Homerton Roll Newsletter, 2010 12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I graduated in 1986 in more than one way. Homerton was very much a teacher training college in the 1980s, but one with a difference, it taught you to teach and also to learn. Lee Gek Ling
After Homerton (i)
Five Lessons from an Accident By Jackie Harrop (Hornby), 1967-70 I came to Homerton by accident. My dad was a foundry worker and my mum worked on the evening shift in a cotton mill to pay for my uniform to attend the girls‘ grammar school. I was one of three girls on the council estate to attend the grammar school and left at sixteen to work as a lab technician at ICI. At the time I felt this was quite an achievement but soon realised that in those days the glass ceiling for women was made of concrete. Encouraged by one of the chemists to gain further qualifications, I applied to Homerton without even realising where Cambridge was, or the college‘s status in relation to Cambridge University. Moving away from home in Rochdale was a huge culture shock, and I was fascinated by the knowledge being unlocked for me. I had never heard of sociology, psychology, philosophy, let alone studied it. My tutor, Derek Johnston, was very supportive but it was Sylvia Williams, one of the chemistry lecturers and teaching practice supervisor, who sadly died of cancer earlier this year, who was my inspiration then and for the rest of my life. She opened a world of organic chemistry, radioactivity, chromatography, spectrometry, and the mysteries and magic of a subject which I was then able to teach with genuine excitement and interest. As my teaching practice supervisor , she encouraged me, guided me and gently coached me to believe anything is possible—of course I would get it right if I kept going, and even when I didn‘t get it first time, it was always worth another go.
Lesson 1: if it doesn’t excite you, move on, explore, and discover what does! I began as a middle school teacher, quickly transferring to secondary because I saw more opportunities for promotion in a bigger school, and was lucky again to have an inspirational head who introduced an integrated curriculum, open plan
classrooms and team teaching. As a young teacher I led teams that contained the head himself and his deputy. This was a huge boost to my confidence and we were encouraged to experiment with teaching delivery, with group role play, rotating group work, interdisciplinary teaching and working beyond our comfort zones. I taught 6th form psychology classes using clay therapy, chemistry through dance, used yoga and relaxation in maths, physics through sport, and literacy through French. Of course this was all pre-national curriculum, SATs and Ofsted , although I was inspected at the time and came through it quite well. I took a short career break to have children, lost considerable ground in terms of promotion opportunities, as happened in those days, and dabbled with the idea of becoming a counsellor. I completed the diploma for BAC accreditation, following a growing interest in special educational needs, and was particularly drawn to work with children and young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. This was prompted by incidents where I had dealt with two young people who had overdosed in suicide attempts and one disclosure of sexual abuse, which left me feeling vulnerable about the training for risk which I recognised in those pre-safeguarding days. On my return to work in SEN, I initiated Multi-agency team lunches, inviting social workers, police, speech therapists, and psychologist education welfare staff to save time in meeting them all separately. It was a team around the child without the CAF but with the lead professional. With the backing of yet another supportive head teacher, I set up an in-school ―sanctuary‖ and used the case studies as a piece of action research for an MEd in SEN. I also experimented with enterprise projects using alternative accreditation to ensure low achievers developed pre-employment skills and social competences.
Lesson 2: choose your head teachers carefully; experiment; use colleagues! Over the years, there were pupils who made me laugh; those whose wisdom left me speechless; those whose circumstances made me cry; those who made me want to scream; and those I will remember forever. They test you to the limit; wringing every emotion you have ever felt until you feel empty, drained and exhausted. They do it collectively, individually, consecutively and endlessly. They make you feel hopeless, helpless, useless, and—over and over again—proud, privileged, fantastic and worthwhile. They catch you in the street years later, recognising you in restaurants, shops, at the