Every teacher wants to leave a mark. Sometimes what they leave is only the faint memory of a presence. Other times, it is a recollection that lingers into adulthood. And then for some, there’s the unforgettable experience that changes a life for ever.
Most people in education will be familiar with the viral video of when ex-footballer and TV personality Ian Wright met his former primary school teacher, Mr Pigden, many years after he thought he had died. It’s been seen by more than 2 million people and will often pop up in presentations at conferences and on social media whenever anyone wants to show the huge effect a teacher can have on a child’s life.
Wright relived that experience very emotionally this week on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. He revealed that his teacher, who had been a pilot in the Second World War, had told him that he was more proud of Wright being selected to play for England than he was of his own selection to fly over Buckingham Palace after the war had ended.
For Mr Pigden, as for every teacher, the success of pupils is inextricably entwined with their own - everything that they do is for them. A student’s pride is therefore their pride. But it’s not only because of the work, it’s also because they care. They wouldn’t be doing the job otherwise. In fact, it is the job.
Desert Island Discs was not the only time Wright has talked publicly about his teacher, a man who understood a restless young boy and showed him how to channel his surplus energy into sport. Wright knew where that understanding came from - it came from the heart. Mr Pigden “was the first man in my life that showed me love”, he told his campmates on an emotional segment in last year’s I’m a Celebrity….Get Me Out of Here.
Love is a word not used nearly enough when talking about education. We all know that teaching is all about creating relationships, of making that connection with children. For a child, knowing that someone cares for them, about what they do, helps them to feel safe and secure and to be able to learn. It’s love and it’s the greatest gift that anyone can give.
Of course, it’s not always easy. It’s harder to make that connection with some children than others. But sometimes it’s the connection made after battle that is the strongest and most meaningful of all.
And love can inspire more love. Anita Le Tissier had been a neglected and unloved four-year-old child who was shown love by Wilma, a foster mother, who held her and read to her. “For the first time in my life, that touch was not her gain, it was not harming, it was not painful. That touch changed my life,” she wrote.
Le Tissier is now a principal and nursery teacher giving many other children that same love, proof positive that one kind action can inspire so many others. She says she has dedicated her life to early education because, “in my childhood, a woman committed to early childhood changed my life”.
Andrew Lloyd Webber was right when he wrote that love changes everything. It changes people and it changes lives. In an era of increased accountability for teachers, inspection may loom large in schools but let’s make sure love looms larger.
The judgement that those working in schools should most cherish is when a child comes to school because it is where they feel loved. Because an Ofsted grade will last for a few scant years - at most. The love felt by that child, on the other hand? That memory will last for a lifetime.
@AnnMroz
This article originally appeared in the 21 February 2020 issue under the headline “Love costs nothing, but it’s the most valuable gift we can give”
