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Interviewer: How does it feel to be
leaving after nearly a quarter of a century here?
Teacher Ann: Very odd! Hampton has
always been not so much a job, more a way of life!
One of the things I've really liked about this school
is the way it is so easy to become part of it. A
fair bit of my social life has been bound up in
it, too, because so many of the staff have become
not just colleagues, but friends.
I: Is that the main reason you've
stayed here so long?
T: One of the reasons, obviously.
I suppose it comes down to the fact that I've been
happy here. Teaching in today's world can be immensely
difficult, frustrating and stressful, but in a school
like this we are extremely privileged - we get all
the good bits! There are no real discipline problems,
and you are daily in the company of interesting
and genuinely pleasant people whose intelligence
and legal demands constantly force you to widen
your own boundaries as you try to encourage them
to widen theirs.
I: So it's been an easy ride from
the start, then?
T: No, I don't think anyone would
describe teaching as an easy ride, even here. Everybody
has moments when they feel exhausted and overwhelmed,
usually by the ever increasing paper work! Classes
can be uncooperative, and you yourself can he uninspiring.
This happens to us all. But the pleasure of having
a class that really seems to be enjoying learning
is what makes teaching here so rewarding.
I: Would you say that you have enjoyed
teaching the younger classes more than the older
ones?
T: I like the enthusiasm of the Lower
School classes, but one of the greatest privileges
here has been to be a Sixth Form Tutor. The tutor
groups are small, and the more relaxed and informal
atmosphere gives both students and teachers the
chance to see each other and to communicate as individual
human beings rather than categorized as teacher
and pupil.
I: Were there any events which stick
in your mind?
T: Yes, the fund raising! In the beginning
we had to raise for ourselves almost every penny
we spent, and we ran some wonderful events - I particularly
remember a very successful Craft Fair. There was
a huge variety of goods on display, and it was extremely
colourful. But the main fundraiser has got to be
the Fashion Show, which we put on about eight years
ago. Now that was a show!
I: Finally, have you any regrets about
your time here?
T: Not as such, but things have happened
in the world of education that I think are to be
regretted. In a system which is now driven by League
Tables there is a severe danger of losing sight
of the real aims of education in its broadest sense.
I regret that at University one can no longer take
a subject for the pure intellectual pleasure of
increasing one's knowledge of it. In today's, more
practical world, it often seems that it is not understanding
which counts, but usefulness to a career. Students
tend to assess information; not according to whether
it expands their knowledge or understanding, but
according to whether it will 'come up in the exam'.