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On this page:

A bit about me
About my website
Links to other sites


A bit about me

Education and training

After attending Godalming Grammar School in Surrey, I did my initial teacher training from 1963 to 1966 at Westminster College, which had just moved from London into new buildings on Harcourt Hill to the west of Oxford. My two main subjects (in addition to education) were music and divinity.

It was a time of great creativity and innovation in education. Most local authorities were getting rid of the eleven plus exam and introducing comprehensive schools, and the Plowden Report on primary education was about to be published.

My second teaching practice was at Bampton CE Primary School, where child-centred education was very much in evidence. The head teacher, Mr RT Smith, was a member of the Central Advisory Council which produced the Plowden Report.

Teaching career

My first teaching post was in Guildford, Surrey. The accommodation at St John's CE Primary School consisted of a converted house in the Farnham Road so the classrooms were very cramped, but there was a friendly family atmosphere. The head, Mrs Walford, a delightful elderly Scot, lived next door.

After my first year we moved into Queen Eleanor's CE Primary School, which had previously been a secondary school, so we now had much bigger classrooms, a good gym and even a small swimming pool in the quadrangle. I taught general subjects to (large!) classes of nine/ten year olds.

After four years I transferred to Westborough County Primary School, also in Guildford, where, in addition to my general class teaching duties, I was responsible for the teaching of music throughout the school.

In August 1972 I moved to Northampton and was appointed music teacher at Kingsthorpe CE Primary School.

A year later, the town's schools were reorganised into first, middle and upper schools and I transferred to Bective Middle School. John Allsebrook was an inspirational head to work for, a real visionary. I spent eleven happy years at Bective, teaching in a variety of capacities. For several years I was first year (now year 5) coordinator, then I specialised in teaching music and religious education, and finally I was appointed deputy head, a position I held for two years. (The school was later amalgamated with St George's and renamed Northampton Middle School. The buildings were demolished in 2002. John Allsebrook died in 1994).

In 1985 I was appointed to my first headship at Christ Church CE Middle School in Ealing, West London. In three busy years we compiled a staff handbook which included curriculum documents and school policies, and we worked with the local authority on developing good equal opportunities practices in all aspects of the school including recruitment and selection procedures. We also piloted a staff appraisal scheme - before being required to do so by the government!

During my time in Ealing I undertook a two year part-time course at the University of London Institute of Education (ULIE), leading to the award of Diploma in Education. The areas I chose to focus on were curriculum studies and the management and administration of education in the UK.

I took up my second headship at Marston Middle School Oxford (pictured) in January 1989. During the 1990s our work on bullying was featured in the local and national press and on radio and television (see my article Facing the Problem of Bullying in Schools for more details).

This was not an easy period in education. Like all schools, we had to cope with the introduction of the National Curriculum and local management (ie managing our own budget), while successive years of Tory education budget cuts resulted in the loss of some able staff.

During my time at Marston I undertook a further two year part-time course at ULIE, which resulted in the award of MA in religious education. The topics covered included the aims and history of religious education, moral and spiritual education and values education. (My Dip Ed and MA essays and my MA dissertation can all be found in the Articles section).

Retirement

I retired from full-time teaching in 1997 with very mixed feelings. I loved the job, especially the daily interactions with staff and pupils, but had become weary of the ever-increasing political interference in schools.

However, I don't regard myself as 'retired'! I still care deeply about education and in addition to running this website I continue to write articles and book reviews for several journals, and I serve on the editorial board of Forum, which promotes comprehensive education.


About my website

This website, which has been online since January 2000, is privately owned and maintained.

Judging by the emails I get, the vast majority of its readers are students, teachers, lecturers and researchers - which is hardly surprising, given the site's content!

The site is created and maintained on an Apple iMac. I use Apple's TextEdit program to write all my own HTML code, and Appleworks and GraphicConverter to create the graphics.

Visitor statistics

Use of the site varies according to the time of the academic year. It rises at times when students are researching essays and falls during exam periods and the long summer vacation.

The graph below shows the number of 'unique visitors' to the site in the past six weeks - in other words, the number of visits made to the site, irrespective of the number of pages looked at on each visit.




Links to other sites

The following may be of interest to readers of this site.

Richard Aldrich
Richard Aldrich is Emeritus Professor of the History of Education at the London Institute of Education and the leading exponent of the application of historical perspectives to current educational issues.

Robin Alexander
Professor Alexander was one of the 'three wise men' who wrote Curriculum Organisation and Classroom Practice in Primary Schools in 1992. More recently, he led the Cambridge Primary Review (link below).

Mike Baker
An award-winning freelance journalist and broadcaster, Mike writes for The Guardian, broadcasts regularly on BBC Radios 4 and 5 and is a presenter on Teachers' TV.

British History Online
Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, British History Online contains some of the core sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles.

Cambridge Primary Review
This was the first major examination of primary education in England since Plowden. Its final report was published in 2010 and it now coordinates the CPR National Primary Network.

Campaign for Secular Education
Campaigns against faith schools and argues that religion - and especially indoctrination - should be kept out of schools.

Campaign for State Education
CASE campaigns for an education system that is fair to all children, young people and their parents, and which has the resources to provide excellent quality.

Comprehensive Future
Campaigns for a comprehensive secondary school system in England with fair admissions criteria to all publicly funded schools.

Department for Education
The government department responsible for schools (previously known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families).

Forum
Published by Symposium Journals three times a year, Forum campaigns for comprehensive education. (Many of my articles were originally written for Forum).

The History of Education Society
Founded in 1967, the society aims to promote the study and teaching of the history of education and to encourage and support research.

Learning Without Limits
An ongoing project dedicated to developing approaches to teaching and learning that do not rely on determinist beliefs about ability.

The Local Schools Network
Founded by Fiona Millar, Francis Gilbert, Melissa Benn and Henry Stewart, the LSN seeks to promote local state schools and to correct the myths and lies that are spread about them.

National Association for Primary Education
NAPE aims to promote the education of children from birth to thirteen. It has more than 200,000 members including parents, teachers, school governors, inspectors and education officers.

National Curriculum
This government website sets out the National Curriculum's programmes of study, non-statutory guidelines and attainment targets, and includes notes and links to online teaching resources.

National Education Trust
'Shaping Ideas ... Shaping Lives'. Articles by leading education thinkers - Robin Alexander, Michael Armstrong, Diane Hofkins, Bill Laar, Colin Richards and many more.

National Secular Society
Founded in 1866, the NSS campaigns for separation of state and religion and for an end to 'faith schools' funded by the taxpayer.

NHS History
Geoffrey Rivett's site covers the history of England's other great public service - the National Health Service.

Ofsted
The government agency responsible for the inspection of schools and a range of other services for children and young people, and learners of all ages.

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency
The QCDA (formerly the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) was the government agency which regulated and developed the curriculum, assessments, examinations and qualifications. It is now being closed as part of Tory education cuts.

Technical and Vocational Education
Richard Evans' invaluable website includes his own detailed history of technical and vocational education, and articles discussing the current importance of the subject.

The Victorian School
Based in Minehead, Somerset, this project offers resources and school visits for those (especially at Key Stages 1 and 2) studying Victorian history and schooling.