Autobiography
In August 1941, aged 4½, I was taken by my mother to be enrolled in 1st Infants at Morgan. This visit led to rejection; as my birthday was 3 January I was deemed ineligible for the ’41 intake. This potential earlier start would not, however, have spared me from being badgered into doing this CV as that year is one of the two in our reunion group.
Finally being allowed entry in’42, I didn’t realise then that this was the start of 58 years in the education business. Whether from a sense of vocation or a lack of adequate career guidance, I followed a BSc at St. Andrews by signing-up for the PGCE/Dip.Ed courses at Dundee College of Education and Queen’s College …
First posting was to the newly-opened Kirkton High School. Pam came into my life in 1962; we married in 1963 and immediately decamped to Ghana where I had responsibility for science at the quaintly-named O’Reilly Secondary School in Accra (staff photograph). Before we were due to leave in 1965, an offer of a post at the international school at the Volta River Project was too good to refuse. This involved teaching general subjects to a class of 11-13 year-olds in addition to taking science classes with younger children. This sowed the idea that I might find greatest satisfaction in a career in primary education. However, on returning to Dundee I found myself back teaching science at Morgan.
The overseas experience had given me itchy feet and I soon moved on to primary posts in Berwickshire then Fife. During this period, I was invited to contribute to summer courses for teachers, firstly in Zambia then in Guyana.
In 1972 I was appointed Adviser in Primary Education in Glasgow. The next 14 years were perhaps the most stimulating and enjoyable of my life in education. The time eventually came to move on and in 1986 I joined the directorate in Lothian Region as Principal Adviser. This coincided with the period when our children, Alan and Lesley, were nearing the end of their higher education courses, Alan doing electronic engineering at Glasgow Uni and Lesley a secretarial diploma at Glasgow College. So after 18 months of my commuting along the M8. Pam and I were happy to move back east to Edinburgh where Pam made a return to work, this time with the British Council.
A final career move came with local government reorganisation (again.) In 1995, I was appointed Head of Schools and Community Education in the nascent Midlothian Council education division.
Retirement followed in 2000 and in 2004 we decided to move closer to our grandchildren, Andrew and Rachel, (and old friends and relations) and are now happily ensconced in Blairgowrie where walking, cycling, photography, reading and the activities of the local Probus Club are among the strategies used for delaying total senility.
Overall, I enjoyed my time in the education business. I’ve had the privilege of working with many fine colleagues in schools, colleges, universities, HM inspectorate and in other professions and businesses. For a kid who knew only one school as a pupil, visits to well over 500 schools in half-a-dozen countries have been part of my continuing education.
Blairgowrie, July, 2010
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