In one of my favourite Rogers and Hammerstein songs, 'Getting to Know You', the wise governess trills: 'If you become a teacher, by your pupils you'll be taught.' After almost thirty years in the profession, I can very much attest to this truism.
I have read countless books recommended to me by students- the first instalment of Katie Price’s ‘autobiography’ being a real eye-openerand I have been taught about trends, fashion and music, often by much-amused students who have regarded me as a fossil for not knowing what K-Pop is or the term ‘glow up’. Yes, every day is a school day for me- literally as well as metaphorically- and I learned something very important in our recent online assembly for International Women’s Day. One of our contenders for the title of the Most Inspirational Woman was Fatima al Fihri, and, much to my shame, I had to Google this name after assembly as I had absolutely no idea who she was, although even my Year 7 students did and clearly understood her claim to greatness. For those of you who are as clueless as I was about the existence of this incredible woman, Fatima al Fihri is considered to be the founder of the world’s oldest university, founding a mosque in the Moroccan city of Fez in 859AD. This developed into what became known as alQarawiyyin university, which is recognised as the oldest existing university in the world, much to the chagrin of my alma mater, the University of Oxford. In acknowledging my own ignorance about the existence of Fatima al Fihri, it made me think about many other women I had never been taught about in school during the 1980s and how my view of history was filtered through an androcentric lens. Despite the fact that my co-educational comprehensive school was approximately eight miles away from Manchester, not once did my History lessons ever refer to the fact that Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters had been born there. Come to think of it, not once did any of my History lessons ever mention the Suffragettes or the women’s suffrage movement at all. We learned a great deal about the Co-operative Movement, of which I was very proud, having been brought up near Rochdale, and I seem to remember learning a huge amount about Jethro Tull’s Seed Drill and Richard Arkwright’s Spinning Jenny. I was impressed by Edward Jenner and his discoveries about cowpox, but knew nothing about Lady Mary Montagu, who is now regarded as the precursor to Jenner in her advocacy of inoculation against diseases. Ada Lovelace is now rightly recognised as one of the world’s first computer programmers, but if I came across her at all, it was as the muchneglected daughter of one of my favourite poets, Lord Byron. Equally, I was taught about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, but nothing about Emma Paterson, the founder of the first trade union for women in 1874, the Women’s Protective and Provident League. I remember being moved to tears by the Jarrow March, and loving ‘The Jarrow Song’ by Alan Price, but I was entirely ignorant about Ellen Wilkinson’s role in this march as the MP for Jarrow at the time and her subsequent involvement in the creation of the Welfare State. Thankfully, my students today really do understand that ‘sisters are doing it for themselves’, and are far more cognisant of influential women of the past and present. VicePresident Kamala Harris was runner-up in our school poll and the Kardashians, thankfully, did not even making the shortlist.