TEACHER PROFILE
A passion
for teaching
Champion: Gaynor
Deacon is in the
running to be named
UK secondary teacher
of the year in the
2009 Teaching Awards
WARD-WINNING GAYNOR Gaynor’s healthcare NVQ students go on to work
A
Deacon knows exactly when she
Gaynor Deacon’s passion for vocational
as healthcare assistants and auxiliary nurses or take
felt that first spark for teaching. college access courses to study nursing at university.
She was a young pupil in the education has led to her being named as the At university, like Gaynor’s A level students, they can
very school at which she has now train to be staff nurses.
worked for more than 30 years.
Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School in
“One of our pupils has got herself a job at one of the
“I think I was in awe of teachers, hospitals as a healthcare assistant at the end of the first
to be honest, from an early age,” remembers Gaynor. year of her NVQ course, which is fantastic to see. And,
“All the teachers at my school really were an inspiration
Wales. Three weeks before she contests the UK
of course, we have a lot of former pupils who have
and it seemed to be a big thing to be a teacher. It seemed work as nursery nurses locally.
to have a status to it. finals, Greg Lewis went to meet her “I feel very proud of them. They have worked hard
“I can remember when I was in the 6th form hearing to get where they are going and they deserve it. It’s
two teachers talking. They were talking about washing lovely to see everything we have done come to fruition
powder and I was thinking: ‘My goodness, they don’t cooking and making things you were designing. You Hospital near Llantrisant, where a member of staff, for our students.”
actually do washing, like the rest of us, do they?’ I’ve would be designing the box to put the pizza in, rather Neil Davies, was looking for a way of linking up with Gaynor’s use of vocational courses is now being
obviously changed my ideas since then!” than making the pizza. To me, it was taking all the basic a school. rolled out into the business studies and ICT departments
That first fascination with teaching came at what skills and the fun away. It had gone away from what I “He wanted to start a course to help trainee nurses at Porth. The Teaching Awards judges noted that this
was then called Porth County Girls Grammar in Porth, enjoyed doing.” go through nursing the old auxiliary way,” said Gaynor. was part of her “major contribution to the life of the
a town at the southern gateway to the Rhondda valley Health and social care was a new area. There were “A course which would basically help people to become school”.
in South Wales. no new teachers at the time coming through from healthcare assistants and that is what I started on next. They also noted her “exciting and stimulating”
Gaynor made the short trip to Cardiff to study at the university with degrees in the discipline because there “This fitted in exactly with what I wanted to do in lessons and her “high expectations of her students,
Llandaff College of Home Economics before quickly were no courses. replacing the old course. I already had the childcare regardless of ability”.
finding herself in familiar classrooms. Gaynor requested specific staff for her new courses route, the NVQ in childcare, and needed one for “I try to put a little bit of everything in so it’s not just
“I came straight to Porth on a supply basis and then and the school agreed. nursing and one for residential care, to replace the three chalk and talk,” she said. “We have games, magnetic
during that year when I was on supply they offered me The department’s first successes were due to the areas we had lost.” boards, video, PowerPoint and I try to do a couple of
a position in the department. That was 1976.” appeal of a forerunner to BTEC, the GNVQ Intermediate The link with the hospital is something about which things in each lesson to help each type of learner.
The school has gone through some changes and is Health and Social Care, which gave students who failed Gaynor is particularly proud. “I’m not saying every lesson is brilliant, but I do the
now Porth County Community School, but it remains GCSEs a second chance. “Now we had nursing students coming out of A level absolute best I can to make them different and more
at the heart of the community that Gaynor has always “This course was for students who hadn’t managed courses going to university to do a degree plus nurses at interesting.
called home. to pass their GCSEs but who wanted to come back into a lower level entering as healthcare assistants.” “We have a lot of success with students who have
But, although committed to a single school, she has 6th form and eventually do A levels. When we took that The same partnership with the local NHS Trust come in at a very low level but have got jobs at the end
not stopped from adapting and evolving her own career course on, that was when everything just boomed and allowed Gaynor to provide a residential care course, of the courses which is great.”
direction and from revolutionising a whole swathe of far more students came on board. allowing pupils to go on placements to nearby Ysbyty Gaynor, who lives near the school with her husband
courses offered by the school. “That is when I started dealing a lot with the less George Thomas, a specialist hospital for elderly patients Vivian, is keen to stress that the award recognised the
It was in recognition of this work that she was able students and the ones that are more of a challenge,” who experience mental health problems, and in local work of her whole department, including her colleagues
recently named Teacher of the Year in Wales at the she added. residential homes. assistant head David Griffiths, Maureen Smith and Dr
Teaching Awards 2009 and will now go on to contest However, a national examining board eventually “Now, I’ve got my dream really. The students are Rhian Bosanko, and head Steve Bowden.
the overall award at the UK finals in October. dropped the course and it developed into the BTEC. working on anything to do with health and care at all “We are lucky in our department in that we have
Her career began traditionally enough. She taught Gaynor felt the change had left a gap which she was the levels we can possibly ask of them. to go through one classroom to get to another and so
home economics for 20 years, but during the mid- determined to fill. “I think that sometimes vocational courses do help we can see what’s going on and we help each other
1990s began to incorporate a number of skills-based “With the new BTEC, I couldn’t have people pupils focus better. It is something they are wanting out as staff.
courses which would start a crossover into vocational coming into A level doing nursing or childcare,” she to do and they love going out to the crèches or the “We are a very close team and if a student needs
education. said. “I needed to get a replacement for the old course. hospitals for work. The placements at the hospitals help we are able to sit and give them that time within a
“These courses were then an entirely new concept,” That’s when the idea came of doing the NVQs.” allow them to move around and find out where they class situation.”
she said. “They were vocation-biased and very, very Porth is in the heart of industrial South Wales. would like to work.” Porth County Community School takes its name
different from formal teaching.” Traditional industries, most notably coal-mining, are It has been a rewarding learning curve for Gaynor. seriously. And, like Gaynor, many of her pupils are
The school was setting up its health and social care closed down and young people are keen for education She had to study and to retrain as an assessor and learning to be essential workers right in their own
department and Gaynor was asked to be its head. It was which helps them compete in a difficult job market. internal verifier for the new courses. hometown. SecEd
an opportunity for change and development which she “That’s where the NVQs become important,” But she also had to “step out” of the school
jumped at. explained Gaynor, a 54-year-old mother of two grown- environment after 20 years as a teacher working in a • Greg Lewis is a freelance education journalist.
“I’d enjoyed the new course very much, it was up children. “It’s unusual for schools to do NVQs, traditional classroom role.
different from what I’d been doing, and the decision but we find it gives something for those lower ability “You cannot do the vocation-based courses without
Further information
to change was very easy to make, even though it was students or people who are more into skills-based rather making contacts outside the school,” she said. “I was For more on Porth County Community School, visit
quite a challenge. than theory-based learning.” quite happy to step out into the community, if you like. www.porthcommunityschool.com. The UK finals of the
“I’d also found that home economics had changed The first NVQs Gaynor developed in her department I’m now going out into all the crèches with the students. Teaching Awards take place on October 25 and are shown
so much, from the traditional teaching of cookery were in nursery nursing. It’s interesting to go into the hospitals and I help them with on BBC2. The 2010 Teaching Awards are now open for
and textiles to focusing on the technology. Instead of She was then contacted by Royal Glamorgan interviews of staff when they want to take on assessors.” nominations. For details, visit www.teachingawards.com
SecEd • October 1 2009 15
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