TUTOR: Hello. Jonathan Briggs, isn’t it?
JB: Yes, that’s right.
TUTOR: DO come in and sit down.
JB: Thanks.
TUTOR: Right. Well, Jonathan, as we explained in your letter, in this part of the interview we like to talk through your application form… your experience to date, etc. … and then in the second part you go for a group interview.
JB: Group interview … yes, I understand …
TUTOR: So … your first degree was in Economics?
JB: Yes, but I also did Politics as a major strand.
TUTOR: And you graduated in 1989. And I see you have been doing some teaching…
JB: Yes. I worked as a volunteer teacher in West Africa. I was there for almost three years in total from 1990 to … umm … 1992.
TUTOR: How interesting. What organisation was that with?
JB: It’s not one of the major ones. It’s called Teach South.
TUTOR: Oh, right. Yes, I have heard of it. It operates in several African countries, doesn’t it? And what kind of school was it?
JB: A rural co-operative.
TUTOR: Oh, a rural co-operative, how interesting … and what did you teach?
JB: A variety of things in different years … ummm … I did … with Forms 1 to 3
mainly Geography and some English with Form 5. Then in my final year I took on some Agricultural Science with the top year … that’s Form 6.
TUTOR: Right. Quite a variety then…
JB: I also ran the school farm.
TUTOR: How interesting …
TUTOR: … And how did you find the whole experience?
JB: I’ll be honest with you. At the end of the first year I really wanted to leave and come home.
TUTOR: Why was that?
JB: Well. .. I was very homesick at first and missed my family…
TUTOR: Umm … I can quite understand that.
JB: … and I also found it frustrating to have so few teaching resources, but I did decide to stay and in the end I extended my tour to a third year.
TUTOR: Right. Things must have looked up then?
JB: Yes. We set up a very successful project breeding cattle to sell locally.
TUTOR: Really?
JB: And then after a lot of hard work we finally got funds for new farm buildings.
TUTOR: And you wanted to see things through?
JB: Uh-huh.
TUTOR: And is that why you want to train to teach Geography?
JB: Yes. I’ve had a couple of jobs since then but I now realise I like teaching best. And I chose Geography because … because it is my favourite subject… and also because I think it has so many useful applications.
TUTOR: Well… you certainly have had some interesting work experience. I’ll ask you now to go on to the next stage of…
