Louise Lindsay

Tell us about your UCO experience.

I originally joined UCO on the BA (Hons) Psychological Studies course, but after a year decided it wasn’t for me. However, I loved the Criminology module I’d studied, so I switched and started my Criminology degree in September 2017, graduated in summer 2020.

Before joining UCO, I’d had a well-paid, but highly stressful job in the Welfare to Work sector. I was in a management position with a client base of 3,000. After being made redundant in 2015, I decided to find a job that was a better fit for me long-term – I’m a widow and have three children, so was looking for something that would offer more job security.

At the time, one of my children was in her 2nd year of the BA (Hons) Psychological Studies at UCO, which I thought sounded so interesting. I had a look at the jobs available for Psychology graduates, and decided I’d make a good counsellor.

After my daughter had spoken so highly of UCO I decided to go for it!

How have your career ambitions changed?

Meeting Kate (Clegg, Criminology Lecturer) and switching to Criminology changed my counsellor ambitions. 6 months into my Criminology degree, we had a one-to-one meeting where she asked if I’d ever considered becoming a teacher, as she thought I’d be a natural.

I hadn’t! But I love Criminology, and loved the idea of being a teacher. After graduating, I returned to UCO and joined the PGCE course straightaway.

I’m doing my teaching placement at UCO with the current Criminology students.

What has been the highlight of your UCO experience?

Being taught by Kate and Matt (Kinsella, Criminology Lecturer). They’re so easy-going, so relaxed, and they both really push you to achieve. They really care about the team environment – they call us #TeamCrim, and they’ve done that since day one.

Another great thing was that the move to online teaching in lockdown for us was absolutely seamless. UCO shut on the Friday before lockdown in March 2020 – and on the following Thursday, at the normal time, I was able to open Microsoft Teams and join the lecture as usual.

Kate had organised sessions three times a day during that week, for all of us to practice logging onto Teams, saying hello and logging off – which was so useful and really helped us build confidence with it all.

What’s the best thing about the PGCE?

Teaching the students is definitely the best bit – it makes all the paperwork worth it. Specifically, it’s that moment when you’re teaching somebody something and it clicks, and it’s a concept that they’ve struggled with. You think “yes, that’s why I’ve done this.”

Do you have any advice for UCO students graduating soon?

• Work hard. It’s like raising children – you get back out what you put in.
• Enjoy your time at UCO – I know I’ll miss it once I’ve left!