Kulvinder Johal

"As I did the skills test, I came up as a communicator, coordinator and trainer, which is very much what I am and what I do. I am a good listener, very emphatic and can relate to people quite well. Teachers are generally people who do not brag or boast about our achievements and I very much fall in that category. I have won many awards and I have achieved some amazing things but ultimately, I am a people person and there are no airs about me. I am good at adjusting to the audience and reading the needs of the people in front of me."

"I mainly work with primary science subject leaders to improve the quality of science teaching in their schools. This can be in one-to-one meetings, or in group meetings. I offer support, advice, modelling lessons and team-teaching approaches to them. I may also work though monitoring approaches with them on-site or at a training facility. I also deliver workshops and lectures at national and international conferences when I am able to."

"It has taken a long road to get me to where I am today. When I look back at my journey, I think about all those influential people along the way who helped lift me, support me and guide me. I think I was invisible for the first ten years of my work in schools as I quietly went about doing my job. Didn't ruffle any feathers and stayed under the radar just chugging away. I did need an ally, a few allies to support me and champion me to help me rise up and take that first step on the ladder of leadership. Once I was on the first rung, I made my way up by myself with hard work, with commitment, with honesty and just by being myself. Doing things that I had always been doing but had not been recognised or noticed because I wasn't waving my hand and shouting about what I was doing. This is actually something that is true to this day. I don't shout about what I am doing and I don't share or promote all the wonderful things that I do. I think that is part of our culture and part of my upbringing.I would say that getting to where I have got now has been very much a part of taking opportunities and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it was because of the late hour's, sometimes because it was outside of the school day, the workday, and sometimes it was because I was the only one there that was doing this, as a female or as a person of colour. I think it's been important to challenge myself and to keep growing, which means I need to keep learning. So I have to keep pushing myself."

"I enjoy the theatre, concerts and watching sport. As I live in London, I do get to go out to the theatre regularly and I do enjoy supporting my local team, West Ham."

"My days vary very much. One day I may spend answering emails to queries, teachers asking for advice, remote meetings, another I may be delivering training to teachers/science leaders. Another day I may be planning a CPD day for teachers and on another day, I may be reading grant funding proposals. I also work on bigger projects like A Scientist Just Like Me’, which I may work on in quieter periods and in holidays."

"10 O levels /GCSE’s3 A levelsDegree in History and politicsPGCE in Primary education"