As we approach the end of 2023, we’ve been looking back at the biggest issues and events in Scottish education over the last twelve months.

Our two-part review of the year gives a glimpse into the stories that dominated our coverage, and I’ve also picked out my own ‘top ten’ articles since joining the team here at The Herald.

But in the spirit of looking back and taking stock, I’ve been asked to do something else; something that is, for me, both unusual and uncomfortable: a bit of personal writing, reflecting on my own experience over the past year.

So here goes.

A year ago, I was in a pretty bad place. I had become a teacher more than a decade earlier, then shifted into lecturing, and for most of that time was very happy.

Why wouldn’t you be when your job is to help people while exploring a subject you love – in my case, literature and language?

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I’d never had any plans to leave teaching or even to get promoted out of the classroom, but by December of last year things were different. My last couple of years had, for reasons I might talk about in more detail one day, been incredibly hard.

I learned what anxiety attacks and depression feel like and at one point needed medication to help me get through it all. To make matters worse, I was working in a college sector that felt like it was on the brink of collapse.

As 2022 ended, it was clear that I couldn’t stay in teaching any more. I felt like I had been pushed out of my profession, and that was devastating.

But then an opportunity arose, a few stars aligned, and everything changed. After an inspiring conversation with The Herald’s wonderful editor, Catherine Salmond, I was given the opportunity to become an education writer.

I’d spent years complaining about the media’s handling of education issues, and lamenting the apparent dearth of expertise amongst those charged with informing others about how our system works. Now here I was being handed the chance to do something about it.

I said yes and haven’t regretted that decision for one second.

The goal was to develop a new approach to education coverage, getting past the obsession with bad news stories and simplistic assumptions to really explore the full breadth and depth of learning across the country.

It’s only been half a year but, all things considered, I think we’ve made real progress on that front, committing time, space and resources to all sorts of stories, from my week in Orkney to our extensive coverage of Scotland’s PISA results. We’re still holding the government to account – no special treatment and no free passes – but we’re also telling more of the good news stories that had been neglected for too long.

None of this would have happened were it not for the incredible support I’ve had not just from Catherine Salmond, but also Gregor Kyle, Deborah Anderson and many others. They’ve not just helped me find my feet in a new job, they’ve helped me get back to feeling like myself, and for that I am very, very grateful.

I can honestly say that this job has been a privilege since day one. I’ve loved talking to people all over the country, diving into the issues that matter, breaking new stories that might otherwise have stayed hidden, and showcasing some of the amazing education happening right across the country.

And the best part is that we’ve still only scratched the surface. There’s so much more to come, and I can’t wait to share it with you in 2024.