REFLECTIONS BY ROGER LOXLEY FORMER HEAD OF ECONOMICS AT RGS 2022 marks the 60th Anniversary of the RGS Economics Department, and it is also the year that Roger Loxley, former Head of Economics, will retire from his role as Deputy Head (Academic). Roger will stay on the RGS staff, continuing to teach Economics. Here, he reflects on his time at RGS and especially the Economics Trips to London.
When did the first tour happen? I arrived at RGS in 1995 fresh from a PGCE and a ten-year career in banking and finance. As such I was still very much in contact with my old colleagues at HSBC. I was also very interested in learning in a real-world context and keen to use the contacts I had for the benefit of the students. I was aware that the department had run a tour to London in the past so Jon Punshon and I decided to put together an itinerary to re-launch the Tour. We went south in March 1996 with a handful of students in a minibus. Why did you do it? I’d always been keen to take students out of school. I did it during my PGCE in central London where I took 24 Y8 students to St Paul’s cathedral to study circles (I was teaching a bit of maths at the time). They loved it and it really brought the topic to life. I also took my L6 students to the Job Centre to look at the realities of unemployment, both in London and at RGS. So, to travel to London to visit banks and hear from industry experts was a bit of a no-brainer. It brings the subject to life and has the added benefit of making sometimes sceptical students realise that their teachers do know what they’re talking about!
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