From veterinary science to teaching science

Teaching has always been part of Ellie Sutton’s life, even before she stepped foot in the classroom.

Eight months into her teacher training she explains why she’s retraining to teach science and what she loves about it.

A teaching mindset, right from the start

“I’ve always liked working with children and in education,” says Ellie. “And I really enjoy teaching because it’s so interesting. But when I was growing up, it was implied that because I was very bright I should want to do more than teach.” So when she left school, Ellie studied for a veterinary degree.

“It’s a fantastic science degree,” she says. “Even if you don’t want to be a vet, it gives a good jumping off point. After graduating I worked as a vet for eight years, and even then teaching was in the background – I often trained the work experience students and spent a lot of time supporting new vets.”

Sharing her fascination with science

It was while Ellie was a stay-at-home mum that she took her next steps towards becoming a teacher. “I started maths tutoring a friend’s daughter, and suddenly found myself with four children to teach!” she says. “And while I enjoy maths, I branched out into science, which I’m trained in and am much better at teaching.”

“When my youngest went to preschool, I looked for work that fitted around my kids. That's when I came to The Whitehaven Academy, one of Ambition Institute’s partner schools, as a science technician.” She enjoyed that role for four years, before also taking up a non-qualified teaching role, teaching physics for ten lessons a week. This gave Ellie the opportunity to combine her love of science with her enthusiasm for teaching.

“It was the headteacher’s encouragement more than anyone else’s that led me to make the decision to do my teacher training. I was doing all this teaching anyway, and thought, I might as well give it a go. And I wanted to stay at this school, so I started my training in September 2024.”

Getting messy in the classroom

It’s her fascination with physics that she’s enjoying sharing with her pupils. “I was teaching a Year 11 class, and we were doing star life cycles and talking about black holes. And I find it so exciting, I want them to be excited by it too.”

“I love that feeling of being in the classroom and they're all having fun,” she continues. “Just before half term, as a reward for my Year 7 class, we got some cornflour and water and made non-Newtonian fluid. I’ve never seen so much mess before!”

Fitting training into a busy life

Ellie’s training is just one part of her busy life – she has five children, teaches swimming every weekend and has recently returned to competitive swimming. “Because I have five kids, I've always had to be good at time management,” she says.

The structure of the course has helped her to fit teacher training around her life. “I’m in school all the time for teaching, then all the meetings (known as clinics) are online. We have a 2.5 hour clinic with a mentor, who delivers the training. Every first week it focuses on general pedagogy, then every second we meet with a physics specialist. It’s worked out well. Then once a week, I also meet with the other trainee at school.”

In addition, Ellie also has weekly mentor sessions to support with all aspects of teaching. Alongside other trainees and a senior colleague at the school, she takes part in deliberate practice sessions, these are a chance for Ellie to practice bite-sized aspects of teaching in a low-stress environment.

Like many career changers, Ellie’s been able to bring skills and experience from her previous career into teaching. She explains how she taps into her veterinary background. “As scientists, everything we do is very researched. So in terms of writing assignments, I’m used to doing research and finding references. Scientists like everything to be very logical, which helps a lot when it comes to assignments.”

A strong support network

“I’ve got great support on the course,” says Ellie. “I get on very well with everyone here and the people working within the school to run the training are fantastic. In particular, my physics-specific tutor is so supportive, and the knowledge I’m picking up from him is fantastic.”

She’s also benefiting from the network of other teachers on the Teacher Training programme. “Within the Cumbria Education Trust (one of Ambition Institute’s school partners), we have several trainee teachers. If we have any issues, for example, if anyone’s struggling with an assignment, we’ll chat and give each other some guidance. The trust also sets up meetups for all the trainees – knowing other people who are also training is definitely a good thing.”

Volunteer to experience teaching

Ellie advises others considering changing career to give it a go. “If you're not happy in a career you're doing, try and find one that you're happy in, whatever it is,” she says.

For those interested in retraining to teach, she says that volunteering is a great way to test out the waters. “There are kids clubs and youth groups out there that are run solely on volunteers. There are so many opportunities out there where you could get a bit of experience and see whether teaching’s the thing for you!”