Mark O'Hare

First job: St Patrick's, Bearnageeha.

What it taught me: The importance of the fundamentals of teaching: relationships, planning and preparation, being innovative and hard work. Back then I remember there were no schemes of work or lesson plans in place so I was handed a set of text books and my class lists. I suppose it was a little like being thrown in at the deep end, but it meant that I had to work really hard for the first few years and expanded my subject knowledge, pedagogy and skill sets. There are parallels for me from then to the first pandemic when we were all thrown into the ‘remote learning’ deep end. Collectively, as a profession, I think that we have made up to five years of progress in developing and implementing effective virtual learning environments in the past 10 months.

Family/status: Married to Michelle. Two sons, Eunan and Oisín. Brodie the labradoodle.

Best advice anyone ever gave you: There are two pieces of advice that I rely on daily. “Be yourself.” Don’t try to be someone you are not or try to tell others what they want to hear when it isn’t what you mean. People, and especially pupils, have a sixth sense for honesty and they recognise and appreciate the genuine efforts we make for them, though perhaps not always immediately! “Take a breath.” Sometimes it is better not to rush headlong into problems without thinking, but buy yourself some time to rationalise the issue and reduce any emotional element from your response. I learnt this the hard way from rushing headlong into problems!

Best advice you could give someone thinking of a teaching career: Enjoy being a teacher. Yes, you need to work hard, spend long hours planning, preparing and marking. There will be plenty of paperwork and monitoring and evaluations to complete. Of course there will be bumps along the road. But teaching is an incredibly rewarding career. Inspiring pupils to be the best they can be, helping them solve problems, academic and personal, seeing them grow and develop, helping them celebrate their achievements and manage their disappointments. Being part of a team of like-minded others in schools, that make this their daily experience, will support you to develop as a teacher. You will not regret following this path.

Born in North Belfast, Mark attended Park Lodge PS and St Malachy’s College. He graduated from Queen’s with a BSc (Hons) in Astrophysics and PGCE in Physics and Science. He began his first job as a science teacher in St Patrick’s, Bearnageeha, in 1994, becoming Head of Science in 1999. He led his department to sustained academic improvement and expansion. It was here that he developed an interest in whole-school curriculum planning and timetabling. Mark was appointed as Vice Principal in Edmund Rice College in 2006, taking the lead role in curriculum development, teaching and learning and school improvement. Throughout this time the college has grown significantly, become co-educational and demonstrated year-on-year improvements in examination success. He credits these successes to a dedicated staff, collaborative leadership approach headed by a dynamic and driven Senior Leadership Team and a key focus on pupil and staff well-being, as well as excellence in teaching and learning. He was awarded PHQ (NI) in 2007 and he is currently the vice chair of the North Belfast ALC Vice Principals’ Group. Passionate about the benefits of sport for young people, he is the head coach of Carryduff Colts FC Under 15 squad and is a Manchester United fan.