In the latest episode of the Nostalgia podcast series, Dr Chris Deacy, Reader in Theology and Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, speaks to SECL alumnus Abi Hawkins, Head of Religious Education at Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School in Canterbury. Abi graduated in 2015 with a BA (Hons) in Philosophy in 2018 and now teaches pupils in key stages 3-5. In the interview, Abi explains that she always wanted to become a teacher and why she especially enjoys teaching subjects she struggled with the most at university, e.g. the philosophy of language.
In this podcast, we learn about the challenges Abi has faced in teaching subjects with which she formerly struggled; playing an orphan in ‘Annie’; why Abi remembers listening to a CD of upbeat cover songs in Australia at the age of 10; why she is not a fan of 3D film; what happened when she once went to a sing-a-long version of her favourite Christmas movie; using film in teaching; how students are more involved in politics now than was the case in the past; what happened when Abi was once asked in a bar to explain what Philosophy is; why she used to love the pressure of exams and why she feels she has fulfilled the dreams she has had since childhood.