Q&A with Mehreen Baig
IOE alumna Mehreen (English with Drama PGCE, class of 2012) is a broadcaster, author and founder of Glow Up Your Grades.
Why did you choose to study your programme and what made you choose IOE?
I had been working at a tuition centre and privately tutoring children throughout my time at university to make extra money – and I loved it. I loved working with young people and I just felt it came to me naturally – it didn’t feel like a job.
Perhaps this was because my brother and sister were both already teachers, so I already had an idea of how to plan lessons, effective teaching strategies, etc. Teaching was already engrained in my everyday life. My sister had completed her PGCE at IOE and had a really positive experience, which is why I applied there too.
What did you enjoy most about your programme?
My tutors always did really interesting activities with us, some of which I still use in my teaching. They would often get us into a circle and play ice breaker games, and I remember really enjoying observing all the different characters and their different ways of presenting themselves.
But what I really loved was doing my assignments, and getting observed! I know that’s weird, but I felt like I was too shy and awkward to really show what I was capable of on the days we were based at IOE – it could be quite intimidating, particularly when you’re 21.
But when I was on my placements and in the classroom, that’s when I came alive. That was the best part of the programme for me.
How did you get to where you are now in your career? What did you find particularly valuable during your time at IOE?
I started teaching at an inner London secondary school – in the same area where I had grown up – immediately after leaving IOE. It was the only remaining ‘Outstanding’ school in the area at the time.
IOE had trained me to a high enough standard for me to get the job against around 12 other applicants. The job was initially advertised as a maternity cover, but I was given a permanent position. A few years into teaching, in my mid-twenties, I was promoted, and around the same time, I wrote an article during my free period at work, and put it up on the internet for my friends to read.
Overnight, the post had gone viral, and the BBC found it and asked me to come and work for them. I did both teaching and presenting, side by side, for a year, until eventually, I made the difficult decision to leave teaching to explore this opportunity fully.
Since then, I have achieved lots of things I could have never imagined – having a podcast on Radio 4 about teaching, writing a book about my teaching experience, and delivering a BAFTA speech to name a few – but the most exciting bit has been launching Glow Up Your Grades. A free resource to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds pass their English GCSEs.
If it wasn’t for the qualifications and the skills I learnt at IOE and my school, I wouldn’t be doing what I love today.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I get to teach – which is what I love most, what I am best at and what I am most passionate about – but not just in a classroom. I teach kids around the country, with none of the additional politics involved in schools.
I am able to help students who can’t afford a private tutor, and create content that actually makes a difference to society, without being answerable to anyone.