Art was her favorite subject at school, but she did a degree in geography.

M: What made you become a geography teacher?
W: I was born in Somerset and went to a fairly small grammar school. Geography was always my favourite subject and from fairly early on I wanted to teach it. I took geography, art and economics A’levels and I was into art but was advised against taking it. So I got a place in Bristol and did a degree in geography.
M: When did your working life start?
W: I got a job in Marlwood School, an 11—18 comprehensive in Alveston village just north of Bristol. It was a brilliant school. I was there for three years between 1976 and 1979. I got very fed up with the cold winters—we used to get snowed in—so I decided to go abroad where it would be hot. I applied for a job in Kenya and within a week I’d got the job. It was at a school 65 kilometres north of Nairobi and was owned by Delmonte. It had been set up for employees of the plantations, but became so good and famous that it began to take large numbers of expatriates. Some were very wealthy; Doris Moi, President Moi’s daughter, went there. I taught pupils aged three to 25 in a round hut classroom.
M: Why did you come back to England?
W: I met my husband in Kenya and we came back to England together. I got a part-time job at Comberton Village College near Cambridge. I taught there for 12 years and progressed from a part-time geography teacher through to full-time teacher, to head of geography, to assistant head of humanities and eventually I took my deputy head job. This year I’m looking for a headship.
M: What does your job involve?
W: Forty percent of my time is spent teaching. Then there’s my deputy head role which is a vision-building one. I also manage all the resources of the school—the budget, and the teaching and learning resources.
W: What’s the best part of the job?
W: I still love teaching. It is a total vocation. If I tell a child off in my office it’s because I’m their teacher rather than because I’m the deputy head. I do feel that the senior management’s credibility is based on what they do in the classroom.
M: And the worst part?
W’ The hardest part is balancing the roles. First there’s the teaching, which also involves marking and preparation. Then you need time to think strategically; you have to build in thinking and reflection time. Then you have to cope with the day-to-day issues; a child behaving badly, a child protection issue, a parent wanting to speak to you.
W: What worries you about education today?
W: I’m quite worried about geography competing with other subjects in the curriculum. These days geography teachers have to be aware of marketing as much as geography. Children do not have to study geography at key stage four (when they reach ages 10—11). I think that’s sad. Geography gives children an appreciation of their environment. The video of the volcano, the earthquake victims—geography gives an awareness of global citizenship.
M: What advice would you give to a young geography teacher?
W: I would advise them to read a lot and to look around them. It’s a constant search for knowledge. Children don’t only want to see a video any more—they want satellite images and things on the Internet and 3D models. You have to make geography come to life for them, not only in the classroom but in their own environment.