Leeds Trinity University

time.

My first lectureship was at Leeds Trinity University, which is a university that used to be a teacher training college.

And it was like a baptism of fire.

And and I think how I described this will not seem a lot to ordinary people in corporate jobs but as a lecturer I was doing between 21 and 28 hours a week contact teaching and for context at Lancaster University where I was later and most of the universities you do about seven or eight hours a week contact teaching the rest of the time you're like writing those courses you're supporting students you're doing your research you know so the workload is really balanced this was like being in a joyride the whole time apart from it wasn't very joyful we were writing the courses as we were I mean I remember I was the head of sociology I had like kind of partner in crime which was Dr Rafe McGregor he was head of criminology And we were just like, it was like watching a car crash unfold.

And I think this is what I want to do.

And at the same time, also trying to find lots of other career options to want to do just in case I wasn't able to do that and there was definitely an idea there of like people like me don't do that job people like me want to do that job but don't do it and my family were always really supportive and whatever I wanted to do in my life they would have supported me so I then eventually got enough points to get into university and I remember feeling really happy that I'd got into university and then the second automatic thought was, how do I afford this? because I'd got into university a small university in Leeds called Leeds Trinity really small university I don't like big places so there was no chance in hell I was going to a very big university and I remember sat down with my mum and my dad saying how do I afford to go to uni like how do I afford to live while I'm at uni because I wasn't entitled to any bursary or anything like that so I could apply for the maintenance loan but that wasn't enough to pay my rent or live on so before I even went to university my dad took me to Leeds for an interview for a for a job that I could have whilst I was there.

And I'd gone up with him and we'd gone and looked at the university and then gone to this job interview.

And I got the job and my dad was obviously really proud that I'd got the job and then came the actual logistics of how do I work full-time and stood full-time.