Tell us about your career story since graduating from Warwick

My career graph showed an upward trend since I graduated and returned to my home country. I was basically a teacher working in a public school in Mumbai run by BMC. However, I got promoted as a Principal to a newly opened Cambridge school in Mumbai. Most importantly, this is the first school by BMC offering an International curriculum. I earned this status and position only because of my Warwick qualification. I am now heading the school and exploring my leadership skills.

After graduating from Warwick as a Hornby scholar I applied for teacher development projects and successfully completed an Exploratory Action Research project for 25 teachers of the BMC education department. I also worked closely with International House London and led an English language Enrichment project for 70 teachers of India in association with AINET (All India Network of English language teachers). I even contributed to the FLN Foundational Literacy and Numeracy initiative by the state government and worked as a resource person for creating content for the English Workbook of grade 1.

I cultivated a culture of Classroom research, reflective practices and peer observations in my school and worked relentlessly for teacher development and education in my school as well as my organisation. I presented my papers at national and international conferences and even bagged around 10 awards for school and personal awards for leadership and management in the span of just 1 year. This was a splendiferous journey for me to date.

How has your time at Warwick helped you during your career?

My days at Warwick were a lovely lifetime learning experience for me. Most importantly Warwick made me a “research scholar” in a true sense! I learned the skill of academic writing from my professors and especially enjoyed my dissertation journey with my Supervisor Dr Steve Mann. He taught me two golden rules in life. Firstly, He made me understand that “taking breaks while studying or researching” is the necessity for a productive mind and secondly our research should be “readable and saleable”. I have been religiously following these two principles since I returned from Warwick.

What ambitions do you have for the future?

In future I wish to complete my Doctorate in Education preferably at Warwick or at any university in the UK. Most importantly, I wish to do research and present at the IATEFL conference almost every year. I also wish to do more number of teacher development projects by applying for Hornby Alumni Project funds and work for the development of teachers in my country. I also wish to take departmental examinations for progression in my career and reach the officer level in BMC. Last but not the least, I want to support and guide children in my school who aspire to study abroad.

What advice do you have for Warwick graduates who would like to work in your sector?

Warwick students who aspire to be in the education sector should firstly focus on their Continuing Professional Development. They should be a hardcore researcher and work closely in understanding children and their needs. It is a well-known fact that for children emotional and intelligence quotients are the same. Loving and caring teachers are always welcomed by kids, and they learn in a better way. Secondly, teaching is a noble profession. We in fact mold lives for our future citizens therefore more than monetary gains they should focus more on job satisfaction and job satisfaction can only be achieved if the teacher is innovative and resourceful.

I would in fact like to suggest the freshers in my field to study the “Theory of Plausibility” by Prabhu (1990) that states how teachers could bring life to their classrooms by experimenting new ideas in their classes and making their teaching effective.

What 3 top tips would you give to students looking to find a graduate role in the UK or elsewhere in the world?

1. Gel up with students from different nationalities, understand the intercultural differences and respect everyone by this way you might find friends for lifetime.
2. Explore and enjoy your time in the UK but stay focused on your studies and career.
3. Work on the feedback given for the assignments and discuss it with the professors and personal tutors in order to improve your grades.