This morning I visited a school in central London, as part of my role as a teacher educator. I visit my new History teachers to work with their mentors, to meet their colleagues, to watch them at work in their classrooms, and to support their development. The news these days fills me with sadness, but this visit made me hopeful.
The pupils in the lesson included some young people who give their teachers gifts. I don’t mean apples. These pupils ask interesting questions, express surprise and curiosity, and are eager to learn. I am hopeful our new teacher is ready to accept their gifts now and will listen to them. He already cares about all his pupils and knows when some are lost and need help.
The mentor is very busy and is sharing her teacher development work with a colleague. There was concern I might not approve. But both the mentor and her younger colleague have shared their expertise with tremendous kindness and persistence. I am hopeful that their expertise has launched the career of a new teacher, and goodness knows we need them. He is beginning to think like a teacher. He stayed calm as his laptop froze, and used the whiteboard like a pro. It is the mentor that created this safe place for him to learn, and to keep going even if the tech goes wrong. This makes me hopeful for the profession.
And I met a senior colleague in the school too. We worked together for years in the past. She brings hope and joy to everything she does, despite everything: austerity, bring taken for granted… I am hopeful that she is going to find new paths to leadership in 2024. Having done so much to support the development of other teachers, it is her turn now.
In a film shared today, Professor Arthur Chapman has argued that -when done well- history education can take you ‘out of the narrow confines of your own time and place and introduce you to lives lived differently’. This is what the lesson I saw today tried to do. It is more important than ever, in world full of misunderstanding, that history teachers are supported well in learning to teach.
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