Matthew Cappell has had to get used to proving himself. At just 24, he found himself teaching an evening carpentry class to students some 20 years older than he was. “I think they were a bit surprised when I walked in,” he says. “But after I demonstrated a skills test – cutting skirting boards on a jig by hand – they realised I knew what I was doing.” Fast-forward 10 years and Cappell is now the head of the construction school at Moulton college in Northamptonshire, making him one of the youngest on the leadership team.
Despite progressing quickly up the ranks, teaching in further education (FE) is actually Cappell’s second career. He spent seven years working on building sites all over the country until the recession hit. “I’d never even thought about teaching,” he says. “But in 2010 my boss said he didn’t have as much work for me any more and Rugby college offered me a few days as a technician. Pretty soon they asked me to work five days a week and it just spiralled from there.
