John Morris – Teacher and Researcher

“Ask Our Alum your question…”

Class of 1972

Certificate in Education

Teacher, Inspector/Advisor, Researcher and Special Lecturer in Education.

“Expect for young people nothing less than what you would want for your own children”

FURTHER STUDY AFTER RIPON COLLEGE OF EDUCATION:

I gained a BA (Education), at Hull University, a Certificate in Human Geography, from the Open University and a Masters’ degree in Education, at Nottingham Trent University.

JOBS:

I taught in Cheshire (Wirral), Kent and Birmingham, before joining the Nottinghamshire Advisory and Inspection Service. I co-authored three GCSE geography texts and numerous articles.  As a schools’ inspector and advisor, I supported developments across a range of social, business, environmental and outdoor aspects of education. I also inspected aspects of leadership and management and contributed towards developments in change management, including surveying pupils’ attitudes and needs. As part of my work on Gifted and Talented provision, I led a group of teachers to look at the work of Edward de Bono, in Maltese schools and another group to look schools in Toronto and research at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

In Bergen, Norway, I was the rapporteur for an EU study group, looking at aspects of collaborative and participatory learning.  At Nottingham University, I worked on the ‘Improving the Quality of Education for All’ project (IQEA) which promoted school-based developments. My final duties, before retirement in December 2010, involved the advice and inspection at a young offenders’ institute.

WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN THIS PHOTO AS YOUR YSJ SNAPSHOT?

At Ripon College, I studied geography and subsidiary art, within the junior/ secondary programme.  As a geographer, I studied the USSR and China and Japan.  I had a special interest in geology, fieldwork and the bio-geography and soil science introduced in year three by a new, young lecturer, Maragret Atherdern, who inspired my special study on soils across the Wealden parish of Westerham.  In Ripon’s Owen House, I analysed over 90 soil samples for the study. Fieldwork in Whitby and Keswick was enlightening, because until then, I had never ventured further north than Wolverhampton.

WHAT ARE YOUR FONDEST MEMORIES OF RIPON COLLEGE?

As one of only four southerners in my year, I found the Ripon experience quite challenging and I often felt alone, even though I enjoyed learning from many male and female friends and colleagues.  I valued the enrichment that they provided. Being in lodgings with Mrs. Corps and her poodle Jasper for two years, with John Coates, Pete Holgate and Andy Henderson provided some much-needed stability.  In year three, I moved into Owen House and shared room X, with John Ridley. Like John, I enjoyed canoeing on the river Ure.  John and I would also go jogging in Studley Park.  Most importantly, I met Janet Preece, who studied nursery/ infant education between 1968 and 1971 and, in 1973, we married at Tong, in Bradford. In 2023, we celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE RIPON COLLEGE?

At school, my parents wanted me to join the Civil Service and I was duly appointed to a post in Scotland Yard.  The thought of rush hour commuting to and from central London for the rest of my working life filled me with horror. When I was in year 13, a young  woman was appointed as a Newly Qualified Teacher, Paula Crossley, now Richardson, had attended Ripon College. In discussion with Paula, she suggested that I might apply to Ripon College, who were about to recruit their first cohort of young male students.  I applied, was interviewed by Miss Teasdale and awarded a place. I was aware of the security that I was giving up and I knew that I could not afford to fail and like my friend, John, I never regretted my decision.

WHAT I HAVE DONE SINCE COMPLETING MY STUDIES?

I started teaching at Bromborough County Secondary, a small school, on the Wirral. After three years, I moved to a post in Kent, as second in-charge of a large geography department in a school of 1800 pupils. After a successful HMI inspection, I became head of department. In 1981, I became head of humanities at a community school in Birmingham, where there was no uniform and teachers were addressed by their first names. When schools in the city were re-organized, I was appointed to the senior  teacher post of head of faculty, social and business studies, at the newly created inner-city sixth form college.

Throughout this period, I worked on two Schools’ Council projects. First, ‘Geography for the Young School Leaver’, which became the Avery Hill project and later, ‘Geography 16-19 project. At the heart of both was the need for assessment in order to plan the next steps in learning.  I led a consortium of schools in writing and assessing a CSE mode 3 course, writing questions and marking and moderating coursework. At O-level, I wrote and taught a school-based unit on medical geography, which featured in ‘Teaching Geography’ and subsequently, contributed to the writing of one of the first Avery Hill GCSE course.

At A-level, I adopted the 16-19 project and learned more about writing examination questions and helping students in their design of tightly-focused assignments. 

This work with Examinations Boards made me acutely aware of the biggest issue which affects the system, today. I would like to see a major reform of the system, because  I believe that all examinations should be criterion-referenced.  In short, if you answer the question correctly, you get the mark and the appropriate grade.  The current norm-referenced system allocates a percentage success to a grade and an algorithm is used to exclude excessive numbers of students, whether or not they meet the criteria. Marks for some students, subjects or even schools may not always result in the same grades and schools with a weak history of success are penalised.

In 1988, I was appointed as Humanities Inspector in Nottinghamshire’s Advisory and Inspection Service, with a special responsibility for envionmental education. When the authority ceased to provide a subject-based inspectors, I became the Secondary Inspector for the disadvantaged, former mining community of Ashfield, which included the famous Sutton Centre.  During this time, I was contracted to OFSTED, where I was a team member on several teams and Registered Inspector on five.  I delivered a great deal of in-service training and drafted numerous piece of advice. Responsible for the Healthy Schools team, I was asked to launch some new resources, with Julia Hodson, Nottinghamshire’s first female Chief Constable.

As Special Lecturer in Education, I was part of Professor David Hopkins’ team and led the ‘Improving the Quality of Education’ project of school-based improvement. Each year, we would hold a presentation of school-based developments to be shared with other participants.

WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A CURRENT STUDENT, OR ANYONE ABOUT TO GRADUATE?

As a former schools’ inspector, my rule of thumb was “Expect for young people nothing less than what you would want for your own children” and that would be my advice to students or anyone starting-out. This is achieved by having clear values and attitudes to develop pupils understanding and skills. The knowledge will look after itself.  Having clear principles of procedure means that questions are more important than answers and success comes from pupils’ undertaking inquiries and don’t forget to smile, laugh and have a bit of fun on the way. Teachers and schools where there is no laughter or humour are too often an indicator of failure.

To hear more about John’s time at Ripon and incredible career, visit the YSJ Alumni blog for more information:

‘After Ripon; or “Hey, mister, I bet you’ve never seen a lesson like this before”?’