Tom Waterton

Tom’s journey at Esher began with a temporary teaching role. Three years later, after completing the College’s trainee teacher scheme, he is now a fully qualified Philosophy and Politics teacher.

Teacher Tom Waterton in New York

Education

  • A-levels: Philosophy, Biology, Mathematics
  • Higher Education: BA in Philosophy (University of Essex), MA in Philosophy (University of Warwick), PhD in Philosophy Royal Holloway (University of London).
  • Teacher Training Scheme: Esher Sixth Form College, August 2022—July 2025 (including a PGCE from August 2023 to July 2025).

 

Why I applied for the trainee teacher programme

I began teaching at universities in 2016, while I was completing my PhD. While I enjoyed being a researcher, I discovered that I found teaching even more rewarding than writing. After I received my PhD in 2020, I kept teaching Philosophy in a variety of roles, including at universities, in adult FE, and as a private Philosophy A Level tutor. I realised that the kinds of classes I enjoyed most were the first-year “Introduction to Philosophy” courses, which challenged me to break down complex ideas and texts in ways that even novices could understand.

In May 2022, I applied to Esher for a temporary part-time cover position in the Philosophy department, and I quickly realised it was the right place for me. It was clear that the College was dedicated not only to supporting new staff with our responsibilities, but also in valuing the experiences and perspectives that we brought to the table. As my initial contract was coming to an end, I was delighted to find out that the College would be able to renew it and offer me a full-time place on the trainee teacher programme, which included a funded PGCE.

My experience of the trainee teacher programme

My experience of the trainee programme was unusual, as I taught at Esher for a year before beginning the PGCE. Through that first year, my mentor and head of Philosophy and Classics was an invaluable source of advice, lending me helpful pedagogical books and articles and organising a series of informal observations (alongside the more formal new staff training). I still remember his advice after my first class: “You’re doing too much of the work yourself—see if you can get the students to do more of this thinking.”

While the PGCE was not light work, every assignment helped me to improve my practice in some way. The support I received from my mentor, from the course leader at Reigate, from my fellow trainees and from my colleagues at Esher was incredibly helpful. In particular, I have really benefited from the generosity that the ALN team showed with their time—this was an aspect of teaching that I had very little experience with prior to my start at Esher.

Alongside my training, I was also able to explore lots of extra- and super curricular roles during my first three years at Esher, including leading the debating society, MUN, the critical thinking course, three EPQ classes, a university-style course on the philosophy of friendship, several reading groups and a super curricular course for students who are pursuing humanities subjects at university. It’s been a real pleasure to get the chance to develop so many different skills during the last three years, rather than being pigeonholed by a subject specification.

 

Challenges

While applying to the trainee teacher programme was definitely the right choice for me, undertaking a professional qualification while teaching five days a week was not easy. Nevertheless, both my PGCE instructors and the staff at Esher were very supportive when I needed to seek extensions with some work in 2025.

 

What I’m doing now

This year, I’ve taken up a new core subject—I now teach Politics as well as Philosophy. It’s hard work learning a new specification, but I’ve enjoyed developing a new skillset and body of expertise. It’s interesting teaching a subject where the facts get updated every week! You don’t get that with Plato.

I’ve also set up the monthly Intellectual History Reading Group for students, in order to give interested students a space to engage with more challenging primary texts from the history of ideas, rather than just reading summaries from textbooks or ChatGPT. It’s been great to teach something more like my old university classes—it’s reminded me of the after-school discussion groups that my own A-level Philosophy teacher used to run, which were probably the reason I chose to Philosophy at university in the first place.