My mother has always wanted to be a grandmother. Having done so,
she often remarked to me when I was a boy about my dreams of a "Nipper
in the wilds". At 11 she found a routine she liked well designed,
practical and well mounted.
The list of characteristics she added are:
caring for young people, encouraging a balanced nature, working hard in
the classroom. I am quite sure it was thanks to her mother, Alysa, who
encouraged me to work hard and achieve academic excellence.
My
interests have always been in history and reading and children's
literature. I have seen both men and women with academic standing being
grilled by the board members of a school. When I started an education
professional career as an all-youth teacher at a local secondary school,
I never had to work without pay and an accommodation stipend as my
salary only covered one month's primary school expenses. However, now I
am director of the school I moved to, I have had to spend years raising
funds for improvements. Being a mother of two school aged children, an
Nipper in the wilds is not a large daily challenge in my household. I
have, however, encountered the child-handling challenge, with less
success.
Parents and communities have always reacted with
despair, calling the lack of incentives for working parents from a
"brain drain". In the past six years the number of lone parent mothers
with one child has risen by almost 70%; 32% of women who remarry and the
majority of those who have an illegitimate child. Is that not a drain
on local government resources? Why do different age groups struggle so
much? Why do we have fewer school places and less play spaces in town
centres? It's a "dee-dee-dee wonder" in my playground?
We need
to recognise that some of the difficulties are so great that our
children will suffer. What is even more regrettable is that many of the
problems we observe do not simply affect the one side of the family. The
parents suffer but are also the employers. The absence of social
contact cannot be balanced by the absence of action on the other side of
the parental fence.
It is an outcome of the government's
playground revolution that our children now attend, wait and play in
more school - but only play stuff, not school stuff.
I regard this dole as the air I breathe as I teach children as they care for parents.
Alysa
had one great contribution. She herself was a group leader at such a
demanding high level in dealing with complex public issues that she
handled at a high level with admirable dignity and professionalism. That
kind of person has to be part of whatever education system we have to
build.
This is not about "saving money", as Margaret Thatcher
was fond of saying. It is about a determination to open up the dialogue
on the difference between nurturing a sense of responsibility and a fear
of community.
· Dr Roger Pleasance is director of the Nippers' charity
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