I was born and brought up in the North of England, the daughter of an electrician and a shop worker who both had to leave school at age 13  to support themselves and their families.  My father went to night school for many years to get the qualifications he needed for advancement.

I went to the local elementary school and was one of 45 children in the class.  We had to take naps each afternoon and I still remember the smell of the canvas beds we rested on. One of my report cards stated that I was ‘learning to read’.  This confused my mother who knew that I was a good reader even before I started school.  She talked to my teacher about this and the teacher explained that whenever it was a ‘reading’ lesson students took turns to read a paragraph out of the class reading book (Janet and John) and that when it was my turn to read I always stumbled and didn’t seem to know the words. 

When my mother asked me about this I had to tell them what was really happening.  I used to get so bored by the class reading book that I would have a chapter book open on my lap, and used to get so engrossed in it that when it was my turn to read I never knew which page we were on!

Before I finished elementary school my family moved and I found myself in a much smaller school.  The classes were still large and desks were organized into four rows facing the blackboard.  There was a test each week (or it seemed like each week) and you were seated according to the results.  We all knew which was the ‘dummies’ row and, while I avoided ever being placed there, I never made it to the ‘top’ row.

Part of the reason was that I had fallen in  love with Joseph, the boy I was sitting next to, and I made sure that I got the same marks as him so that I could stay sitting next to him.  It didn’t feel like cheating at the time.  Unfortunately Joseph did not feel the same about me and my romance did not survive 4th Grade.

I had a great time at this school.  There was a field and a building site next to the school and I remember many happy hours on a giant see-saw (teeter totter) made from builders planks and piles of bricks.  It would not have passed any of today’s safety codes.

To my surprise, I passed my eleven-plus exam and got into the local girl’s High School.  My uniform was brown and gold and I hated it.  One of the biggest sins was to not wear your school hat while outside.

After five years in this school my family moved again and I had to leave my friends and start a new school for my lower and upper sixth years (Grades 11 and 12 in North America).

After passing some “A” level exams I applied to go to several universities to study physics.  Unfortunately, I did not interview well, and instead of going to university ended up at a teacher’s training college.This was considered to be less prestigious than going to university but it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I spent three years in College, trying to avoid having to teach physics to uninterested secondary students, and, on graduating, took a teaching position in an elementary school based in a northern mining town. The head teacher (Principal) was willing to give me a chance with a class of ‘below average’ children. 

My teaching career had begun.

Every teacher remembers their first set of students.  I found myself in charge of thirty-five ten year old students who knew that they were not good enough to be in the ‘top’ class.  They were sons and daughters of miners and were not about to put up with any nonsense this new teacher might throw their way.

After a few weeks of struggling to find something that they would enjoy learning I decided to do a project on pets.  After all, some of them would have cats and dogs wouldn’t they?  Well, yes they did, but they also had ferrets, tarantulas, rabbits, pigeons, and rats.  Bravely, I let  students bring their pets into the classroom once a week so that we could study them.  Being the teacher I had to show no fear when a ferret was placed in my hands or a tarantula crawled up my arm.  Amazingly, all went well, except for the rabbit which died of shock and which I had to carry home in a cardboard box and explain to the child’s parents what had happened.

The end of year tests (yes, there is nothing new in education!) showed that not only had my student survived the year but that most of them had made great gains in their basic skills.  I must have been doing something right!

The next year I took a teaching position in a small village school close to where my parents lived.  My younger brother was a student at the same school, but I never actually taught him.  I vividly remember one boy in my class.  He was very bright but he struggled to read and write. With hindsight it is obvious that he was severely dyslexic but the term had not been invented then.  Several times we both ended up in tears as I tried to find a way to help him and he struggled to understand why he couldn’t read or write.

At the end of this year I got married and we moved to Bristol so that my husband could finish his education.  I had to get  job to support us both.  Now, for those who do not know, Bristol is a beautiful city in the West of England within commuting distance of London. This meant that many people were looking for teaching positions in this city and they were very hard to come by.  In desperation I took the only job I could find.  It was to teach twenty children in a special class attached to a large elementary school in a housing project in the suburbs.  How difficult could it be?  Only twenty students AND extra pay because they had special educational needs?  It seemed too good to be true.

I think that year was one of the hardest in my life. The only redeeming factor was that the classroom was in an outbuilding away from the main school so the noise did not disturb the other children.  After almost quitting in despair, I was rescued by an older teacher who took some of my students into his class until I could work out some systems and teaching methods that would work.  I had to abandon most of the teaching methods I had been taught in college and find new ways of meeting these students’ needs. It was not my easiest year of teaching!

By the end of the year, with help from one other teacher who understood what I was going through, I managed to break through to the students and we were having a good time.  I have to say that I learned more in one year from those students than I did from three years in teacher training college.

I was hooked.  I did not want to go back to teaching children in a regular classroom, so when we moved to the outskirts of London I took a teaching position in a small school that catered for children with ‘moderate learning difficulties’.  I stayed at that school for eleven years during which time I took a one year training course in special education from the University of London, was granted an Independent Broadcasting Scholarship to carry out research into children watching educational television at Birmingham University, was granted a Churchill Scholarship to tour the USA looking at schools and educational television production, oh, and I also got my Masters Degree in Special Education.

I remarried and moved away from London to set up a business making educational video products for children with learning difficulties.  The product was great but the market was small and I had no business skills.  So, after a couple of years, I was back teaching, this time acting as a substitute teacher in my local school district.

About this time my husband decided that he needed to move on from his position at the Open University and he was offered a position at the Open Learning Agency in Vancouver, Canada.  We were both ready to leave the UK.  Margaret Thatcher had made the educational system in to a battleground and my two stepsons had left University and were ready to start out on their own.

After a two year wait we were granted permanent residency in Canada and, despite having passports stolen a few days before we left, we arrived in Vancouver ready to start the next adventure.

My life in Canada

Moving to a new country was both exciting and hard. I had to learn a new language! English as spoken in England is different from English as spoken in Canada. But I loved driving on the right side of the road and having easy access to wide open spaces.

I went for an interview at Vancouver School Board and was teaching the next day. I spent almost a year working as a substitute teacher, getting to understand the system and the schools. I took a class of physically handicapped children ice skating (hanging on to the back of a wheelchair so I didn’t fall over); managed to speak French for one day in a French Immersion school; learned the basics of baseball;and made many friends.

During the summer I applied for, and was given, a job as a Learning Assistance teacher in an inner city school. It felt like I was in heaven. I was able to work with small groups of children who were having problems keeping up in class. I was back doing what I loved.

The School Board had links with educators and researchers around the world and I was able to attend several training courses put on by some of the leading educational experts of the day. This training gave me greater insight into why children struggle to learn and what can be dome to help them.

I was aware of the influence that parents had on a child’s learning and I gave workshops and seminars where they could learn more about ways they could help children learn. Unfortunately these workshops were not always well attended. I wanted to find out why.

I expected someone to have the answer, when I realized that they didn’t I applied to do research to try and find an answer.

Seven years later I had a Ph.D. and an answer to my question. Along the way I gained a new respect for parents and how they try to help their children succeed in school. I also learned that many parents do not have the information they need to make good choices about how to help their children learn.

I created Leading to Learning to provide parents with information and advice so they can make good choices about ways to help children learn and be all that they can be.