Case study: Hilda Sarfo Frimpong, maths teacher
Hilda Sarfo Frimpong, 29, graduated with first class honours in maths and computing and went on to qualify as a teacher at Kingston University in 2008. She teaches maths at secondary level at Saint Cecilia’s, Wandsworth.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.I’ve always enjoyed maths. When I graduated I worked as a programmer for six months but found it monotonous – just sat in an office with a computer and not much human contact. At university, I’d tutored students and really enjoyed that. I realised I wanted to work with people so I gave teaching a try.
I was nervous at how the pupils would see me – I’m quite petite and could get mistaken for one of the kids. But it’s been really rewarding.
My education in Ghana was traditional – blackboard, chalk with a stick at the side. Before I started teaching, I expected pupils to take their pens out, listen to what I would say, then I’d mark the work and give it back. Things couldn’t have been more different. And there’s so much more technology you can use.
You have to personalise lessons and give individual feedback – it’s not what I expected, but teaching has definitely changed for the better.
And with new technology you can make maths exciting in different ways. I try to engage them at the start of a lesson – today, I showed a clip from YouTube to start them thinking about compound shapes.
Our department works really well together. If I have a question I can pop in to see any of my colleagues and we share ideas on how to teach. We helped some pupils plan and deliver their own lessons; it was great to see them work together so well. If a child doesn’t understand, I try to be encouraging and stop them giving up. When a pupil finally “gets it”, it’s amazing.
There’s a huge number of career options and you can go for management early on. It’s really comforting to know I’ve got job security and I’m sorted in my career. My advice is to go for it: it’s a hugely rewarding job. It’s not the easiest, but the holidays are a great perk.
I’m never bored and I can call on people for advice at any time.
To find out more about teaching visit: education.gov.uk/getintoteaching
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments