Then and Now in Education
A Taste of Then...
Education, education, education said Tony Blair
Where have I heard that before? I have been involved in education all my life and I still am. If I said life in a Lincolnshire village school is really remakably unchanged from the first school I taught at in a home counties affluent village in Hertfordshire so long ago, you might not believe me. Of course methods and techniques have changed but children are still learning. There are still warm and friendly teachers who offer their pupils great experiences and there are still green fields, swimming pools and football!
The enormous black hungry smoke belching stove of my first village classroom is now a sleek white painted radiator. Interviews for jobs usually have a small interview body, with bureaucratic paperwork sorted. The applicant for the job is not handed all the papers and told to sort it all out, and post it to the Education Officer themselves, as I was! Refreshment is not served in porcelain cups and saucers either.
There are no live grenades to be found nearby, and the school cleaner isn’t a ‘plezant phucker’ in his spare time in order to earn an ‘extra shillun or two.’ As far as I know there are no ghosts to be seen at dusk, hovering by cupboards and there are definitely no children shut up and forgotten overnight, not missed at home and let out by fellow pupils the next morning.
As for the cane called ‘Old Missie’ with her silver engraving, she has ended up in a museum.
I hastily add that I NEVER USED her!
Education, education, education said Tony Blair
Where have I heard that before? I have been involved in education all my life and I still am. If I said life in a Lincolnshire village school is really remakably unchanged from the first school I taught at in a home counties affluent village in Hertfordshire so long ago, you might not believe me. Of course methods and techniques have changed but children are still learning. There are still warm and friendly teachers who offer their pupils great experiences and there are still green fields, swimming pools and football!
The enormous black hungry smoke belching stove of my first village classroom is now a sleek white painted radiator. Interviews for jobs usually have a small interview body, with bureaucratic paperwork sorted. The applicant for the job is not handed all the papers and told to sort it all out, and post it to the Education Officer themselves, as I was! Refreshment is not served in porcelain cups and saucers either.
There are no live grenades to be found nearby, and the school cleaner isn’t a ‘plezant phucker’ in his spare time in order to earn an ‘extra shillun or two.’ As far as I know there are no ghosts to be seen at dusk, hovering by cupboards and there are definitely no children shut up and forgotten overnight, not missed at home and let out by fellow pupils the next morning.
As for the cane called ‘Old Missie’ with her silver engraving, she has ended up in a museum.
I hastily add that I NEVER USED her!
In spite of government edicts there does not seem to be much change in the children nor in the dedicated team of teachers who provide an environment that stimulates learning, the warm friendly atmosphere is just the same. The children who benefit are still receiving an educational experience they will never forget.!
Link: Tales out of school - jeannettemellwood.blogspot.com
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Posted in Uncategorized
