Returning to York St John
February 1, 2023
by Ewan East
Ewan is currently in the first year of his PhD in Music Composition, looking at using streaming services to compose music and how this can increase engagement with contemporary music. In his post, Ewan discusses how returning to do his Masters and PhD was the best thing he’s ever done. Alongside his PhD, Ewan represents his fellow PGRs as the Representative for the School of Arts.
If you want to get in touch with Ewan, you can contact him at ewan.east1@yorksj.ac.uk.
Returning to York St John was one of the best things I've ever done.
In 2019 I moved back to my hometown after finishing my undergraduate degree at YSJ, thinking a PGCE and career as a secondary music teacher was the pathway for me. Although a change of learning styles and a different environment to YSJ, the PGCE brought a new perspective to my education, and I was genuinely excited to start my career. Now, we all know the events of 2020 and many of you would have experienced the effects this had on education. My PGCE was finished, about three quarters of the way through, and suddenly with a mixture of pressures it was time to find a job, of which all my interviews were conducted from home via teams, a very strange experience to begin your first graduate job.
What an academic year 2020-21 was! Nothing in my PGCE or any amount of experience could have prepared me for teaching during a pandemic. Ever taught music to Year 9 pupils from a math's classroom, with no music equipment and a line at the front of the classroom that you can't cross? Well I never thought that was going to be my experience but there I was, every. single. lesson. As you can imagine, this wasn't exactly the ideal year and mixed with other factors this wasn't a great introduction to teaching, and took a significant toll on my mental health. The end of my maternity cover contract brought to me two options, keep teaching but in a different school - hoping for a better experience, or study for a Masters back at YSJ.
It was terrifying, and felt like I was going against everything I had worked towards and trained for, but I left my career of teaching and went for it, a pathway towards lecturing was my goal and a Masters was my next step towards this. Returning to York St John was one of the best things I've ever done. Being back in that creative environment, surrounded by people who share your interest, are there to talk through ideas and the support from lecturers and, let's be honest, absolutely everyone on the YSJ campus, was what I needed.
After two years away, but what felt like a whole different lifetime, I was back in a world that pushed me forwards, producing some of my best work, and I was happy (sorry if that is a bit cliché).
So, returning to York St John was one of the best things I've ever done, and after finishing my masters in September, I've now started my PhD, continuing the journey that was so daunting only a year ago. Alongside that, I'm the PGR representative for the school of arts, a 'stay at home' dad (although everything is keeping me busy, don't know if I'm worthy of this role!) and still working in education through a multitude of roles. If you have anything to share, want a chat, or have your own positive experience then feel free to let me know, especially if you're on a completely different path to what you thought you would be not so long ago!
I was back in a world that pushed me forwards, producing some of my best work, and I was happy
