Bronwen Shaw

I am a University of Stellenbosch graduate with a BA Humanities degree in Psychology and English Studies. I have recently completed STADIO’s Distance Learning Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGCE) in Senior Phase and FET teaching and am now a qualified English teacher. Despite my love for teaching, I hope to pursue a career in the publishing industry in the future, and trust that my established copy editing and proofreading skills will stand me in good stead in this ambition. I have substantial professional experience in a variety of sectors including journalism, publishing, communications, administration and education through the various positions and internships I have undertaken. I am an ambitious hard worker and a fast learner. I have excellent English language and communication skills and have been known to take initiative within the varying fields in which I have been lucky enough to gain professional experience.

I have dabbled in multiple industries over the past few years. During my teenage years, I wished to work as a Journalist, which drove me to undertake a journalism internship at Landrover Africa Magazine. In this capacity I was given to opportunity to edit existing pieces, transcribe interviews, and eventually, write my own articles. I subsequently had 3 of my own articles published in this magazine. On my gap year I worked as a GAP assistant at a girls' secondary school in Oxford, UK. In this capacity I functioned as a classroom assistant, a general administrative assistant, a boarding house mother, and a sports coach. After 7 months in Oxford, I returned home to work as a journalism intern / communications officer at Vinpro under their in-house publication: WineLands Media. Here, I conducted video interviews with the company's viticulturists for promotional purposes, and contributed to publication planning, organizing company events, and other general communications processes. I then began my degree full time. However, during my third year (BA Humanities English and Psychology), I had an exceptionally long holiday due to COVID, which I took advantage of and decided to undertake an internship as a publishing assistant for a small local publishing house, COMPRESS.dsl. This is where I developed a practical knowledge of proofreading, copy editing and larger publishing processes. After my BA, I decided to study a PGCE (Education) in which I was required to gain multiple weeks of practical teaching experience, which was completed at Springfield Convent School, followed by Somerset College. Finally, whilst still completing my PGCE, I began working at Applewood Preparatory School as a stand-in Grade 4 teacher. I have subsequently remained at Applewood and began working as a Grade 3 stand-in teacher. I do, however, look forward to securing a permanent position in the near future.

I completed my secondary education at Somerset College where I gained an IEB matriculation. Following a gap year, I then commenced tertiary studies at Stellenbosch University where I studies a BA Humanities and majored in English and Psychology. During this time, I also completed an online TEFL certification. Lastly, after my BA I decided to study further through STADIO's Distance-learning PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) where I specialized in teaching English Home language and Life Orientation in the Senior and FET phases.