Forever Sweethearts by June Bernicoff

Author:June Bernicoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blink Publishing
Published: 2019-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Teaching Lessons & Learning Values

Education is a basic right, not a luxury. Leon and I both believed that. Teaching was really important to us both, not purely in terms of ensuring that our pupils succeeded academically, but also in the widest sense. To me, education involves so much: Drama, Music and Art are so important alongside more core subjects such as Mathematics, English and the Sciences. More recently, the importance of the Arts has genuinely been challenged, but education at its best is really designed to give you a broader understanding of the world. That is why it matters so much.

I remember having a conversation with a parent who was a very clever man. He had a terrific argument with the head teacher at a school that I was teaching at over the option system we operated. That system meant that, with pupils taking the three Sciences, there was little room for his daughter to take Geography, History, Art or Music. His daughter wanted to study Medicine, so she was being forced into the Sciences as a result. He said, ‘I’m a scientist, but when I have free time, I’m not likely to open a science book for pleasure. I will turn to a novel, or a history book. When I go on holiday, I will go to an art gallery or a concert. I want that same breadth of education for my daughter.’ He put it in a really simple yet eloquent manner, and it summed up the importance of a well-rounded education. Children have to experience as many different opportunities as they can to learn. This allows them to open their minds and approach life in a manner that is equally open.

I think Leon and I both felt that we operated in systems that were quite rigid in places and we had to work around those systems in order to get things done and get the children engaged in the subject. To us, education was about trying to absorb culture. That was particularly important as far as Leon was concerned because he taught in deprived areas with inner-city children and he wanted them to try and see beyond their immediate horizon.

What upset him tremendously was the low self-esteem he found in his pupils at times; he felt he couldn’t get them to progress unless he could improve their self-confidence. He was looking at ways of doing that all the time. With boys, he could do it through sport and he developed an alternative curriculum that could run alongside their normal lessons. With his female pupils, it was harder because the majority of them didn’t react to sport in the same way. His approach was to try and nurture their interests and really encourage them. To be honest, I’m not sure that Gogglebox viewers necessarily saw that side of him, but that’s how he was. I think we both shared a view that we needed to make teaching feel like it was enjoyable, fun and useful too.

* * *

When Helen and Julie were young, Leon began teaching English at night school to earn more money.

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