I am one of the thousands of people leaving the school workforce at the end of this school year. I am very lucky because
a) This has been planned for over two years. I have a wonderful co-SENCo who will take over from me, so I know that I am leaving my pupils, colleagues and families in good hands.
b) I am not jumping off a cliff. I am continuing to work as an independent trainer and consultant for SEND and Safeguarding.
Even so retirement is hard. For 38 years, my professional identity has been that I am a teacher, but that will be no more. This feels like a planned obsolescence - a changing of the guard, a moving on which I am simultaneously looking forward to and dreading. Transitions and change is always hard. Equally, it can be exciting.
However, this is also a time for reflection. I have seen many changes in the last 38 years, not the least of which is 21 Secretaries of State for Education, including Kenneth Baker who introduced ‘Baker Days’, now known as INSET days. I have seen the introduction of the National Curriculum, SATs, GCSEs replace O levels and the birth of OFSTED. Views on the teaching of reading and the role of phonics have been through several rotations. There has been a complete change in the approach to inclusion and special needs. In part this has led to a change in the school workforce with increased numbers of TAs/ LSAs and other support staff.
The safeguarding system was completely transformed by the 1989 Children’s Act. The role of schools in safeguarding is ever growing and becoming more complex year by year. Working as a DSL and as a safeguarding trainer I have seen first-hand the benefits of schools engaging with other services to help protect children and young people Even though, this was not even dreamed of when I first started teaching.
I have been privileged to have played a small role in these changes. I contributed to support materials for the original history National Curriculum. I have been disappointed to see its trashing by Michael Gove and his belief that all history should be taught in chronological order. This has left the youngest children were left with the least accessible periods and many never learn about the rise of Nazism. This has robbed some of the joys of history and increased the vulnerability to extremism and radicalisation.
I have managed over the years to contribute to discussions and training for safeguarding and SEND in my local authority. As an independent consultant and trainer with my company SEA Inclusion, I have been enabled to contribute a small part to debates on SEND, Inclusion and Safeguarding, including sharing my experiences and beliefs in two books. I would never have believed that I would be able to find my voice in this way and possibly contribute to the improvement of education for an even wider group of children.
But the place I feel that I have been able to make a real impact is in the schools where I have worked. I will miss the children, families and my colleagues. Being in a school is to be part of a community. I came into teaching to make a difference and in many ways to offer children a less judgemental and more inclusive education experience than my own. As a dyslexic, I was condemned by some of my teachers as thick, lazy or both. I wanted to provide children with the support they needed to make progress in their own way and for that to be celebrated and valued.
I want to thank those who I have worked with on this journey, particularly the staff and parents at Sandhurst Junior, Pyrcroft, Leatherhead Trinity and Pirbright Primary and Guildford County Schools for allowing me to be part of your communities. The headteachers who gave me the space and opportunities to develop my wider skills and interests and the flexibility to follow them. A shout out to Brenda Hamblin (may her memory be a blessing), Sarah Harris, Alison Walsh and Gavin Dutton.
Most of all, I have been honoured to take a tiny part in the journey of tens of thousands of children towards adulthood. Some may remember me, but that is hardly the point. I remember so many of them, even if only as a fleeting memory, a snapshot image or recurring catch phrase. Others I will carry always in my heart and think about regularly. I wish all ‘my children’ well.
I hope that I may be able to go on making a difference in some small corner of the educational world even as I retire from being in school. Working without a base school will be different, but as I have told so many children over the years - change can be good and manageable.
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