Goldlink 48

Issue 48 Autumn 2018 Educators

At the beginning of September, I joined Goldsmiths as Chair of its governing Council. My role, shared by my fellow Council members, is to support Goldsmiths in the implementation of its new strategic plan amid a period of great change within both higher education and the creative industries.

How we live, work and communicate has changed dramatically due to technological advancement, and we will more than ever require people who are creative, analytical, emotionally intelligent, connected and entrepreneurial. The range of learning and research at Goldsmiths means our staff, students and alumni can contribute hugely to this new world.

So it is my honour to welcome you to the latest edition of our alumni magazine, which celebrates our long history of educating educators, across all disciplines, up to the present day.

The Department of Educational Studies is at the centre of our history as an institution and, as you will see within, its history reflects the history of educationalism in this country.

The theme, of course, relates to our work across the College and both students and alumni help to bring the pages alive; see inside the studios of textile artists, follow a day in the life of a poet and understand the theory behind a student’s final project.

Elsewhere, we illustrate the changing face of education at Goldsmiths today, the varied ways you can get involved as a volunteer and the importance of giving to the College.

It is an issue that demonstrates why I decided to join this important institution, one that is proud of its past, relevant to the present and excited about its place in the future. I hope you enjoy a special glimpse into Goldsmiths through the pages of this magazine.

Dinah Caine CBE Chair of Council Goldsmiths, University of London

Cover: Dean Atta at The Poetry Library Š Christian Sinibaldi Right: Dinah Caine CBE

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Contents

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News 02 George Wood Theatre 02 Warden’s announcement 04 3D-printed cameras 05 Felt-e 06 Working at the Horniman 07 Editors’ picks

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Educating the educators Feature

Adapting to 21st century learning Spotlight

What a strange thing...

Showcase

Talking Textiles Feature

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Dean Atta A day in the life

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No-one forgets a good teacher Leaving a legacy

33 All you need Membership matters

Volunteering Opportunities

Contact Development & Alumni Office Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross, London SE14 6NW alumni@gold.ac.uk +44 (0)20 7896 2619 Update your contact preferences www.explore.gold/update2018 Give to Goldsmiths www.gold.ac.uk/giving-to-goldsmiths

Facebook @GoldsmithsAlumni

Blog www.goldlink-online.com

Contributions may be submitted for consideration by email. We reserve the right to edit articles in the interest of brevity and clarity. The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the writers concerned and not necessarily of Goldsmiths.

Editors Mary Davies, Minh Lam

Goldlink is printed on paper accredited by the Forestry Stewardship Council.

Twitter @GoldAlumni

Design Spy Studio

News

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GEORGE WOOD THEATRE The George Wood Theatre has been renovated to provide Goldsmiths with a contemporary theatre, with seating for up to 200 people and two new studio spaces fit for 21st-century creative practice.

Students and staff from across the College will be able to use the revamped building in the Grade II-listed 19thcentury former chapel, with scholars from the Department of Theatre and Performance and the Department of Music expected to be the main beneficiaries. When available, the theatre and studios may also be booked for public use.

The theatre is named after the College’s former registrar George Wood, who worked at Goldsmiths from 1958 to 1977.

It was built by architect John Shaw Jr in 1853 as a chapel for the Royal Naval School. Damaged during the Blitz in the Second World War, the building was altered in the 1960s and 1970s to accommodate the theatre.

Renovating the theatre and studios gives students at Goldsmiths the resources to devise and perform works in professional-standard spaces. In total there will be 350 square metres (3,767 square feet) of renovated space. The revamp also includes audio-visual provision and the installation of specialist lighting and sound equipment.

The £2.9 million investment will also allow for the development of new courses and learning opportunities at the College.

Catriona Boulton, Director of Estates and Facilities, said: “This project is breathing new life into a central part of our campus, and gives our students additional space for creating and staging innovative work and performances.

“We also want to attract members of the public into the very heart of Goldsmiths, as a space that is shared with our local community.”

WARDEN’S ANNOUNCEMENT Patrick Loughrey, Warden of Goldsmiths, has announced his intention to retire within the next academic year.

Patrick joined Goldsmiths as Warden in April 2010 and recently oversaw the launch of a refreshed strategic plan to guide the College’s development over the next five years.

He said: “It’s been a great honour to be the Warden of Goldsmiths for the past eight years. This place is truly unique and there has never been a dull moment. There is relentless vigour and passion here in New Cross which I will miss very much.

“I have every confidence that Goldsmiths will continue to evolve to face the challenges of the future, helping equip students for a rapidly changing world of work, while staying true to its distinctive values.

“I will play an active part in navigating the College through this period of change and renewal.”

Dinah Caine, Chair of Council, said: “Patrick has served Goldsmiths with distinction, helping us navigate a period of unprecedented and continuing change in higher education.

Now is not the time for a full tribute to all that he has done for Goldsmiths. But I know from our discussions that he retains a clear vision for the institution and an enthusiasm for driving forward our new strategy over the coming months.”

Patrick has led the academic community of over 9,000 students and around 1,500 staff, helping the College reach the top 25 institutions in the country for the quality of its research.

During his time as Warden, Goldsmiths has expanded its academic offer considerably, doubling the number of academic courses on offer and growing into areas such as management, entrepreneurship and law.

It has also launched initiatives such as the Goldsmiths Prize for new fiction, the Open Book project to help non-traditional groups into higher education and the recently opened Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art.

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Left: Patrick Loughrey, Warden of Goldsmiths Above: George Wood Theatre, photo by Kevin Moran

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News

3D-PRINTED CAMERAS

Cameras that people can 3D print, assemble and modify themselves have been developed as part of a Goldsmiths design project. The cameras are one of a range of devices called Probe Tools, designed by the Interaction Research Studio at Goldsmiths, intended to inspire people to do their own — serious or fun — visual research.

The 3D-printed ‘TaskCam’ has a small screen on the back that shows a scrollable list of requests for pictures. Researchers can load their own list of requests onto the camera to prepare for a study. When users take a picture, the image is tagged with the current request and stored on a standard flash drive that can be removed for downloading.

Other Probe Tools include ‘VisionCam’, which uses computer vision technology to automatically produce stop-frame line animations from incoming video, and the ‘Automatic Interviewer’, which uses speech generation to read questions from a text file provided by researchers, then records users’ replies for up to 30 seconds.

Full instructions for making the devices are available on the Probe Tools website: probetools.net.

Professor Bill Gaver, Probe Tools project leader and codirector of the Interaction Research Studio at Goldsmiths, said:

“These devices have grown out of work we started in 1999 with kits of disposable conventional cameras, postcards, maps and photo albums for people to experiment with.

“Since we introduced the first Cultural Probes, disposable cameras have become rarer, and smartphones and digital cameras lack the constraints that users enjoy and that make for interesting research. Probe Tools are designed to fill this gap and, with features such as computer vision, motion sensing, time lapse photography and audio, they don’t just recreate disposable cameras but open up dramatic new opportunities for research.”

Above: Examples of customisable 3D-printed cameras

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FELT-E

As her final project, a recent computing graduate from Goldsmiths has developed a unique felt circuit board to enable primary school children to learn about electricity safely and efficiently.

The project, Felt-e, was created by Elisabetta Motta when she was a BSc Creative Computing student as a potential new resource for teaching physical computing to children.

She said: “My research into primary schools found that teachers in computing lessons often lack the resources and time to enthuse young boys and girls about the subject. Felt-e provides a unique, hands-on experience for kids and allows them to be creative while learning about electronics. It’s also a resource that’s easy to understand for teachers who might be unfamiliar with computing.”

Elisabetta surveyed a number of teachers during her initial research, exploring the frustrations of many Key Stage 1 and 2 teachers around lack of computing knowledge and pressures to prioritise literacy and mathematics.

Common feedback included a difficulty keeping pupils focused and lack of resources to run hands-on activities, which inspired the design of the Felt-e board.

Similarly laid out to a breadboard — a commonly used electronic tool that allows the user to lay out components — Felt-e includes two bus strips and ten terminal strips. Each strip has metallic poppers, to which the user can connect ‘wires’ and other components.

The longer wires have one popper on one end to connect to the board and a crocodile clip on the other end to connect to the micro controller. The shorter wires have poppers on each end to connect points on the board.

Components are made from white felt with drawings of the relevant electronic symbol on one side and positive and negative signs on each end (if relevant to the component).

The circuit is also compatible with micro controllers including the micro:bit, an open source hardware system designed by the BBC for use in computer education in the UK. Find out more about Felt-e: www.explore.gold/felte

Above: Felt-e project

News

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WORKING AT THE HORNIMAN

MA in Anthropology and Museum Practice students on their first visit to the Horniman, photo by Sarah J Duncan / Horniman Museum and Gardens

A new MA in Anthropology and Museum Practice has launched as part of a collaboration between Goldsmiths and the Horniman Museum and Gardens. The course is convened by Lecturer in Anthropology, Dr Charlotte Joy, who specialises in the politics of heritage management and also works for the Horniman. It provides a unique opportunity for students to develop both academic knowledge and practical professional skills, while giving them a rare chance to learn first-hand from the extensive collection of artefacts in the museum’s World Gallery.

Dr Joy said: “The link with the Horniman is going to allow us to provide a unique learning environment for MA students.

It is such an exciting time for students to become part of the Horniman’s anthropological community. It will allow them to critically evaluate and apply what they are learning through courses such as Material Culture, Museum Anthropology and Museum Practice. They will be taught by museum professionals who will support them in understanding both the opportunities and challenges within the museum setting and help them think about their own career and research ambitions.

“The ambition of the MA is to create a new kind of learning model — where the student uses the MA not only to develop

their academic knowledge, but also to become part of a professional community — of curators, educators, outreach officers, conservation and exhibition managers and so on.”

The World Gallery opened in the summer following a major redevelopment of the historic South Hall. It displays over 3,000 objects and provides a bright setting for the Horniman’s worldclass anthropology collection. As well as displaying many objects that haven’t been seen for a generation, the Horniman has made new acquisitions and special commissions from artists from across the world.

Nick Merriman, Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum and Gardens, added: “Education has been at the heart of the Horniman Museum and Gardens since 1901, when Frederick Horniman gave his building and collections to the people ‘for their recreation, instruction and enjoyment’. We’re delighted to be continuing his legacy by partnering with Goldsmiths, sharing our world-class anthropology collections, curatorial expertise and experience of creating the new World Gallery with the next generation of anthropologists and museum professionals.”

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EDITORS’ PICKS 1

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Six Goldsmiths alumni have been awarded Fellowships as part of the Royal Society of Literature’s inaugural 40 Under 40 scheme, which honours the achievements of Britain’s younger writers. Novelists Lucy Caldwell, Amy Sackville, Evie Wyld and Ross Raisin, and poets Emily Berry and Sophie Collins, all of whom are alumni of the Department of English and Comparative Literature, were recognised.

Forensic Architecture, an independent research agency based at Goldsmiths, has been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2018. The jury praised Forensic Architecture for developing highly innovative methods for sourcing and visualising evidence relating to human rights abuses around the world, that have been used in courts of law as well as exhibitions of art and architecture.

Also shortlisted is Glasgow-based artist Charlotte Prodger (BA Fine Art, 2001) whose work includes ‘Bridgit’, filmed entirely on her iPhone.

2 Nahum Romero Zamora’s (MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy, 2008) ‘The Contour of Presence’ launched into space on 29 June 2018 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center. The artwork looks at the encounter of an ethereal presence in outer space, a human and the abyss of separation between them. The project is a collaboration with the International Space University and Space Applications Services’ ICE Cubes in conjunction with the European Space Agency.

3 Steve McQueen (BA Fine Art, 1993) will aim to photograph every year 3 pupil in London as part of a Tate Britain project, which will be exhibited at Tate Britain and across the city. About 115,000 children in 2,410 schools have been invited to take part. According to Steve, the project will allow us to “reflect on who we are, where we come from, what is the future. We live in London and we all think we know London, but we don’t and to have a reflection of our immediate future is I think quite urgent.”

4 Radio presenter Shivi Hotwani (BA Media and Communications, 2011) has been nominated for Best Radio Show at the Asian Media Awards 2018 for his Weekend Breakfast Show on Lyca Radio.

The show fuses Bollywood, urban and the best of the British Asian music scene to create an eclectic soundtrack for weekend mornings. The Asian Media Awards recognise talent who excel in the Asian and mainstream media, from journalists working in local newspapers and bloggers to TV presenters and PR experts.

Keep in touch by email to stay updated on alumni, student and staff news and research coming out of Goldsmiths throughout the year: www.gold.ac.uk/alumni

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by Mary Davies

EDUCATING THE

EDUCATO

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Feature Introduction from Maggie Pitfield, Head of the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths In 2014, we proudly commemorated ‘110 Years of Goldsmiths Education’, celebrating the achievements and contribution of all those students and staff who completed their studies at Goldsmiths in what is now known as the Department of Educational Studies. This year we announced via Goldlink our intention to offer an honorary degree to those who were awarded a Certificate in Education before teaching became an all-graduate profession. We were overwhelmed by the response.

Reading the letters that alumni have sent has been a humbling but uplifting experience. Letters have arrived from all around the country, and beyond, telling of many inspiring careers in education as well as years of dedicated service to children and young adults. Not only this, but alumni have chosen to share news of their families and friends, and I feel very privileged to be a party to these fascinating histories.

Being a ‘Goldsmiths teacher’ really means something: I have read about Goldsmiths being evacuated to Nottingham during the Second World War years, how friendships made here have long endured, and that teacher education at Goldsmiths has been vitally important in shaping the generations of teachers who have passed through its gate and who have gone on to influence education and society more widely.

It is also the inspiration for this edition of Goldlink, which seeks to showcase the contribution of Goldsmiths to the wider world of education.

At the beginning of the academic year, when I talk to the new cohorts of Educational Studies students as they are about to embark on their education programmes, I refer to teaching, in all its forms, as a noble profession, and I do not apologise for using such a term. Your letters, in speaking of lives dedicated to education, whether in formal or informal, mainstream or alternative settings, in schools or higher education, have demonstrated the truth of my words. You have also reminded me, if I needed to be reminded, that to be an educator requires optimism, commitment to public service, a love of learning and an unwavering belief in the potential of people of all ages.

The commemorative booklet produced for the 1904–2014 celebrations ends with the statement ‘110 years and counting…’, and that is also my message to our students. We are all part of the past, present and future of education at Goldsmiths, proudly shaping lives, communities and society, as this edition demonstrates.

Feature It is impossible to tell the story of Goldsmiths without telling the story of the Department of Educational Studies (in all its former guises!), and you cannot tell that story without unravelling the changing attitudes to education during the 20th and 21st centuries.

As we highlight some critical moments in the educational narrative, Goldsmiths is revealed to have enjoyed a unique status that has helped to shape the department that exists today — where you can still access different routes into teaching and where education is also studied in a much wider variety of contexts and levels than ever before.

The 1902 Education Act (also known as the Balfour Act, named after Arthur Balfour who became Prime Minister shortly thereafter) was a turning point in the history of education in the United Kingdom. It also paved the way for Goldsmiths, the institution we know today.

Controversial at the time, the Act passed control of local schools to local educational authorities (LEAs) and abolished all 2,568 school boards. LEAs could also establish new secondary and technical schools and were responsible for the quality of education provision. This meant ‘teacher training’ moved towards a college model, signalling an end for the pupil-teacher system, which was essentially a teaching apprenticeship for those as young as 13 years old that was almost entirely phased out by the First World War. Under the terms of the Balfour Act, the Goldsmiths’ Company would have lost its powers over Goldsmiths’ predecessor, the Technical and Recreative Institute at New Cross. After a period of negotiations, the Institute was gifted to the University of London instead, and re-christened Goldsmiths’ College. It was soon decided that Goldsmiths should become a teacher training college and deliver the two-year Teaching Certificate.

In 1905, Caroline Graveson was appointed as the Women’s Vice-Principal of the Training Department at Goldsmiths and became responsible for establishing the new, co-educational, un-denominational and non-resident training. Her counterpart, Thomas Raymont, led the Men’s Department, and both were responsible to Goldsmiths’ first Warden, William Loring.

War intervenes Out of necessity, the First World War encouraged more women into teaching, and as their conditions were already inferior to male students, they also provided a cost saving!

Tragically, some 109 individuals who either studied or taught at Goldsmiths were killed during the First World War, including Goldsmiths’ first Warden, William Loring, who was killed in Gallipoli in 1915, and English lecturer, Billy Young, killed while serving in France in 1917.

Subsequently, attitudes to compulsory education continued to change and the 1918 Education Act (also known as The Fisher Act) announced the school-leaving age would be raised from 12 to 14 years, although this was not fully achieved until a further Education Act in 1921. In a sign of things to come, the provision of education became a subject of public interest between the wars, resulting in progressive changes to teaching practice.

The Hadow Committee, for example, published six reports between 1923 to 1933 that led to a restructure of primary education, separating infants and juniors. The Committee also moved towards child-centred teaching and smaller class sizes.

However, economic depression dampened the enthusiasm,

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leading to cuts and the closure of various training colleges across the country.

As it was part of the University of London, Goldsmiths held a special status — no other university maintained a teacher training college for the Certificate in Education (CertEd).

From 1922, Goldsmiths also started teaching the University Postgraduate Certificate in Education, and in the 1930s, also began teaching the Art Teacher’s Certificate alongside a range of third-year specialist subject certificates.

Elsewhere, Margaret McMillan founded the Rachel McMillan Training College in 1930; named after her sister, the College later amalgamated with Goldsmiths. Previously both sisters had founded the first open-air nursery school in Deptford; it opened in 1914 and is open to this day.

The 1936 Education Act legislated for raising the schoolleaving age to 15 in 1939, but the onset of another war meant postponing this until 1947. In the interim, and during the Second World War, teacher training was relocated from Goldsmiths to University College, Nottingham. It was a wise decision, as in 1940 bombing destroyed the roof and much of the top floor of what is now the Richard Hoggart Building.

The College’s swimming baths were also completely destroyed in 1945.

Consensus The 1944 Education Act (written by the Conservative politician Rab Butler and often referred to as the Butler Act) formed part of the consensus between political parties in the aftermath of the war which, for the Conservative Party, had triggered a revival in paternalism — the idea that privileged parts of society have a duty to look after those worse off.

The consensus became the basis for the welfare state, and the changes to education were profound, causing a significant increase in demand for teachers.

An emergency scheme allowed former servicemen and women to join the profession following one year of condensed training and including a two-year probationary period thereafter. Goldsmiths’ College pioneered this scheme between 1944 and 1945.

Two years after the war was over, and with a refurbishment bill of £100,000 (circa £3.5 million in today’s currency), Goldsmiths re-opened its doors in New Cross in order to meet the increased demand. By 1951, nearly 25,000 students were training to be teachers throughout England and Wales, more than twice as many as in 1939. The Butler Act was key to this growth having established a new tripartite system for state-funded secondary education, namely: grammar schools, secondary technical and secondary modern schools. The Act also called for a reduction in class sizes, and made new provision for nursery and further education.

With the abolition of fees, more girls were able to attend state secondary schools — poorer families could often only justify sending the boys in the family who were more likely to support them in return. However, the associated costs of secondary school, such as books and uniform, remained prohibitive for many families.

Butler had proposed that the school-leaving age should be increased to 16 years as soon as was practicable, but in a sign of the social and political challenges in British educational history this laudable aim did not actually materialise until 1973.

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p8: A fifth-form remedial English class in 1984 © Peter Marlow/ Magnum Photos p9: Examination in the Great Hall at Goldsmiths during the 1970s. p11: The Butler’s Dream.

“It came out of my head.” © Punch Limited Top: A class of exservicemen training to be teachers at Goldsmiths’ College, based at University College, Nottingham, in 1944. Contributor: Military History Collection / Alamy Stock Photo Bottom: Karl D’Cruz, Caroline Firkin and other students on refectory stairway in 1968/1969, photo by alumnus David Bracher

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Feature

The great debate The CertEd was extended from two years to three in 1960 and the first Bachelor of Education degrees were awarded in 1968; they would remain optional until 1981.

Circular 10/65, issued in 1965 by the Department of Education and Science requested local educational authorities to begin converting their secondary schools to the Comprehensive System, leading to the dismantling of the aforementioned tripartite system, although grammar schools were retained in a few areas.

In preparation for increasing the leaving age to 16, the Curriculum Laboratory was established at Goldsmiths; initially a series of courses, it evolved into a forum to share ideas for future school curricula.

In 1965, the Training Department became the Department for Arts, Science and Education and, the Education building was erected in 1968 to accommodate greater numbers of staff and students. It would later, in 2017, be renamed the Margaret McMillan Building after the pioneering social reformer.

Following a government White Paper in 1972 entitled ‘Education: A Framework for Expansion’, both the Rachel McMillan Training College (Deptford) and St Gabriel’s Training College (Camberwell) amalgamated with Goldsmiths. Two years later the department was renamed again, this time as the School of Education and it admitted the first cohort of BEd Primary students alongside the final group of the CertEd. That was also the year that Jim Callaghan, the then Prime Minister, made a landmark speech at Ruskin College, Oxford.

The speech launched the ‘great debate’ on education and ultimately led to the establishment of the National Curriculum and increased government control of the educational system.

During the same year, the Eleven-Plus examination, integral to the tripartite system, was phased out, remaining only in the relatively few areas that retained grammar schools.

In addition to establishing the National Curriculum, a new Education Reform Act abolished the Inner London Education Authority in 1988, the same year that Goldsmiths became a full School of the University of London. To avoid duplication and a possible merger with Queen Mary College (now Queen Mary University of London) science teaching mostly ceased at Goldsmiths, although we retain a thriving Secondary Science PGCE (Biology, Chemistry and Physics).

Something old, something new Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Goldsmiths was at the forefront of curriculum development and provided a much-needed critique of the National Curriculum. In the 1980s, the department became the focus for the Early Years Curriculum, developing a set of guiding principles for Early Childhood Education that became internationally accepted.

Key academics in the department were closely involved in the development of the Early Years Curriculum frameworks of both New Zealand and Singapore. Goldsmiths also became the first university in the UK to offer an MA in Early Childhood Education. Since then the department has expanded into new areas and specialisms and today offers Early Years, Primary and a range of Secondary courses on its PGCE programmes.

Across the country, routes into teaching diversified during the 1990s, with schools delivering their own initial teacher

training and a work-based route launched for unqualified teachers via the Graduate Teacher Programme.

Sure Start, a flagship Labour policy, was launched in 1999 as a programme to deliver services and support to young children and their families in ‘areas of deprivation’. It was a timely policy, as the Sutton Trust Report ‘Entry to Leading Universities’ highlighted a significant under-representation of state school and working class students at leading universities in the UK. The 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act established the now-abolished General Teaching Council, which aimed to improve standards of teaching and professional conduct. The Act also abolished student maintenance grants and required students to contribute up to £1,000 in tuition fees. The tuition fees cap rose to £3,225 a year in 2004 and £9,000 in 2010 with bursary support for students still available in some cases.

At Goldsmiths, new Masters degrees reinforced the department’s grounding in research and academia, including the MAs in Creative Writing and Education; Arts and Learning; Children’s Literature; Education: Culture, Language & Identity; and Multilingualism, Linguistics & Education.

In a social justice context, the department’s research activity today focuses on how learning from early childhood onwards can be supported in the home and the community as well as in the school setting. Through a range of research centres (Identities and Social Justice; Arts and Learning; and Language, Culture and Learning), the department’s research themes include interrogations of gender, race, class and the politics of teaching and learning.

This December, CertEd alumni will have the opportunity to find out everything that’s happened since they left and how the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths continues to champion and provide the very best in teacher education at primary and secondary school levels. They will also get a glimpse into the future of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths ○ If you would like to hear about the latest developments from the Department of Educational Studies and from Goldsmiths generally, don’t forget to update your details: www.explore.gold/update2018

ADAPTING 14

TO 21st-CENTURY LEARNING

Goldsmiths is committed to educating in creative, interdisciplinary and innovative ways. Alongside the degrees that have defined Goldsmiths over the years we continue to push boundaries, and adapt to 21stcentury changes in learning.

Advancement in technology has enabled higher education institutions to provide flexible and accessible approaches to learning. Faster internet speed and improved access to tablets and other mobile devices at fractions of the previous cost has contributed to the expansion of higher education, from distance learning to massive open online courses.

Learning is more a part of our everyday life than ever before. As higher education adapts to new technological developments, more of us are enabled to learn almost anything wherever we are, whenever we want and at a variety of levels. That’s not to say we’ve abandoned the traditional classroom setting, which is still the most common way of accessing higher education.

At Goldsmiths, we have diversified our degrees, designed short courses and developed distance learning opportunities so we can meet current and future educational needs. Here are some of the changes that have happened at Goldsmiths:

15 Flexible and accessible learning In April 2019, in collaboration with the University of London and online platform Coursera, Goldsmiths will launch the BSc (Hons) Computer Science. It will be the first undergraduate degree programme available on Coursera and will open learning at Goldsmiths to scholars around the globe.

The programme has been designed to equip students to access careers in emerging technologies, providing opportunities to study machine learning, data science, virtual reality, game development and web programming.

Professor Robert Zimmer, Head of the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, said: “It’s exciting to bring together our approach to computer science as a creative discipline with the latest innovative techniques for delivering online learning experiences.”

Right: Dance Movement Psychotherapy students Far Right: Student experimenting with virtual reality

Spotlight Short courses Goldsmiths’ short courses are a chance for alumni and members of the public to acquire new skills or learn for personal development alongside work and daily commitments. Alumni run some of these courses — you can uncover your funny side while becoming more confident, creative and collaborative with alumna Victoria Hogg, who runs the comedy improvisation course.

Or learn the foundations that underpin Dance Movement Psychotherapy in creative and interactive ways.

Victoria said: “I had a very rewarding time reading Applied Theatre here: it was a deeply practical immersion that proved to me I could make a living from facilitation. To teach here is a dream come true. Goldsmiths attracts a rich variety of people who all inspire each other in the room. It’s a fantastic environment.”

Not all short courses take place on campus, including bespoke summer schools such as Contemporary Art Curation or Creative Computing run in cultural hubs like Rome and Berlin.

To keep up with new demands in the workplace, Goldsmiths also offers a range of subjects from Business, Innovation and Marketing to English and Creative Writing as well as a programme of executive training for industry leaders.

A contemporary curriculum For generations, researchers, practitioners and teaching staff at Goldsmiths have actively campaigned to make real, positive changes to society.

We continue to develop our programme offering in the same spirit.

From 2019, LLB Law at Goldsmiths will draw on this rich heritage to educate the next generation of lawyers. Aspiring solicitors and barristers will develop the knowledge and professional skills they’ll need through innovative teaching and assessments and insights from renowned industry professionals. This open and interdisciplinary approach will be a force for even greater change in the future. Other new programmes include: • MA in Migration and Mobility, which challenges students to think in new and creative ways about the movement of people, things and ideas • BA in Digital Anthropology, which will tackle contemporary issues in digital social worlds • MSc in Marketing and Technology, which aims to transform students into individuals who can leverage emerging technologies to design unique customer experiences and disrupt existing markets.

Alumni can receive a 15% discount on short courses. Find out more: www.gold. ac.uk/alumni/benefits

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Showcase

WHAT A STRANGE THING...

by Iqra Yousaf

‘What a strange thing…’ exhibited at this year’s degree show by BA Education, Culture & Society graduate Iqra Yousaf.

Over the last 500 years, as a society we have been taught through mutually reinforced consortia that human racial biology is real. A biological definition of ‘race’ is fixed, unquestionable and perceived as scientific truth. But there is no fixed meaning of race and, as this project demonstrates, there is no consensus. Race is a social category and dependent on the historical, social and political context. Race is often the product of racism; its definition is continually evolving through our everyday lives, as well as through aspects of our culture.

The concept of race is itself a strange thing…

The project aims to create a conversation about race through photography, recorded interviews and spoken word performance. The art itself is the mediator that allows dialogue between the participants, and informs people of the reality of race — for many, race isn’t a factor in their everyday life whereas, for others, race plays a significant part of their daily experience.

In its physical form, the project is a vast collection of scattered images of its participants taken in their natural setting — both in colour and black and white. The medium of photography holds a persuasive power to communicate meaning as it is often considered more truthful and reliable than other forms of media.

Because of this, the images of the participants are raw, they feel truthful and relatable — ordinary, everyday people like you.

The audio leads and ends with snippets from casual discussions with strangers on the concept of race and how the participants identify themselves in that context. They include people met on the way to university, at the library, on the tube as well as family and friends. The conversations explored stereotypes, people’s preconceived perceptions of one’s race based on skin colour. Spoken word poetry was also used to showcase the journey of the conversations — how they started off by talking of race, ie what it is and how it came about, to then progressively unpicking what the term means.

The audio combined with imagery gives the audience an opportunity to relate to the participants and learn about their experiences and their understanding of race. www.iwhysblog.wordpress.com

Right: Student viewing degree show project, ‘What A Strange Thing…’

The BA in Education, Culture & Society explores the role of education in diverse societies in the UK and beyond. It focuses on policy issues related to social justice and equality and understanding education from a multidisciplinary perspective. Social justice themes include gender in the early years, alternatives to schooling, mental health and wellbeing and institutional racism. Alongside this, the degree looks at the ways digital media, film, music and visual arts can influence education and society.

Find out more: www.gold.ac.uk/ug/ ba-education-culture-society

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Feature

TALKING TEXTILES

Many of Britain’s leading names in stitch were taught at Goldsmiths or by someone who was. Goldsmiths’ alumni have established embroidery departments and taught at other art schools, most notably in Manchester, Birmingham, Loughborough and Dublin. Textiles plays an important role in both our history and our present day; stitch and fabric remain a core component of studio practice in the Department of Art alongside other classic and more contemporary media.

In 1947, Constance Howard (1910-2000) joined the staff of Goldsmiths as a part-time tutor. She went on to establish a Department of Embroidery in the Arts School and to become Principal Lecturer in charge of textiles and fashion. Constance is considered one of her generation’s most influential pioneers in textile design, ensuring a place for textiles as an art form in its own right.

For over a decade, the Constance Howard Gallery and Goldsmiths Textile Collection has supported the documentation of the pioneering history of textiles at Goldsmiths from the 1940s to the present, and also the development of British textile work throughout the 20th century.

We met with two practitioners who studied at Goldsmiths at very different times. Diana Springall and Alice Archer invited us into their studios to find out about their practice and how textiles has changed over their lifetimes.

DIANA SPRINGALL Diana Springall (National Diploma in Design — Painting, 1960 and Art Teacher’s Certificate, 1961) is one of the country’s most well-regarded textile artists and has taught or mentored many artists working in textiles today. A collector herself, Diana’s own work can be found in a number of private and public collections. She has held chairman positions at both the Embroiderers’ Guild and the Society of Designer Craftsmen. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an Ambassador for The Textile Society and earlier this year, was made a ‘Broderer’ — a member of the Worshipful Company of Broderers, which which has promoted and protected the art of embroidery since the Middle Ages. www.dianaspringallcollection.co.uk

What was your first experience of embroidery?

As a child I embroidered transfers printed on linen. My first creative embroidery was produced at Goldsmiths under the watchful instruction of Constance Howard in my final year (we called her Mrs Parker: she was married to the Head of Sculpture, Harold Parker). She had rules: for example, you could not have a patterned background cloth, and the stitching had to be hand embroidery stitches.

What drew you towards textiles over other art practices?

I really wanted to make things that people wanted — in other words, a desire to put my painting skills to ‘use’. I qualified as a painter from Goldsmiths, and when I was in the painting school there were only six or seven full-time students.

Royal Academician, Betty Swanwick, who was Head of Illustration as it was called then, would wander in with her exquisite little drawings and say, ‘You, you and you, I want these enlarged to make a mural for the Christmas Ball’. The mural was intended for the Great Hall and had to be better than anything Chelsea School of Art could produce for their Summer Ball! I would spend the whole term enlarging Betty Swanwick’s drawings, ready for the occasion.

If I hadn’t done that, I could not have done the work I’m doing today, that I’ve done all my life. All my scaling up is manual; it has always been tracing paper, square-by-square.

I was once asked: ‘Why don’t you pick work that’s your own size?’. Well, it’s nothing for me to scale up to 40 feet. At Goldsmiths, I learned not to be afraid.

Have you kept in touch with other Goldsmiths textile artists?

I’m in touch with Anne Morrell (née Butler), who is a Professor of Textiles and former Head of Embroidery at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was the conduit from Goldsmiths to Manchester for all the famous names that have gone from there. Anne is probably Britain’s expert on stitch. I’m also in touch with Penny Gill (née Mann). My closest friend throughout the five years was the painter Alan Cuthbert, who died in 1995. He became Head of Wimbledon School of Art, and I am godmother to his daughter, Fiona.

Feature How do you approach a typical commission?

I listen to the dreams and ideas of the client. I look at the site.

I consider what is possible with their budget and negotiate over their brief and the subject. Many times I believe I have come up with a more apt thought. I paint to scale first, which they need for the committee, so they know what they’re getting for their money.

Almost all my life has been commissioned work, so I haven’t been making for art galleries. I have made pictures for the walls when I’m asked to do so for an exhibition, but I’m not turning them out to get enough for the 62 Group (a branch of the Embroiderer’s Guild set up in 1962 as a professional wing of the membership).

How did you get started as a collector?

I was a very passionate teacher. I wanted the students to experience the real thing — to see and handle contemporary pieces. I was lucky in that friends and colleagues in colleges such as Birmingham, Loughborough, Goldsmiths and Manchester always invited me to their degree shows.

For students who sold work at their final show there was a sense of achievement.

One example was Rachel Quarmby. I bought her only two works — they were partially completed but they showed talent.

With the money I gave her — a mere £225 — she purchased a second-hand car and drove to France. No contacts, no plan.

Rachel is now in charge of costume at the Paris Opera. She said she was going to give up textiles but changed her mind when I bought her work. In the same spirit, I was also buying from fellow embroiderers. It would be many years before I realised that I was beginning to form a story, which in 1985 emerged in my book, ‘Twelve British Embroiderers’.

The Diana Springall Embroidery Collection spans decades — how do you feel the art form has evolved during that time?

There is a far greater dependency on photography as a starting point rather than drawing from subjects perceived.

Additionally, the last twenty years has suffered from a lack of one-to-one tuition in the craft itself.

Hand embroidery is enjoying a resurgence though, particularly in the fashion industry. In spite of the continued development of machines, hand embroidery, though not revered by many, is proving far too significant to die out.

It is practised by many thousands in both amateur and professional groups. Of course, there is also a need for machinery. Companies like Hand & Lock do both; they do all the royal regalia and have had various pop-ups in Topshop and Selfridges. People can walk in, buy a T-shirt and have it embroidered while they wait. Maybe it’s because I don’t sew like this, or because stitching by hand takes longer, but I do think there’s more of a spiritual input if something’s handmade.

What does your studio say about how you like to work?

I’m clearly spoiled! The space is ample and says that I often work on a large scale, from carpets to wall panels. The carpet frame is still in place and there are many framed works on the walls showing the design sheets for major commissions. The furniture indicates shared use — teaching has always been a part of the space.

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What inspires you right now outside of your craft?

I am moved by opera and ballet, and I enjoy exhibitions.

I enjoy travelling particularly to places of historical interest.

I have just enjoyed two trips to Riga — the world heritage site for Art Nouveau.

What advice would you give to students new to the practice today?

For those new to textiles, my main advice is to draw. Draw in order to perceive one’s subject. Use the camera just to record. If you draw or paint you find the right stitches and techniques to make.

ALICE ARCHER Fashion Designer Alice Archer (BA Textiles, 2008) moved to Antwerp to work as an embroidery designer for Dries Van Noten after she completed an MA in Textiles at the Royal College of Art in 2013. During her studies, she frequently worked for Tracey Emin, producing her hand-embroidered artworks, and now embroiders digitally to design her ready-towear collections, which have featured in The New York Times T Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Business of Fashion and are available in The Place London, Browns, Barneys, Tasoni and Enny Di Monaco. www.alicearcher.co.uk What was your first experience of embroidery?

I remember the summer before I started at Goldsmiths I was in Pembrokeshire on holiday with my family and I took with me Mary Thomas’ ‘Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches’ and some threads. I taught myself a few stitches and made a sampler. I was a keen student and excited at the prospect of the textile workshops at Goldsmiths!

What drew you towards textiles over other art practices?

I have always been drawn to colour, detail and tactile and rich surfaces. I love the skill involved in textiles and embroidery and the rich historic associations. I fell in love with embroidery at Goldsmiths and have loved using it since and now love applying it to my womenswear pieces.

Which textile artists inspire you?

I used to love to read the book series ‘Art Textiles of the World’ and through these books I was introduced to lots of different textile artists — I really love Alice Kettle. One of my very favourite artists is Phoebe Anna Traquair (1852–1936). I love her lavish, romantic wall hangings which are fully embroidered.

You worked for artist Tracey Emin as a student and then fashion designer, Dries Van Noten after your MA. How did these experiences influence your work?

Working for Tracey Emin, I learned how to sew by hand and embroider quickly by hand. I also learned how to interpret someone else’s vision into embroidery, which is important if you are collaborating or have work commissioned.

For Dries, it was learning the business side of fashion — what is commercial in fashion and what sells. Things such as how much you have to produce and how many ideas you have to generate before you can create output that is commercially successful. I also learnt that shiny things sell quite well,

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IT’S NOTHING FOR ME TO SCALE UP TO 40 FEET. AT GOLDSMITHS, I LEARNED NOT TO BE AFRAID

p18: Diana Springall at home holding a curtain she made Above: Diana Springall in her studio where scaffolding is used for large-scale commissions Right & p22: Alice Archer in her studio All photogaphy © Christian Sinibaldi

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not that I use them in my work very much, but sequins sell.

It gave me the foundation — knowledge, skills and energy, but I’m trying to do my own thing now.

How would you describe the themes used in your embroidery, for example what was the inspiration behind your latest collection?

I was inspired by the American prairie, especially as evoked in the novels of Willa Cather and in Andrew Wyeth’s painting ‘Christina’s World’. Wildflowers of the prairie formed the floral selection including echinacea, black eyed Susan, smoke prairie flowers, wild bergamot, Virginia bluebells and yarrow.

I am inspired by oil paintings that you might see in the National Gallery, London, or similar museums. Historic textiles, paintings, nature and flowers are really important to my work. Each season, I go and look at different flowers and research, taking lots of photos. For SS19, I went to the Eden Project in Cornwall, for example. It has two biomes that hold thousands of plants and it has a section filled with prairie flowers. Another place is the Kew Gardens Library — again, the library has nearly 2,000 years of plant knowledge. The V&A Archive is a great resource for art, design and textile. When researching, I’ll write manifestos, take photos or find imagery and go from there using my instincts.

With advancements in technology, what’s your prediction for the future of textiles/embroidery and other traditional crafts in fashion?

I think with all these new technologies people will reference historic textiles more, and value quality over quantity.

Increasingly there will be more desire for things that are made slowly and with love; people want to buy less but they want it to be more ethical and designed.

Can you talk us through the process of digital embroidery?

It’s something I learnt at Goldsmiths from Diana Thornton.

I use it all the time in every collection. First, I have an image which I interpret into embroidery. I use a software programme called Ethos, similar to Adobe Illustrator. I programme every single stitch for the image and use a variety of weights and densities of stitch to give the impression it’s been done by hand. It takes a few experiments before the final programme can happen. And the programming can take about a week to complete on average; then we embroider panels which are sewn into garments. Once the programme is done, it can be infinitely reproducible.

What does your studio say about how you like to work?

It is both a studio and an office. People that work with me work regular hours. It’s not just a space for creating the new collections, it’s producing the collections as well. It’s a place that I love being in, say, on a Sunday, by myself. I love putting all my research ideas out on the table, looking at it and drawing and thinking and writing and planning. When it’s functioning in day-to-day life, it’s very busy with my lovely team who bring so much expertise and energy but I also love it when it’s very still at the weekends.

What inspires you right now outside of your craft?

I always read a lot. I’m reading books at the moment by Olivia Laing and Maggie Nelson and watching ‘Killing Eve’. Going to the cinema is really important even if it’s quite a low-brow film.

Frieze is always exciting and there are lots of good exhibitions opening like ‘Modern Couples’ at the Barbican, which looks at both the creative and personal relationships of artist couples.

What advice would you give to anyone new to the practice?

To work really hard and gain as many fashion skills as possible, to take criticism and move on from it quite quickly and to keep thinking, keep curious.

To be a nice person I think is really important, to make a good atmosphere. When we have interns, the good ones really are nice, helpful, reliable and positive. It is also good to know what’s happening in the wider world of fashion and follow shows ○ Talking Textiles is a get-together for anybody interested in textiles.

The next event at Goldsmiths held on Friday, 25 January 2019 at 1pm will look at the recently catalogued items from the Margaret Hall-Townley collection. Find out more about Talking Textiles and the Goldsmiths Textile Collection: www.gold.ac.uk/ textile-collection

I FELL IN LOVE WITH EMBROIDERY AT GOLDSMITHS AND HAVE LOVED USING IT SINCE AND NOW LOVE APPLYING IT TO MY WOMENSWEAR PIECES

VOLUNTEERING 24

Opportunities

TIME TO VOLUNTEER

Did you know that alumni frequently give back their time to volunteer at Goldsmiths? They help us to nurture talent in all its forms. Whether this means speaking on a panel, meeting a student for coffee or representing Goldsmiths overseas, there are many ways former students give back their time and make a difference to the Goldsmiths community.

Over 100 alumni volunteered with Goldsmiths this year and, wherever you are based you can get involved too.

There are many ways that giving your time can benefit your career as well as your social and professional life. We are also keen to hear your ideas for how alumni volunteering might impact the broader community. How would you like to take part?

VOLUNTEER ACROSS THE UK OR OVERSEAS

Our alumni network extends beyond the campus, and there are many ways that alumni can volunteer.

Alumni volunteers help us to develop vibrant local networks and integrate new and relocating alumni into local activities to make sure they continue to feel part of the wider Goldsmiths community. At recruitment fairs or alumni events, regional volunteers share their experiences and inspire prospective students to join the Goldsmiths community. Alumni are uniquely placed to answer questions about the student experience and to add valuable insights to those just starting out on their Goldsmiths journey.

Our Alumni Ambassadors are our primary points of contact between Goldsmiths and alumni based around the world, and we are developing new ways to enhance and expand this programme in the coming year.

Laura Talbot (MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy, 2016) is an Alumni Ambassador in New York and has enjoyed reconnecting with Goldsmiths from so far away. She said: “Attending Goldsmiths was the best and most enriching experience of my life so far.

Getting to share what it meant to me and what a special place it is to prospective students was a wonderful opportunity and so much fun!�

Illustration: James Graham

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VOLUNTEER ON CAMPUS

VOLUNTEER AT WORK

Students also appreciate hearing from alumni when they are thinking about their future careers. We work with colleagues Goldsmiths-wide to organise industry panels, which supplement academic content with real-life experience. Speakers help students gain clarity in their career pursuits by sharing insights about their professional experiences and advice on employability.

Ellie Isherwood (BA Drama and Theatre Arts, 2015), who sat on an industry panel for Theatre and Performance finalists, said this about taking part: “I wanted to help the perhaps nervous graduates, about to enter the big wide world, to relax and feel confident that they will be just fine out there! It was a great experience that reminded me how far I have come since being in that same room just three years ago!”

Alumni can help students meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive global job market by offering real-world experience and workplace learning through a placement or internship. This not only adds value to students’ degrees but, in turn, means you will have helped nurture future Goldsmiths talent within your own sector.

VOLUNTEER REMOTELY No matter where you are in the world or how much time you are able to commit, you can give back.

Goldsmiths Connect is our online directory of alumni, on which you can search for former students based on their location, industry, degree and expertise. The platform gives members, including current students and staff, an opportunity to ask one-off questions or have an email conversation.

All you have to do is sign up and, when a member gets in touch, be open to having an informative conversation with them on a range of topics, from career advice to relocation to what to study next.

Another way to volunteer remotely is to provide a graduate profile to share your experience during and after Goldsmiths. Your story, however you tell it, has the power to inspire others. It only takes 15 minutes to supply one and start your journey as an alumni volunteer.

Look out for future opportunities: www.gold.ac.uk/alumni/volunteer

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DEAN ATTA

27 Ever wonder what kind of careers our alumni go into? Curious about the day-to-day of a fellow alumnus who works in a different industry? ‘A day in the life’ follows alumni during a typical working day and gives readers a snapshot of the interesting and varied work experienced within the Goldsmiths alumni community.

Dean Atta (MA Writer / Teacher, 2014) is a writer and performance poet.

He has been commissioned to write poems for the Damilola Taylor Trust, Keats House Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

Dean’s debut poetry collection, ‘I am Nobody’s Nigger’, was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. He is currently working on his second book, ‘The Black Flamingo’. Dean was named as one of the most influential LGBT people by the Independent on Sunday Pink List 2012. He is an ambassador for the Spirit of London Awards for Achievement through the Arts.

A day in the life

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The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is to check my phone. I’ll look at text messages and WhatsApp first, but then I’ll check my email and social media.

There is an expectation for writers to post about what they’re reading and what they’re working on, provide engaging online content and put some of their personality across on social media.

As a freelancer, there is little separation between my private and personal life.

I don’t have separate work and private social media or email addresses, and lots of people I work with are also my friends.

I may receive work communication on any of the platforms mentioned, as well as genuine social stuff.

A great thing about being a freelancer is that I have the flexibility to set my own hours. I might reply to a few emails when I wake up, but mostly I flag them to be replied to later and then I head off to yoga class. Every morning I go to a hot yoga class: I have been doing this for over two years now. This is my time in the morning to connect with myself, to do something that is challenging and gives me a sense of accomplishment.

After class, I take some time to meditate, and I feel ready to take on the rest of the day. Most people in my life know that I go to yoga every morning and can’t be reached during this time.

Over lunch I will often have a meeting.

This could be with another writer or with an organisation I’m working with or my publisher or agent. Meetings like this are great because if the other person is employed by an organisation, they usually pay for your lunch. I feel this is a fair trade-off as I’m not usually being paid for my time. I love meeting over food because it makes things feel warmer and more relaxed. I’m not a fan of very formal meetings where, if you’re lucky, you might get offered a glass of water or a hot drink but not even a biscuit. I feel that if we’re going to take time to meet in person, we should break bread together.

This is the time of day I will answer emails that I looked at in the morning and any others that have come through since. If I’m up to date on my emails, I will use this time to edit poems and submit them to competitions and journals. I most frequently work from The Poetry Library on the fifth floor of The Royal Festival Hall. This is a wonderful space for a poet to work from, as they have a great selection of poetry books and magazines for reference and to borrow. It’s free to join, and you can take up to four books at a time. I’ll always have at least one book of poetry with me to read between meetings and when travelling around town. If it’s warm weather I will sit in a park to read, other times it’s a café or The Poetry Library.

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A day in the life

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www.deanatta.com @DeanAtta

In the afternoon I will be leading an after-school creative writing club.

I work for an organisation called First Story as a Writer in Residence at Hampstead School in North West London. My postgraduate degree at Goldsmiths was a Writer/Teacher MA, and I put this to use in the work I do in education and as an advocate for creative writing in schools and beyond. This year I was an ambassador for National Writing Day alongside Goldsmiths’ Professor of Children’s Literature, Michael Rosen.

In the evening I could be performing at a spoken word poetry night or at a cabaret night as my drag persona, The Black Flamingo. One venue I have performed at as both a poet and a drag queen is the Royal Vauxhall Tavern; this is a legendary LGBT venue and one of my favourite places in London, especially for their weekly Tuesday and Saturday night events, Bar Wotever and Duckie. I don’t just go out when performing, I make a point of being a regular audience member and go to the theatre and live music as often as I do spoken word and cabaret nights. I find myself very inspired when experiencing different art forms.

I often write late at night. I come home inspired by my day, something I saw, something someone said, a feeling, and I may have noted it down in my phone or notebook at the time, but when I get home is when I begin to work it into a poem. If I’m really inspired I may be up writing until the early hours of the morning: this has always been my best time to write since I was a teenager. I am very fortunate that my flexible schedule still allows this. So, if I’m up writing all night, I might skip yoga class in the morning and catch up on my sleep ○

IN THE EVENING I COULD BE PERFORMING AT A SPOKEN WORD POETRY NIGHT OR AT A CABARET NIGHT AS MY DRAG PERSONA, THE BLACK FLAMINGO

p27: Dean Atta at The Poetry Library © Christian Sinibaldi Right: The Black Flamingo at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern © Christian Sinibaldi

NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER NO-ONE FORGETS A GOOD TEACHER

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Leaving a legacy

Alumna Ruth Webb explains how her life was transformed by her education and how, during a long and rewarding career as a teacher, she was able to do the same for others, including a future rock star. Ruth’s passion for education has inspired her to include Goldsmiths in her will, and in doing so she will enable future generations of students to overcome financial barriers and achieve their potential.

by Ruth Webb

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Leaving a legacy My connections with Goldsmiths are many and long-standing.

In 1969, I left school aged 18 after A Levels, went to work in an office, and took an adult education evening class at Goldsmiths. My family home in the council-housing estate of Dagenham, Essex, was one in which education was not valued.

My parents — both having left school aged 14 — were in their 50s and 60s in 1969, and their only income was from their unskilled work. My three elder siblings had all left school at 15 and had married by the time I was 14. It was now my turn to ‘bring some money into the house’.

Such a background was fairly unusual for university applicants in the late 1960s, but it was by no means rare.

Many people of my social class and generation gained the first educational qualifications in their family’s history and then worked in ‘the professions’ — education, medicine, law, etc.

In 1974, after mostly working in offices for five years, I began the Secondary Specialist joint-honours BEd course at Goldsmiths. Fellow students and I read Education alongside English for four years. We experienced teaching practices in three different schools in the first three years, and studied the theory and history of education, child development and psychology, sociology, etc in all four years, which enabled us to understand the whole childhood development, circumstances and capabilities of our future pupils.

Almost everything I learned about good teaching I learned from Goldsmiths. Goldsmiths taught us to value the backgrounds and experiences of our pupils. In 1978, when I began teaching in Lambeth, English teachers could take free local courses in African-Caribbean and South Asian literature.

We were introduced to writing about the many communities with roots in different cultures of inner London.

I come from a large, white, working-class family; I’m one of 30 cousins and the only one who studied beyond the age of 15.

Unlike my cousins and siblings, I have no children of my own.

My sisters and brother did well enough financially — without any qualifications, and by working in factories and offices — to provide for their eight children (only one of whom has had a university education). In turn, those ‘children’ are now providing well enough for their offspring to need no financial help from me. As a teacher, having bought my house in 1985 for £37,500, I decided that I would leave to Goldsmiths the proceeds of its sale after my death. (The house is now allegedly worth c£500,000+, and — shamefully for modern British society — no teacher earning an average salary could today afford to buy the same house.) With my donation, Goldsmiths will establish a bursary for students in need of financial help. Were I in my early 20s today, coming from the same social background, I could not possibly afford to study for a degree. Without the free university teaching that I received at Goldsmiths, and without the full maintenance grant that my Local Education Authority provided throughout my four years’ study, I’d never have experienced higher education.

Without the faith that Goldsmiths staff showed in my potential, I’d not have become a teacher, nor would I have experienced the financial independence and intellectual benefit that I’ve enjoyed for most of my adult life. In 1997, one of my former pupils who’d become a rock singer was asked by the Teacher Training Agency to name an inspirational teacher, and she named me. She, ‘Skin’ of the band Skunk Anansie, was one of very few female ‘celebrities’ asked to name a teacher.

David Attenborough, Jeremy Paxman, Tony Blair, Eddie Izzard and Joanna Lumley were among the others. The slogan of the Teacher Training Agency’s recruitment campaign was ‘No-one Forgets A Good Teacher’, and Skin was the youngest and the only non-white celebrity featured.

WERE I IN MY EARLY 20s TODAY, COMING FROM THE SAME SOCIAL BACKGROUND, I COULD NOT POSSIBLY AFFORD TO STUDY FOR A DEGREE Had Goldsmiths not shown faith in my potential in the 1970s and 1980s, I’d never have had the fortune to be Skin’s teacher. I’d not later have had visiting fellowships at Cambridge and Oxford, nor at American universities, if Goldsmiths had not educated me to degree level and as a postgraduate. The British Library and Oxford University Press New York would not have asked me to write a biography of Virginia Woolf had Goldsmiths not provided me with a PhD supervisor who was a specialist in modernist writers. From 1980 to 1999, in addition to my day jobs, I taught evening classes once a week at Goldsmiths, and that work was arguably the most rewarding of my whole career in education. My entire adult life would have been less enjoyable and fulfilling were it not for the nurturing, intellectual training and professional support that staff at Goldsmiths gave me.

My donation to Goldsmiths will be made after my death so that others can experience intellectual and financial freedom and satisfaction. That’s the least I can do in return for the life that Goldsmiths has enabled me to live. If, on reflection, you realise that the pleasures of your life are, in many ways, owed to what Goldsmiths gave you, please consider making a donation, no matter what size, so that others can have what we have had ○ If you are interested in remembering Goldsmiths in your will, or would like more information, please contact Mehrangez Rahman, Senior Development Manager: +44 (0)20 7717 2299 or development@gold.ac.uk. You can also visit our website: www.explore.gold/legacy

p31: Image from Teacher Training Agency campaign featuring Ruth and ‘Skin’ of Skunk Anansie

ALL YOU NEED

LIBRARY ACCESS EVENTS AND REUNIONS ALUMNI MAGAZINE E-MENTORING SHORT COURSE DISCOUNTS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK EMAIL FOR LIFE LATEST NEWS IN YOUR INBOX EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS

Alumni membership comes with a number of advantages, wherever you are based in the world. All you need to do to benefit is let us know how you would like to hear from us in future.

Manage your preferences online: www.explore.gold/update2018 Or email: alumni@gold.ac.uk

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