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Those Who Can Teach
David Grant
"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." George Bernard Shaw's famous aphorism is more than a little unkind to those brave souls who face the vicissitudes of adolescent growth every day, let alone the attention of bureaucrats, politicians, editorial writers and even parents sometimes whose attitudes towards secondary teachers have, over the years, ranged from admiration to scepticism, to distinct unfriendliness. The author, therefore, has taken the liberty in the title of this book to make some slight adjustments to Shaw's words. This reflects his belief that teachers have rarely been accorded the respect their multi-faceted skills, professionalism, and dedication deserve. Having said that, hard-working and able teachers gain immense fulfilment when they see the positive changes they inculcate in their students ? intellectual, cultural, sporting and spiritual development. The vocation can be hugely rewarding but is done at the cost of constant fatigue and frustration as colleagues around them quit ? complaining of low pay, intolerable workloads and decreasing status ? for better-paid jobs with less stress. For fifty years PPTA has campaigned to improve standards in schools and conditions for teachers. Topics covered in this wide-ranging and often trenchant history include: * Staffing and salaries * Integration of private schools * Maori * Women * School discipline * Curriculum * Rural education * PPTA and NZEI * Unionisation of the PPTA * PPTA and principals * Teacher assessment * Tomorrow?s Schools * Bulk funding * 2002 ? year of tumult
David Grant was born into education, being raised in the rectory at Southland Boys' High School, some 200 metres from the school's front door. He began teaching early, at age 19, at Methven, during a period of drastic teacher shortage. Following university, newspaper journalism and overseas travel, David spent a further 16 years at the chalkface, highlights being a seven-year stint at Otara's near-new Tangaroa College from 1977, followed by management positions at Piopio College and Ngaruawahia High School. He did the gamut in his teaching career: form teacher, dean, senior tutor, head of department, sports coach, outdoor education leader, PPTA branch officeholder and senior administrator. David left school teaching for the insecurities of feral historianism in 1989. He has written six major books on historical topics as eclectic as conscientious objection, gambling, the stock market, the TAB, horse racing and now teacher unionism, as well as producing myriad historical essays for anthologies, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, journals and magazines. In 1999 David was awarded the JD Stout Research Fellowship in New Zealand cultural studies at Victoria University. He is a guest lecturer in history at Victoria University and reviews regularly for New Zealand Books. He did the background research for the 1999 television series Our People: Our Century and appeared with his family in one episode. David Grant was a founder executive member of the Professional Historians' Association of New Zealand Aotearoa and currently chairs the Trade Union History Project, for which he is editing a series of essays on the 1951 waterfront lockout for publication in 2004. A resident fellow at Victoria University's Stout Research Centre, he is also working on a history of the Christian Pacifist Society, New Zealand's first major pacifist group.
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