Profile: Jessica Lehmann, Teach First

Since completing my Music degree at King's in 2006, I had been passionate about pursuing a career in Arts Education. I decided that extra breadth in my knowledge of the arts could be developed through following an MA course in Text and Performance studies which was run jointly at the RADA and King's. As the year progressed I started to undertake work experience placements and internships at different artistic organisation both small and large - the most exciting being the Royal Opera House. This quickly made me realise that entering into a career of either workshop facilitation or more administrative work based in one of these organisations could involve a lot of unpaid and unfulfilling work before I would get to touch any of the meaty stuff.

Having built up a base of freelance teaching jobs whilst I was a student, I started to consider classroom teaching as a different career route, but concluded that I wasn't certain it was something I wanted to invest my entire life in, and also had reservations about spending another year studying for a PGCE. It was at this point that I came across the Teach First programme. It is a two year leadership development programme that involves training to be a teacher on the job, in a challenging inner city comprehensive. The scheme is designed to prepare you to then either move into an alternative area of leadership, where you will use the skills you have developed in the classroom as assets to gaining employment, or to stay in school where you will build on all your successes to date.

I am now in my second year of the scheme, which has involved working as a music teacher at Turin Grove School, Edmonton, North London. I have been made Curriculum Leader for Music, which involves overseeing all the curriculum requirements of the department, plus taking responsibility for the line management of other music department staff and looking into developing the department into a place of outstanding learning.

What I enjoy about my job is the amount of interaction I have with other people - both pupils and staff - and the never ending opportunities for creative thinking and idea building. I am always busy with different sorts of tasks, and have been given a responsibility which I enjoy as it makes me personally accountable for an area of education that I care about. The major buzz that you get when you see kids succeed is also unbeatable - learning can be fun!

Aspects that make the job more challenging - but in the end more rewarding - are dealing with difficult classroom situations, pupils who are disinclined to learn, or have trouble following instructions. There is a lot of planning and preparation to do which can involve later nights and working at weekends, but the payback of a successful lesson where pupils thrive - improvising on an Indian Raga, or creating their own pieces of spy film music, makes it all worthwhile.

Not only did my music degree prepare me with good subject knowledge that I rely on every day in the classroom, the process of having been coached as a composer, performer and musicologist by world specialists taught me the skill of understanding and making good use of constructive criticism that you are given. Without having understood this I believe I would have found the constant scrutiny we are under too much to handle. I also believe that the confidence one develops as a musician has helped me to be able to stand up in front of a daunting group of year 9s and deliver a lesson without feeling the need to retreat behind a stack of books on my desk.

My advice to any music student considering their next step is not to worry if they don't feel ready to make lifelong decisions at this stage. My MA year was incredibly valuable as it refined some of the skills I had developed during my BMus and brought to my attention some new interests and opportunities that I had never encountered before. I would also advise them to look at what a job will involve on a day to day basis, and to make sure that they will enjoy those tasks. It's all very well to work for an organisation that you love, but if you're licking envelopes all day, that is going to get tiresome. Finally, all the best in the hunt for your perfect jobs. You'll get there in the end.