A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher – Blowing the school to pieces.

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When I finished teaching, after thirty-six years, I decided to write a book to encapsulate my philosophy, garnished with anecdotes. This is it.

Excerpt – A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

It was early on in my second year of teaching and Friday afternoon with my favourite group. I was teaching A Level Biology with the Upper Sixth. They were intelligent, friendly and engaging. It was a good way to end the week. I could relax.

That was the day my week nearly ended for ever.

We were in the biology lab for a practical session doing some standard food tests – all predictable and fairly boring.

I was drawing the results table on the old chalk board and turned round to instruct the class on how and when to fill in their results when I found the room almost empty. There was just one boy standing in the centre of the lab with a boiling tube full of liquid that was bubbling away. That would not have been too strange if it had not been for the fact that he wasn’t heating it at the time.

‘What are you doing Mr Johnson?’ I asked puzzled by what I was seeing.

‘Nothing sir,’ he replied innocently.

I noticed a head peering round the door and another peeping over the back bench.

‘He’s making nitro-glycerine,’ the half visible face informed me.

I felt a bit of a shiver run through me and squinted at the bubbling boiling tube.

‘What have you got in there?’ I asked sternly, striding over to the lad with the bubbling boiling tube.

‘Nothing sir,’ he replied again.

‘He’s put glycerine in with conc. sulphuric and conc. nitric,’ my informant offered before ducking back down.

I weighed this up as I headed for that boiling tube.

The lab was lined with reagent bottles. The boy had mixed a big boiling tube of glycerine, concentrated sulphuric and concentrated nitric acid. Now I was no chemist but I knew that the concentrated sulphuric acid removed hydroxyl groups that could be replaced by nitrate groups from the nitric acid. From the extent of bubbling that was going on in the boiling tube a reaction was definitely occurring. It seemed quite probable to me that nitro-glycerine was a distinct possibility. If nitro-glycerine was formed it was highly unstable. Indeed the heat of reaction was quite certain to trigger an explosion. A boiling tube of nitro was quite likely to take out the whole lab. I did not think hiding behind a bench or round a doorway was going to afford much protection.

I walked briskly over and poured the contents of the test tube down the sink washing it away with copious amounts of water and rinsing the test tube out.

It probably wouldn’t have made nitro-glycerine but I wasn’t taking any chances.

The rest of the class started coming out of hiding.

What punishment do you give to a boy who could have blasted your lab to bits and killed everyone? – Perhaps a detention?

I settled for a lengthy discussion and an apology. He was a pleasant, enthusiastic lad with a good inquisitive mind, if a little silly. He’d been showing off and being daft. The fact that it could have been catastrophic was not really understood.

It was fully understood by the end of my conversation. What might have occurred was explained very graphically.

What should, and could, have happened to him as a result of doing this was also explained. It probably would have resulted in his expulsion if I had followed procedure.

What good would that have done? His A levels, his university, his career, my relationship with the class? The repercussions were enormous.

By the end of our discussion he had learnt a lesson. I was confident nothing of similar ilk would happen ever again. What more was to be gained?

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher – PSHE

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As a PSHE teacher you don’t know what is going to happen. You fly by the seat of your pants. You get kids in a circle to introduce a topic. It can veer off in any direction – from raising a family to aging and dying – from revision to the meaning of life – from why we developed religion to infinity and parallel universes. People talk about their emotions, desires and feelings and open themselves up. A PSHE teacher shares of their own experience; they give of themselves.

A PSHE teacher has no hidden agenda. Their job is not to stop people having sex, taking drugs, smoking or drinking. A PSHE teachers helps students explore the issues and arrive at their own personal decisions. A PSHE teacher plays devil’s advocate, raises things to consider, and allows investigation of all sides of an argument. They take no sides, have no points of view and are there to expertly facilitate exploration.

By ‘teaching’ PSHE you learn much about yourself and your own views and learn so much more from the students.

Other teachers have often said that they teach these elements in their subject areas.

That might be true.

They teach these elements – PSHE ‘explores’ them.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Education is not memorising facts

Posted on by Opher

Education is about teaching children how to be thoughtful, kind, considerate and compassionate!

How to avoid being hateful, selfish, greedy and cruel.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Sex Education – A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

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This was back in the seventies at the start of my career.

Excerpt – A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

I’d never heard of PSE as it was then called. I was a biology teacher.

In the normal course of my lessons I came to the section on reproduction and as a natural part of the lesson opened up various discussions on sex and rounded it off with a lesson on contraception and sexually transmitted disease.

The lads seemed to appreciate it. Some of the questions were obviously geared to attempting to cause me embarrassment but when I fielded them honestly they realised that I wasn’t going to get phased by it. It was obvious to me that there was a huge level of ignorance and interest and a great need.

This was before the age of the internet, in a post-60s culture which still had vestiges of 1950s prim prudishness. Information and contraception were not easy to get hold of. Sex was not freely discussed. They were desperate for frank discussion and advice and very receptive.

I thought no more of it.

Mike my head of department, who wandered in and out of my lab while I was teaching, had noted that I was doing sex education with the lads.

‘Does the Head know you’re doing this?’ He asked.

‘No,’ I replied slightly baffled. Why should the Head know? It was only sex education. Most schools in the country were doing it.

‘I think you’d better check with him first.’

I went and checked. He said NO.

Introducing sex education was a major event. We had to get a majority of the staff in favour of such a controversial venture. He agreed to put it on the staff meeting agenda for discussion.

The staff meeting agenda went up and sure enough there it was at number 11.

We had our meeting and went through seven items.

‘Ah well’ I thought. ‘It will be featured next time.’

The next staff meeting came round and it was now number 14. Seemingly lots of really important issues had come up and required urgent attention.

The following staff meeting had fifteen items but sex education was not one of them.

I fumed.

I drew up a list of staff and went round to discuss sex education with all of them one by one. I even included both deputies. By the end of a week I had the agreement of every member of staff with only two abstentions, both of whom were catholics who abstained on religious grounds.

I went back to the Head and presented him with the fait accompli. I softened it by explaining that it was obvious that there wasn’t time to discuss it at staff meetings with all the pressing issues that had to be addressed. The crux of the matter was that the staff were almost unanimous.

He blustered.

It would need governors’ approval. I would have to take my case to the governing body.

I produced a presentation and amazingly won the approval of the governing body.

At my next meeting with the Head I may have inadvertently had a slight air of triumph.

That was soon put to rest.

The governors were only the first obstacle; the whole idea had to be put to parents. It was obvious from his attitude that he felt confident the parents would disapprove.

Unfazed I drafted a letter to parents with a reply slip and had it sent out.

Miraculously there were no objections and most gave their approval.

I once again returned to the Head’s study.

‘You know, Chris,’ he said thoughtfully, finally admitting defeat. ‘These lads are red blooded Englishmen. You can’t tell me that they can watch films of young girls masturbating without being affected.’

I sat there staring at him.

It was obvious that he had not read any of my information and had his own idea of what was involved in sex education. In his mind sex education equated with pornography. His mind had gone down the line that I would be showing pornographic films to the boys.

It had taken me a year and a half to get approval. I realised, in that moment, that a little bit more verbal explanation might have saved a lot of effort.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

Caning in Schools – a real incident – A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

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This was a real incident from my early days in teaching. I myself was caned at school. I resented it. It filled me with fury. I still feel it. Caning creates violence.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

I was a young teacher in my second year of teaching. The current Headteacher Mr Walton had decided that the field should be out of bounds. The wet weather had created such muddy conditions that the classrooms and corridors were becoming caked with mud. He informed the staff that anyone walking on the grass would be caned. He was hoping this deterrent would solve the problem.

He hadn’t reckoned with Terry. He was a young student from the new comprehensive intake who had been a problem from the start and was no respecter of rules. Indeed it appeared that Terry regarded rules as a challenge. He earned the respect of his fellow students by flouting rules with blatant disdain.

Terry was the perennial thorn in the side of the school. He was loud, aggressive, rude and surly. He disrupted lessons, picked fights and openly defied everyone and everything.

I was walking down the corridor when I was asked by the Head to assist with the apprehension of young Terry. He had been brought to the Head for flagrantly walking on the grass and when he had ascertained his fate he had promptly got up and run away. This was not playing the game. The Head was used to Grammar School boys. They took their punishment like a man. They didn’t run away!

We went hunting for Terry.

Soon Terry was found. But Terry refused to come quietly and what followed is indelibly imprinted in my mind.

Two burly male teachers marched Terry down the corridor to the Head’s study. Terry was screaming and struggling. When he started kicking out at the two staff two other male staff grabbed his ankles and lifted him off the ground. He was carried headfirst, screaming and writhing along the corridor and he was manhandled into the study. I followed in the wake.

By this time the Head had become angry. His authority had been challenged. What originally was one stripe was now six. He intended to make an example of Terry.

The four male staff had to drag Terry to the desk and physically restrain him by all four limbs; each taking an ankle or wrist and tugging so that Terry was pinned across the desk like a frog awaiting dissection. All the while Terry continued to shriek and struggle to his utmost. He certainly had a florid vocabulary for a thirteen year old.

The Head retreated to the other side of the room and then ran, jumped in the air and brought the cane swishing through the air with all the force he could muster.

Terry screamed and went taut in some great spasm. Then he resumed his struggles in a futile desperate attempt to free himself from the four staff.

The Head repeated this five more times.

At the end of it they let Terry loose and he stood in the doorway with knotted fists and purple face swearing at the six of us.

Some say that caning does no harm. That it is a deterrent. The blood running down Terry’s legs from the split skin on his bum was not the harm. In my opinion the hatred and loathing in his mind were the injuries that would leave the everlasting scars. They wouldn’t heal.

As for deterrence – it was the same string of surly, defiant individuals who were paraded for beatings every week.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

Posted on by Opher

My experiences in my own education were very poor. I wanted to create something so much better. I went into teaching to side with the kids and change it for the better. Against all the odds I succeeded.

When I left teaching, after thirty-six years, I was in charge of one of the best school’s in the world. It was a delight . I set about writing this book. It contains my philosophy, anecdotes and the story.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

The only way to address the world’s problems is through good education.

As a probationary teacher I set about taking on the hierarchy of the school and changing the beast that was the current school. It was poor and not meeting the needs of all of its students. I wanted a revolution. You don’t have to be in senior management to have a power base to promote positive change. I fought for change and managed to bring in a number of improvements. However, after twenty years of influential input from a lowly position, I realised that the best way of changing the system was to do it from the top and seized my opportunity to move into senior management.

I did things my way. I did not follow the rules. I was the sand in the Vaseline. The senior team found me a major problem. I refused to compromise. I did it the way I felt was right for the students and my own philosophy. And this method was highly successful. In the whole of my time in teaching I did not have a single report or inspection putting me below excellent. On the school’s first Ofsted inspection, in which it achieved ‘Satisfactory’, all my areas were Outstanding. Over the next three Ofsted inspections, two as Deputy Head and one as Head, all my areas of responsibility were deemed ‘Outstanding’. Being a maverick, and not following the rules, does not necessarily mean you cannot gain recognition. Risk taking is a big part of the game. Covering your back is a weakness and a flaw. Doing what is right, even in defiance of the orders from above, is an imperative. You have to follow your conscience.

Duke Ellington supposedly said that there were only two kinds of music: good and bad. The same is true of education. Bad education is destructive to minds, spirits and society. It should be banished even when it produces perceived results. My own maths teacher in secondary school always achieved a 100% pass rate with his classes. I passed maths from his class. Yet nobody was more successful at destroying a subject. To a man we came out of there hating Maths.

I have always questioned the education system. It seems crazy to put people together grouped by age. That never happens in normal social interaction. This is asking for trouble, particularly during teenage years when hormones are rampant and brains are melting and becoming rewired. It reinforces lots of negative behaviour patterns. It is almost as bad as grouping people according to ability, but not quite. I think we need to bring our best minds to bear to find a better way forward.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

The primary purpose of education – A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

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Throughout my teaching career I saw my role as trying to make students think and question. I wanted their brains stimulated. I wanted them to enjoy learning and to find it mind expanding.

I am very idealistic.

And – do you know what? – It worked!

This book is about what I believed in and how I did it. It’s real. The anecdotes are real.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

In my teaching experience I have known students with lower intelligence, destined for poor grades and lowly jobs, but possessing a range of qualities that left me humbled. I have known highly intelligent individuals, destined for top jobs, who were mean spirited and likely to create misery. My job was to bring out the best in both and my hope is that both types left school better equipped to make a positive contribution to society.

Education is a nebulous thing. We are building the future and the future is not only concerned with careers and wealth; it is also about families, societies, relationships and supporting those less fortunate. How to build a better world should be our curriculum. How we repair damaged children should be our imperative. How we foster positive human values should be our main aim. Teaching and learning, exam results and league tables are almost superfluous in the face of such paramount challenges.

This is why I believe the most important subject, and the most difficult to teach, is PSHE (Personal social and health education). All too often it is poorly delivered, pushed to the shadows and taught by reluctant exponents who happen to have some free space in their timetable. This is a travesty. PSHE is about life, about preparing students for a better world, dealing with the big issues of responsibility, respect, tolerance and empathy. PSHE, like the pastoral system, is about guidance, interaction and development of those qualities that raise the sensibilities. It should be given centre stage, pride of place and only taught by the very best of teachers with the most advanced skills. Anything less is short-changing the future. A school lacking a vibrant PSHE programme is like a robot with no heart. It is pointless.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher eBook : Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH, Christopher: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

A Passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

Posted on by Opher

I wrote this book fourteen years ago when I retired from teaching. It’s been burbling away achieving some glowing reviews but unfortunately didn’t change education across the world! We continue to fail to see the wonder of education as a transforming force. Young minds can be expanded and the world can be improved. Education should be enlightening, wondrous, exciting and fun. All too often it is robotic, stifling and plain boring.

I wanted to do it right!

(I noticed on Amazon that the price for the book had gone up ridiculously. I price my books so that they give me £1 profit. Amazon had put their costs up and that impacted. I’ve addressed that. In the next few days the price should more than half).

So here is an extract from the introduction:

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher

. Education is all things to all men/women. To politicians it is a way of maintaining social order, reinforcing class or enabling mobility and addressing the economic needs of the country. To many it is purely about careers while to others it is about expanding minds, opening horizons and creating wonder. I’m very much in the wonder and awe camp. I am also of the repairing damaged kids persuasion. All my students were equally important and equally valuable. I hope I succeeded in making some of their lives better. That’s what I set out to do. Their chosen career and economic value was secondary to their self-esteem and happiness.

Before starting this I checked on ‘Rate my Teacher’, a scurrilous website that has given a voice to some rather dubious individuals, but one which reflects how some others see you. It offers a modicum of objectivity. It was a little unsettling to see oneself described as an obese penguin from the CIA but on the other side there was also the recognition of the care and respect. It showed a career that was not entirely wasted.

I worked in Education for thirty six years and prior to that I was largely a victim of it for twenty plus years. My experience of schooling gave me the impetus to get involved and change it. My disgust at the education minister and the Tory attempt to belittle all the achievements of recent decades and drag education back to the appalling 1950s is my main reason for writing this. Children should be valued as human beings and not seen as mere economic units for the employment market. Education that is not developing all aspects of human empathy, and creativity as well as expanding minds is wrong. Most leading fascists have been highly educated – after a fashion. It was their empathy, compassion and warmth of spirit that was allowed to atrophy. Any education system that fosters elitism and the smug arrogance that stems from it should be resisted by all caring people. A system that ignores the promotion of human feeling and sound moral and ethical values in order to focus on exam league tables and economic performance is flawed. The society created would be cold and bitter.

I have fought against that limited view of education all my life.

I have fought for the warmth and light.

A passion for Education – The story of a Headteacher by Christopher R Goodwin BSc (Hons) NPQH (2014-10-25) : Amazon.co.uk: Books

Time to address Education!

Posted on by Opher

I taught in an American school. I can vouch for how useless American education is. Only the rich get what they need. So many Americans remain uneducated, ignorant and open to be misled by conspiracies and indoctrinated by those with vested interests.

Billionaires do not want an educated public.

Republicans and evangelical Christians don’t want an educated public.

Time to properly fund education and getting the populace to think!!

This is the level of Stupidity and Ignorance!

Posted on by Opher

It’s also an instilled hate against anyone who is different from the norm. Frightening.