Lauren Yates is a Lecturer in Animal Studies. She worked for over 10 years in industry including at Pets At Home as a trainer
What was your main motivation to leave industry to become a teacher?
I was originally working in store and loved helping customers, helping them solve their problems, helping them find the best product for a situation and generally giving advice. I also really enjoyed helping store colleagues through their training programme. This led me to work in our learning and development team which I really found very fulfilling, especially when store colleagues would email me saying how helpful they found the course and that they had just been able to help a customer because of what they learnt. This really developed into a passion and made me want to become a teacher.
How important has your industry experience been in settling into your role?
I feel that my knowledge I have gained from the pet trade helps me massively because I can explain what we use and why and also talk about other options on the market. Also, I have a wide breadth and depth of knowledge of species you find in the pet trade. as for my job in L&D (still within Pets at Home) I have a good understanding of learning theory and styles and how to cater for this in course design.
How supported do you feel by being on the TTF programme?
I have found the payment of Teacher Training costs the most helpful; I’ve taken a large pay cut to come to Myerscough and without the funding I would have been worrying about finances.