help track my progress. I already have another domain name that I'll be using to blog about my PGCE and won't be blogging on here about it (I'll post a link to the site when I get it up and running for anyone that wants to track my progress). I've had a look around and a lot of trainee teachers started off with blogs at the beginning of the year and they disappeared very quickly. From talking to people that have completed the PGCE course it's understandable, such is the demands placed on trainees over the year. A friend of mine said that she was basically working on the course from 7.30 in the morning to midnight Monday to Friday and about 6 hours on Saturday over the last few months of the course, so it won't be easy! With Lucky.ie, a really challenging course and another blog to track my PGCE I hope I can keep everything going and that I'm still able to keep this blog alive!

photo credit: totalAldo

Lucky.ie has been a massive success in the first month so that will take priority over this blog if need be. My PGCE blog is not essential but if you've tried blogging before you know how much it helps so I'll be working hard to try to track my experience as regularly as possible. That's all for now, if you don't hear more from me over the next week or two you'll know why. I will be back though!