January 2011

The know zone

  • Unconditional glove
    Business managers and governors need to be aware of the full extent of responsibility schools and colleges must bear when staff carry out physical tasks, says Richard Bird. More
  • Reform's black mark?
    Will the Coalition’s planned reforms to training, pay and inspection inspire a new generation of outstanding teachers? Unlikely, says Sam Ellis. More
  • Lead vocals
    Quotes from Martin Luther King, George Lucas, Steve Forbert, Walt Disney and Thomas Hardy More
  • Into Africa
    Lynne Barr, deputy head of Diss High School in Norfolk, turned to teaching after a short career in accountancy. In 2009, she went to Rwanda with the Leaders in International Development programme for a stint as an education management consultant, and received the full-on celebrity treatment. More
  • Facial recognition
    The National Portrait Gallery has added to its extensive collection of online teaching resources with a new website dissecting what makes a successful exhibition. More
  • Adding value
    The use of technology has become deeply embedded to enhance pupils’ learning, but it also has an important role to play in helping schools deal with much tighter budgets. More
  • Reading between the lines
    Education Secretary Michael Gove has introduced an English Baccalaureate to give greater recognition to ‘traditional’ academic subjects – languages and humanities in particular – as a measure of school success. Is it a retrograde step or a way to re-inject more rigour into judging how a school performs? Leaders share their views. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    The antidote to common leadership conundrums... More
  • Good in parts
    ASCL’s response to the education white paper dominated discussion at December’s Council meeting, with plenary debate divided into themes led by the committee chairs. On many topics there was strong agreement but on others, such as school improvement partners and provision for excluded pupils, reaction was mixed. More
  • A marathon task
    There are some welcome ideas in the long-awaited schools white paper but, says Brian Lightman, the proposed pace of change is too great. More time should be given for debate before rushing to implementation. More
  • Painful extraction
    Hell hath no fury like a mother in search of justice when she believes her offspring has been attacked in school. But there are two sides to every classroom story, says Christopher Martin. More
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Lynne Barr, deputy head of Diss High School in Norfolk, turned to teaching after a short career in accountancy. In 2009, she went to Rwanda with the Leaders in International Development programme for a stint as an education management consultant, and received the full-on celebrity treatment.

Into Africa...

What were the schools like in Rwanda?

Many of them do not have electricity and they are vastly overcrowded so they operate a double shift system. It’s almost like teaching two full school days in one; a teacher working from 7am might have a class at 6pm. A lot of the teaching is quite didactic and they are keen to learn how to interact more with pupils but it’s difficult to make changes when resources are so limited.

How did the Rwandans relate to you personally?

I was in a very rural area in the east of the country towards the border with Tanzania and many of the population hadn’t seen a white person before, so I was a huge novelty. You have to get used to the fact that you’re going to be s tared at all the time and that children will want to touch your hair and skin. My house in the village had a compound and people would stand outside hoping to catch sight of me.

They have a word for somebody not Rwandan – ‘musungo’ – but it has connotations and its use is discouraged. If someone called me that I’d say, “No, I’m Lynne.” I got a feeling of what it must be like to be some kind of celebrity and being watched all the time. But it was all good-natured and just natural curiosity.

Were there any language problems?

From the junior level, the children were taught in French, not their native tongue (Kinyarwanda). A month before I arrived, however, the government suddenly decided it wanted everyone taught in English. It just had to happen overnight.

That meant, of course, that the teachers themselves had to learn English at the same time, often for three or four hours on Saturday mornings. Imagine being a pupil and having to think about sums in one language, working them out and then answering them in a completely different language. That’s three lessons at once.

Did you see much of the country?

I was surrounded by hills and had passion fruit and banana trees in my garden which was all different from Norfolk, obviously. I went to spend time with the mountain gorillas and that’s one of those experiences that live with you forever.

So why did you move from accountancy to teaching?

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of voluntary work with kids and later became a Queen’s Guide and a Scout leader so everyone just assumed I was going to go into teaching. But I rebelled against that and trained as a chartered accountant.

After two years, I missed the contact with a variety of different people so I gave in. Accountancy is a skill that gave me good experience of business and industry but was a bit boring and not something I would have wanted to do for 40 years.

Further information

The Leaders in International Development programme was run by VSO and funded by the National College, with support from ASCL and NAHT. For more information on VSO opportunities, see www.vso.org.uk

Pro.file

Do you know an ASCL member with an unusual story, interesting background or exceptional achievement to share? If you’d like to recommend someone else or yourself to appear in a future profile, email leader@ascl.org.uk


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