I am 65 years old, newly retired, and have for the past 30-odd years taught in the British state education system, ending up as a Headteacher of a large comprehensive in the West Midlands. This is a huge contrast with the school I started teaching in, which was a girl’s grammar school in the North. I myself was a product of the grammar school system, and whilst it has its academic detractors, I thought very highly of the education we gave the girls in my school. I was considered rather ‘academic’ when I first entered teaching and in those days this was a distinct advantage. I rose quickly to become the form mistress of the lower sixth and then one of two deputy heads.
Confessions of an Old Teacher1
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