About Us

It’s Time for Tea

We set up TEA after 25 years of training people of all ages and backgrounds to learn to teach. We wanted to make it cheaper, easier and quicker for people to start teaching in the post-compulsory sector, without having to do a traditional PGCE or Cert Ed.

We know from our own experiences the challenges you face in building a teaching business. That’s why our courses include entrepreneurial skills and support. Most importantly with TEA, you are never alone. We are a community of people just like you.

Meet Our Founder

When I left school many years ago, with just four GCEs, I lacked confidence in my academic abilities so went to secretarial college, in the Middle East where my family lived, and took a series of administrative related jobs that were okay but not particularly stimulating.

One of the advantages though, was though one of those jobs I met my husband, and he encouraged me to take a fresh look at what I was doing with my professional life. When I told him I really enjoyed showing other people how to do things and the buzz of enabling them to master something they hadn’t been able to do before, he brought me lots of brochures on teacher training, and before I knew it, I was enrolled on a teacher training course at Bromley Technical College. I loved it from the beginning and for the first time in my work life, felt like I was really doing something that mattered.

I went on to get a Certificate in Education at Greenwich University and after that taught in various colleges and an Adult Education Centre, mainly IT and maths. I took particular satisfaction in helping those who struggled by coming up with creative teaching methods that made things real and relevant, for example making fruit cocktails to teach percentages. With my students, I relived my own education journey, of thinking I couldn’t do something and then finding I could. It was so rewarding to see the ‘lightbulb’ moments happening for other people and knowing I was the one who’d thrown the switch!

Inspired, I went on to take an MA in Education, specialising in the post-compulsory sector, and in 2007 I became involved in training other people to teach adults. This eventually led to me setting up my own training business, but I soon realised that I was never going to reach all the people I wanted to reach, so I harnessed the power of technology and new means of teaching and communicating, setting up TEA in 2018. I can now help more people than I can physically meet.

I take great pleasure and pride in teaching people how to teach and supporting them, and others, to do things even better, thinking more creatively and trying different approaches. I also want to challenge the sense of isolation people teaching in our sector often feel and create a sense of community and belonging. This is my mission and I hope that you will want to join me on our journey forward. It’s definitely time for TEA!

Are We Your Cup of Tea?

Feeling inspired? We’d love to help you take the plunge! People come to us at all stages of their teaching journey. Get in touch today to find out how we can get you started.

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