CRYSJ stories: Alan Smith
Alan Smith studied at Ripon College, completing his course in 1977. By the time he finished at Ripon, it had transitioned into the College of Ripon and York St John, thanks in part, to his role as President of the Students’ Union at Ripon College.
Now retired, Alan reflects on his career in Education and how sometimes you can find opportunities in unexpected places.
The start of computing
Would you like to have a go on our Programma 101? It is locked away in this cupboard. We (the 5 secondary maths teacher training students) were set the task of writing a program to get the machine to work out the square root of any number. It didn’t have a square root function – they didn’t exist. Frankly, it was beyond me and, even more frankly, boring. This was in 1974 but, if you are interested, at the time of writing, you can still buy your own on eBay for €45,000.
I didn’t realise it at the time, but should have been my introduction to what would soon become known as ‘computing’ and the heart of my nascent career. But as I was training to be a maths and science teacher, why would I be interested? Silly me.
President of the Students’ Union
As the President of Ripon College Student’s Union, it was my job to work with my opposite number at St. John’s College to create a successful Student’s Union for the new college. At that time, the name Paul Blomfield meant nothing to me. Of course, in 2010 Paul became, and was until the election last year, the MP for Sheffield Central. Little did I realise, as a trainee secondary maths & science teacher, that I would be working with a fledgling MP. No surprise, it did not take me long to recognise that I was working with someone a bit special! To this day, I remain in awe that someone that young could be so knowledgeable about so much. Long story short, it was an intriguing personal journey from which I learnt a lot – thanks Paul!
Many a happy(?) hour was spent in the Student Union Committee rooms working with Paul on how to successfully merge the two existing unions. Many of a less happy hour was spent on the college minibuses to-ing and fro-ing between the two colleges. How many times can you travel through Green Hammerton without ever stopping for a closer look, and still haven’t?
Democracy, staffing, funding, bars, clubs, representation, contracts and expectations where all up for grabs and there was a clock ticking – we had one year. Yes, the detail was boring, but the experience was brilliant. As I have been reminded by a contemporary (thanks Grahame), all of the above had to be done whilst continuing the support of the existing student union activities and students.
At the time St.John’s had more than twice as many students than Ripon, but I had no sense of a take over bid. This was despite the fact that the entire tenor of working with the students and staff of St.John’s was that they were more forward looking than Ripon. It was only after leaving college that I could see why Ripon never grew to its full potential.
From maths to computing
I went to college to train to be a teacher. Yet, within a year or so, I was helping to write constitutions, working with Academic Boards, being a college governor, public speaking, electioneering (small scale), leading student bodies and looking very much to the future. A wholly unexpected development for a kid from the back streets of Leeds, but the most fabulous opportunity. Dare I say, for me, this extra-curricular activity provided a better education than college itself?
After it all, I remember a conversation with a senior member of the college staff, probably the Vice-Principal, who admitted that the part of the college that had been best amalgamated was the Students’ Union. I never got to tell Paul that, yet he must take much of the credit.
When I left college in 1977 there was a shortage of maths teachers, so no problem getting a job then. Something must have put them off me because I couldn’t get one. Literally, as far as I was concerned, my last chance was an interview on the Friday, in Hampshire, before term started on the following Monday.
I got the job (only applicant) – Yes, I got a job! I was then told I would be teaching maths, science and GCSE (then ‘O’ Level) computer studies. What? My response was that I didn’t even know how to spell computor (sic). Don’t worry, just stay a chapter ahead of the kids was the friendly advice. This I managed for one term until Christmas, then the bloke teaching Year 5 (now called year 11) left. Alan, you have been teaching Computer Studies for a term so you are now our resident expert; you will have to take over his class who are a year ahead of you. Even I could see the flaw in this proposal. Help – I decided to get the kids to teach me what they knew. It worked – the best results I ever got. In the process I learnt how to program a computer and the fundamentals of how computers worked.
From 5 to 40 computers
Two years later I got another job as Head of Computing at a large comprehensive school in Leeds. To this day, I still boggle at that transition. I couldn’t have planned it.
So, what next? I was in the right area to make progress as computer studies became IT, then ICT (then back to IT). The importance of IT in schools was very much on the up, but my school of 1,760 pupils only had 5 computers (we had started with one)– very limited and limiting.
I had left college with a Certificate of Education and therefore no degree. I took a stab at applying for the last ever chance of a year’s secondment for teachers to enhance their personal education. Amazingly I got a place at the University of York to follow an M.Sc. course. I became a graduate.
The research I did in my degree inspired me to chase a strongly contested job in a new build school in Hull which wanted to put IT at its core – no one was more surprised than me when I got it. I now had 40 computers at my disposal to teach IT across the curriculum – unheard of in those days. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, other factors conspired against me. I lasted a full 10 months before I just had to get out of the mad place. It put me off teaching for life but helped me realise I wanted to use computers and not just teach about them. But how do I escape? Transferable skills time.
Onwards and upwards
Unwittingly, teaching had made me a good communicator and a people person. Put this alongside my interest and ever-growing IT skills, as well as a good understanding of the local and national education scene and I thought an Education Department in a Local Authority might be a good place to look. Derbyshire County Council wanted someone to lead the administrative team of their large Advisory Service with a view to computerising some of their functions. A shoo-in? Well, it turned out to be and a significant change in career direction.
Onwards and upwards; promotion to another County Council whilst doing a similar job but, given the burgeoning opportunities provided by the internet, a more forward-looking authority. Their approach was to encourage their officers to spread their wings and try different yet related roles. I ended up working in areas such as school buildings and headteacher appointments. One development which I still draw on to this day was the Authority’s requirement for staff to be trained in PRINCE2 – a nationally recognised project management methodology. A revelation and highly recommended. A truly transferrable skill.
Return to Yorkshire
Then suddenly, Ripon College re-entered my life. I had been the Student Union President and so a lot of people remembered me from college. I met one such person who had done very well for herself in the world of education and, as things do, she asked me what I was doing. I told her, she wanted to see for herself. She saw and asked me to come back to Yorkshire and do it for her Local Authority. For me, getting back to Yorkshire (I was then in Norfolk) was a no-brainer.
After six pressured but very rewarding years in Bradford I took early retirement. End of career but the start of new adventures along with my wife. Now living near good friends I met at college.
And what did I learn? In a very small nutshell, the importance of people, flexibility and transferable skills. Oh! and don’t say no in a Programma 101 moment.
You can learn more about our CRYSJ Celebration on our website. With thanks to Alan for writing this blog post.
