5 October is UNESCO’s World Teachers’ Day, held annually to celebrate all teachers around the world. What better excuse to delve into our collections and see how teachers have been recorded?!
The most obvious starting point is of course school records. Schooling until age 10 was compulsory from 1880 and most Dorset schools kept records systematically. Log books in particular can tell a story about what was going on among staff and pupils. The detail in log books varies depending on the Headteacher writing them.
For example, the Symondsbury school log book records an internationally significant event with brevity:
May 1945
8th Victory in Europe Day. School closed.
Whereas others include more detail and opinion, like this from the Verwood Church of England school on 21 July 1915:
Did not mark the registers this afternoon as only 12 children came back. Mrs Phillips was foolish enough to tell the children after morning school that a flying machine had alighted on the common and they, childlike, rushed off to see it. When they got back it was too late for school. They were present in the morning.
The pupil’s perspective of their teachers is captured in letters, diaries, and oral history recordings. Many of us will have memories of a favourite teacher, or one that was particularly influential. Guy Redhill reflects on the teachers from his time at Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester in 1980s:
Some were very strict, others were not, but only … all were strict only when it suited them. But certainly in terms of an educational environment there were some extremely good teachers some whom I shall remember presumably for the rest of my life. There was one English teacher who, absolutely, was very inspirational. I’ve no idea what he was like personally but as a teacher he was most excellent. A chap called Richard Wheel, Mr Wheel or Dickie Wheel as obviously everybody called him… [The Headteacher] was a very fair and decent man but not particularly a rod of iron sort of chap and he was very nice. Peter Close his name was and he was an excellent teacher of Latin and I enjoyed that immensely.
It is easy to forget the hours of preparation and planning teachers undertake to create an engaging learning environment for their children. In this photo of a classroom at the Convent of the Sacred Hearts School we can see several activities set up for the children – even a shop for role play in the back!
And of course our collections contain many school photographs, usually formal shots of pupils with their teachers but occasionally we see just the staff. If this photo is anything to go by Wyke Regis Infants School was a jolly place to be in 1964!
Similarly in 1950s Shaftesbury High School this teacher seems to have made learning fun and clearly has a good sense of humour if you watch to the end of the clip!
—
Was there a teacher who had a lasting impact on you? Please get in touch If you recognise yourself or a relative in any of these photos or the film!
If you are a teacher or home educator you may be interested in the learning resources available on our website: Education and learning – Dorset Council. A particular favourite is the Indian adventure which follows the exciting travels of Captain Robert Carter Oakley as recorded in his journals.
And those of us who encounter teachers (in all their forms) this week may wish to give them an extra smile and remember the imagination, patience, creativity, and empathy they bring on a daily basis.