IT BEGAN about 19 long years ago when she was just 17, and fresh out of high school. She was brimming with the enthusiasm to be a productive citizen that could contribute to her family and her country. To do this, she became a teacher.

Candaice Cave grew up with a love for Mathematics. Forget the Chemistry, or any other subject for that matter, and give her the ‘Maths’ and she’d be happy. And when she finished high school and needed a job, she transformed this love she had for the subject area into a career that would shape a great deal of her future.

“Well, when I was growing up I always liked Math and the only thing I could do with Math, was teach,” Cave told the Pepperpot magazine. “I fell in love with the profession and decided to stay all these years.”

She just jumped straight into teaching primary-level Mathematics at the Ketley Primary School but soon enough- a mere nine months later- she decided that it wasn’t where she belonged. Candaice trekked into much deeper waters and began teaching at the country’s second-highest ranked secondary school, the Bishop’s High, where she remained until 2011.
Though it was a step up, she said: “I like the challenge of teaching Math at that [higher] level. It forces me to ensure that I’m always well-prepared to deliver the content.”
But she clarified too, “It’s not pressure. It’s motivating.”

And as motivating as it was to push her along her career, along this journey, she decided that she wanted-more, needed to equip herself so that she could be a better teacher to her students. Resultantly, she did her first Degree in Mathematics, pursued postgraduate studies in Education and finally, her Master’s Degree in Mathematical methods. She also transferred to Queen’s College and began teaching Mathematics at the Sixth Form level too.

The 19-long years haven’t been without their fair share of ups and downs but perhaps the most heart-wrenching part, for Cave, is to see the inequalities that exist in the education sector. This is exacerbated when you consider just how deeply she feels for her children.
“When you think about the [education] system and how it can disadvantage some children, it is really terrible,” she said starkly.
Moreover, she highlighted, “Only last year I visited some schools and to see the conditions under which some children have to learn… [and] the conditions in which teachers gotta teach under, [it’s] terrible.”

In retrospect, she also remarked that students attending QC and Bishops “got it really really good”.

Though there isn’t one certain way to get rid of these inequalities or eradicate them quickly, she shared that as a teacher, it is your responsibility to make the most enabling environment for your children.

“For me, if we can create a good environment where children can learn under [and] make them feel comfortable with us as educators, learning would be so much more fun for them,” the experienced educator said. For her, It is extremely comforting, at the end of the day, to know that her students view her as a mother figure in their lives, who they can turn to for assistance.

Speaking about mother figure, she is also a happy mother of two boys: 7-year-old Josiah and 14-year-old Jaheim, who she let follow their own paths (while still getting Math right!).

In her profession, her shining light is to see children who felt that higher level Mathematics is difficult but came out with grade one passes in the end. Moving children from a state of ‘Miss, I can’t do it, it is too hard’ to a state that propels them to say they want to do more Maths, is definitely a high point.

And this is only achieved because she “gives her all” to teaching. She is constantly thinking about her students and what methods she should use to teach each child and how to get students to develop a love for mathematics.

“I believe that if children are introduced correctly as a younger level that they are going to develop a love for Maths,” she posited.

Generally, she noted: “The advice I would to anyone who wants to join the profession is that you have to have a love for children and you have to have a love for what you intend to teach.”

But for her students and any student, as a matter of fact, she says even if you don’t want to pursue a career in maths engaging in maths and mathematical thinking is going to help you in any path. “So just love the subject [and] pursue subjects in it or related to it,” Cave said.