AFTER deciding one sunny morning that teaching was the career for me, sadly this sunny morning coming after I'd already trained to be a journalist, there remained one major decision. Primary or Secondary.

Clearly, there were advantages to both. In Secondary I could really put my history degree to good use, I'd teach a far wider group of pupils and age groups and I'd get to choose from a far wider range of pies in the school canteen.

In Primary, though, I'd have pupils less likely to brazenly swear in my face, tower over me, or shout 'megs' as they cheekily knocked the ball through my bendy knees in football.

In the end, though, one factor made up my mind. My education is quite broad, I'm equally bad at everything a quipster might quip, and so it seemed far more tempting to teach a bit of everything rather than a lot of something.

So far on the course, that has not really been the case. The focus has been on the biggies, the core subjects, maths, English, science and ICT and so that's pretty much all that I've taught. Actually, it is all I have taught, one tiny R.E lesson aside.

Placement

However, that is all about to change. With the first placement behind me, it is now time to look forward to the final placement in which I'll be teaching, well, everything, in preparation for being a proper teacher in seven months. And what a scary thought that is.

The lesson that stands out in the timetable is PE. I might never have mastered the forward roll, but put a ball in my hand or at my feet and I'm in heaven. I fully expect to be the one at the back, idly doing keep-ups while it's taught in college.

In the Friday afternoon slot comes art. Sadly my artistic talents are nil - a teacher once advised me not to waste money on stamps when I asked whether I should send a painting into The Gallery on HartBeat - and so I'll be taking a modernist approach.

Paper filled with scribbles, coloured dots on white canvas and dissected teddies in formaldehyde, it will be an excellent talking point at parents' evening.

That still leaves six other subjects to be mastered in about four weeks each. History, assuming I remember anything from my degree, should be a synch, while geography will be great to teach as there are numerous opportunities to get out and explore the local environment and also do projects on areas further afield.

All that leaves is RE, which I don't remember being on the syllabus when I's a lad, drama, music and something called DT on my timetable, which I assume is design technology.

In a matter of weeks, I should be, if not an expert, at least sufficiently competent to teach them all. It won't be easy, but I'm still confident that I made the right choice in choosing primary.

After all, who would want to teach the unification of Italy to a class of dissatisfied 14-year-olds?

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