Eve Armstrongs's career path to becoming an Education Outreach Officer. Eve talks about gaining confidence in her communication skills, not being sure about what she wanted to do and how dyslexia shapes her career. Current Job Tell us about your current role I am currently the Education Outreach Officer at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. This is part of the Planting Connections project which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. I create learning experiences for young people of all ages both in person and online. This includes creating the workshops and resources, travelling around Scotland visiting schools and learning settings, filming and editing videos as well as working with varied partners. The most exciting part of my role is getting to meet the diverse team working at the Botanics and translating their stories and important work for a school audience. In the four years of the project I have reached 20,000 pupils from every local authority in Scotland and been awarded the 2026 Marsh Award by BGCI for education in Botanic Gardens. Career Beginnings When you were 15, what job did you want and who did you ask for advice?At 15 I had no clue what I wanted to do as a career. I was reasonably good and interested in sciences but had to work hard to achieve academically due to undiagnosed dyslexia. I wasn’t sure if University was for me and definitely didn’t consider education or teaching a viable career choice. I spoke to my parents and guidance councillors but no one really helped steer me towards one career or another. I fell into this work after university by chance.Did you have an interest in the environment at this time?I certainly had an interest in nature and the environment at 15 even if I wasn’t perhaps thinking of it that way. I enjoyed biology and geography most out of my school subjects and thrived when doing practical fieldwork rather than writing. I think this affiliation to fieldwork is what eventually led me to outdoor education as a career. I was also outdoorsy enjoying hiking, cycling and scuba-diving despite not being particularly sporty. What were your first steps in starting your career? I applied to university mostly because I was encouraged to do so by my school because I had the grades to do so. I still wasn’t sure what kind of career I wanted so ended up studying Geology and Physical Georgraphy since I enjoyed geography at school and geology interested me. By the time I finished university with still not idea what I wanted to do. I applied to a wide range of jobs which my degree might have left me in good stead for which included environmental officer, GIS and tourism roles as well as outdoor education. My first role out of university was teaching geography and biology fieldwork at a field study centre similar to the one I had attended as a high school student. I was motivated to apply since I had enjoyed these trips as a teenager. Career path and skills What does your career path look like? I think since my first role as a fieldwork instructor as for high school pupils my career has been fairly linear but other might disagree. After building my confidence and skills working with schools groups I travelled working at similar centres in Thailand and Southern France. After this I realised that the knowledge and skills I had could be applied to many different topics which lead to my employment in similar roles in other sectors such as science festivals, museums, overseas expedition leadership and now at the Botanics. Although the topics I’ve taught range from computer programming to plant adaptation to the Vikings the skills I need and basic mechanics of these jobs are very similar. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in my 30s but know I was dyslexic long before this. Dyslexia comes with many challenges for university, study and teaching but there are many ways it can be a benefit too. The interaction of this along with other physical health conditions which cause pain and fatigue are too complex to dive into fully, but these are a few important ways my dyslexia and chronic illness have shaped my career.Dyslexia comes with many challenges for university, study and teaching Being poor at spelling initially made me nervous when writing on white boards in front for groups however honesty with my struggles and getting groups of high school pupils to check or help me spell words actually ensured they paid closer attention to what I was writing and helped to build report. The way dyslexic brains think makes pattern finding and creating connections between desperate topics easier. This has helped me produce interesting and diverse learning opportunities. A recent example of this would be an 45min online session which brought together the colonial past of plant collections, the importance of the pressed plant collection in the Botanic’s Herbarium and maths. It was attended by 1800 pupils and received positive feedback. Having both fatigue from chronic illness and a small working memory from dyslexia means I need to be organised and have good written systems of my work. This means that I am to manage my workload effectively and rarely find myself rushing to finish something because I ran out of time.These are just a few examples where something that would usually be seen as a barrier to the work I do can be seen as an advantage.What skills were important for you to develop in your career? Communication and presentation skills are of course key in any teaching role and this was something I learned on the job in my first role. I was a terrified and incompetent public speaker when I started, to shy and self-conscious to be an impactful educator. However, with time and practice these skills improved. I also learnt the power of “fake it until you make it” when it comes to appearing calm and confident in front of a group. The other most important skill I have found in my career is adaptability. My ability to see how my knowledge and skills can be utilised and allow me to thrive in new contexts has opened up many more opportunities then if I had stayed withing my university subject knowledge. This flexibility also has the added benefit of meaning I am able to learn and share new topics and interests with the pupils I am working with and means I never feel like I am teaching sale or boring material. This article was published on Monday 19 October 2026
