Professor Anne Jones - The Education Roundabout

                                                        

                                                                                                            Author as a Senior Civil Servant

The Education Roundabout: published 2015.

A memoir written by Anne Jones.

This book of 400 pages covers Anne’s life/work as well as providing an analysis of what has been happening in Education in the last fifty years or so. The book is full of humour and also sharp comments and examples of ways to improve the quality of learning and academic achievement for learners of all kinds, including Lifelong Learners. Lots of original manuscripts included, clear fonts and fascinating photos. It’s not a novel, so you can enjoy the pages which appeal to you at leisure and in any order. Lots of snippets about Royalty, Ministers, TV programmes and newspaper articles included and lots of laughs. Thirty years ago, Anne was predicting the present Muslim/West crisis. She also spotted that Britain was way behind Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the East on levels of achievement in maths, science and technology. This means that Britain still has too many unskilled workers for the needs of industry and we have to import skilled workers.

The following document gives a brief idea of the contents of each chapter. a leading example of a women breaking through the glass ceiling. Anne is an experienced broadcaster, eg Question Time, has written many books such as Counselling Adolescents in practice and Leadership for Tomorrow’s Schools. A Headteacher for 17 years, she was the Senior Civil Servant, who directed the Technical Vocational Education Initiative, a professor developing on-line learning systems, an Eastern Europe Advisor for OECD. She is an Emeritus Professor of Lifelong Learning. This book will be of interest to students, teachers and serious researchers into Education, Community Schools, Lifelong learning and casual readers, who enjoy her wit and wisdom.

Education over the last fifty years or so: 1950 - 2015 

Has anything really changed or do we just go round in circles? Anne thinks we do. For example, the new government proposals for five tough GCSE’s take us straight back to the old School Certificate and matriculation, which was abolished around 1950, when O level was introduced.  Only the brightest passed. What effect will the e.bacc have on raising educational standards?

Chapter 1. Student Life, teaching bright girls from top schools, counselling adolescents, having children

Chapter 2. Deputy Head (Thomas Calton) Teaching Peckham children, training young teachers

Chapter 3. Head, Brixton, Vauxhall Manor multiracial Girls’ School, improving results. Job opportunities, access to university.

Chapter 4. Head of Cranford Community School near Heathrow. 1300 pupils and 1300 adult learners/sports people (11 acres).

Chapter 5. Senior Civil Servant getting the Employment and Education Departments to work together and prepare young people for the world of work and be more enterprising.

Chapter 6.  Professor Making lifelong learning a reality at Brunel University and learning on-line, tracking achievement.

Chapter 7. European Expert Adviser for OECD and ETF, Training the Economies in transition from Russian control to become independent and self-managing.

Chapter 8. Bringing Lifelong Learning to Life in the Antipodes.

Chapter 9. Lifelong learning for leisure.

Clear text and lots of photos bring it all to life

The Education Roundabout by Anne Jones: Comments

Professor Alan Smithers: Anne Jones has been a teacher, a pioneering Headteacher, a Senior Civil Servant a Professor of Lifelong Learning, a wife and mother, and a TV personality. The Education Roundabout draws on her life in Education to provide fascinating insights into being a teacher, leading schools, unfolding educational policy and running a Research Centre. In the school chapters, her wealth of personal experience will greatly enhance the understanding of all those interested in education, particularly teachers and those in training.

Dr Grey Giddins MDMRCP: If you prefer fact to fiction, then this book is for you. Professor Jones could not have had a more brilliant career in Education, with Lifelong Learning at its centre. Her work with children who were deprived and multi-national should be compulsory reading for everyone. Our understanding of the problems of the young would be enhanced. Read it – you will be amused and fascinated.

Mike Duffy,  former President of the Secondary Heads' Association

I enjoyed reading The Education Roundabout. It was great to be reminded of those exciting days in the 80s when so much seemed possible and you were firing up so many of us with you energy and passion.. And particularly in the Secondary Heads Association booklet, a View from the Bridge which was, in all fairness, mostly your vision and your words. Looking at some of my writings at that time. I see how often I drew on your ideas. One comment remains with me to this day: 'the best pastoral care is the best teaching.'

David Threthowen, Warden Park School. Sussex: When your book ‘Leadership for tomorrow’s schools’ (Blackwell ) came out in 1987, all we Heads bought it. It is the best book on Headship I have ever read, both because of its easy lucid style and because of the way in which theory has been interwoven with practice in the content.

Professor Bill Jones: Professor Anne Jones is rightly proud or her title as one of the first to be a Chair in Lifelong Learning. This is an engagingly curious book. He briefly touches on Anne’s interests and achieve- ments including TVEI, (Technical Vocational Education) e-learning., careers guidance , changing the culture of training in former Russian States, community colleges, improving career opportunities for women and for adults who want opportunities for to continue their education and training. He concludes: 

The wider Lifelong community will read this book with interest: it is an engaging read: honest, enthusiastic and celebratory.

Anne says: 'It could have been an academic tome but I wanted my family and friends to understand better how and why it all happened. So I have included my own commentary and some humour as well. My life itself is a story of Lifelong Learning’.

Ann Gittins: former Head of a large Comprehensive School 

As a hardworking mother of three, Anne Jones brought a woman’s perspective to what was a largely male dominated field of educational leadership. She shows that strong and successful leadership involves not only the analytical skills that may have been traditionally regarded as masculine but also the emotional intelligence which was perceived as a feminine trait. She demonstrates that she has always practised what she preached at every stage of her career. The need for people with Anne’s capacity to see through the detail and raise the fundamental questions is more urgent than ever.

Anne brought a woman’s perspective to what was then largely a male-dominated field of educational leadership. She showed that strong and successful leadership involves not only the analytical skills that may have been traditionally regarded as masculine, but also the emotional intelligence which was perceived as a feminine trait. As Professor of Lifelong Learning, looking back on her personal and professional journey, she demonstrates that she has always practised what she preached. At every stage of her career to language teacher, to pioneering school counsellor, deputy head and then inspirational Head teacher, Civil servant, she demonstrates that she has always practised what she preached. She has constantly reflected upon and articulated the essential principles that underpin her work. Her papers provide a fascinating picture of the recurring themes of education in the last fifty years. As these themes reappear the significant signs of progress remain open to question. The need for people with Anne’s capacity to see through the detail and raise the fundamental questions is more urgent than ever.

Don Wix M.Ed, MBE, Hon D Lit: This is a remarkable book, based almost entirely on Professor Anne Jones’ incredible input into the world of Education over the whole span of her career. She has never advocated standing still, but rather to find new ways for education to adapt to a rapidly changing technical world. If you have learnt as much as I have from this book, you will have far better perceptions of the channels through which new systems can override existing features of schools, colleges and universities.

Comment from a Senior Civil Servant:
‘Fascinating transformations from stellar Headteacher, to policy guru/ big programme spender, to reflective academic: highly successful in all three careers............. Anne is a wonderful example of what can be achieved by combining energy, intellect and enthusiasm’,

Author

Anne Jones is Emeritus Professor of Lifelong Learning, Brunel University and was a Director of her social club Phyllis Court 2009-2015. Formerly she was a French teacher, school counsellor, Headteacher, senior civil servant, European expert adviser, author, broadcaster, Professor of Lifelong Learning and founder/MD of Lifelong Learning Systems. Anne has vast experience of leading organizations and people into the future. 

Career 

JONES, Prof Anne; da of Sydney Joseph Pickard (d 1987), and Hilda Everitt, née Bird (d 1999); b 8 April 1935; Educ Harrow Weald Co Sch, Westfield Coll London (BA), King's Coll London (PGCE), Univ of London (DipSoc); m 9 Aug 1958 (m dis 1988), Cyril Gareth Jones, s of Lyell Jones (d 1936); 1 s (Christopher Lyell b 24 July 1962), 2 da (Catherine Rachel (Mrs Spencer) b 8 Aug 1963 d 2015, Rebecca Madryn b 15 March 1966); Career asst mistress: Malvern Girls Coll 1957-58, Godolphin & Latymer Sch 1958-62, Dulwich Coll 1964; sch cnsllr Mayfield London 1965-71, dep head Thomas Calton Sch London 1971-74; head: Vauxhall Manor Sch 1974-81, Cranford Community Coll 1981-87; under sec (dir of educn) Employment Dept 1987-91, visiting prof of educn Univ of Sheffield, educn and training conslt 1991-; Brunel Univ: prof of continuing educn 1991-, dir Centre for Lifelong Learning 1995-2000, prof emeritus 2001-; ceo and dir Lifelong Learning Systems Ltd (LLS) 2001-09; advsr: European Trg Fndn, OECD, Br Cncl; dir: West London Leadership 1995-99, Business Link London NW 1995-99; chair: Assoc of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 1979-80, Area Manpower Bd for London South and West 1983-87; ind lay chair Complaints NHS 1996-2005; conslt EDGE 2005-07; former memb: Schools' Broadcasting Cncl, Home Office Advsy Ctees on Drugs and on Sexual Offences; former memb Cncl: UCL, CRAC, NICEC, Grubb Inst, W London Inst of HE, RSA; tstee: The Westfield Tst 1992-2005, Menerva Educnl Tst 1993-2004 (chair 1993-99); govr The Abbey Sch 2004-12; chm: Henley Choral Soc 2005-09, Boathouse Reach Mgmnt 2005-10; hon memb City and Guilds Inst; Hon FCP 1990; fell Queen Mary & Westfield Coll London 1992 (memb Cncl 1992-2002), FRSA (former memb Cncl 1992-2002), FCMI (chm Reading Branch 2004-08); 

PUBLICATIONS

1. School  Counselling in Practice. Ward Lock Educational 1970

2. Counselling Adolescents in school.  Kogan Page  1977

Work books for schools

3  Male and  Female, Living Choices , Time  to spare. Hobsons. 1984, 1987

4. Counselling Adolescents in  school and  Beyond : Kogan Page 1984

5. Leadership  for Tomorrow’s Schools, Blackwells  1986, reprinted 1984

6. Human Resource Development, an Employer’s  Guide, The European Training Foundation, Turin 2001

Chapters in edited books

1. The Disruptive pupil in The Secondary School Ward Lock 1970

2. Truancy: problems of school attendance and refusal: John Wiley  1970

3. Studying school effectiveness: the Falmer Press  1984

4. Schools and External relations: managing the new Partnerships: Cassells Educational 1989

5. Bringing Learning to Life: the Falmer Press  1995

6. Employment and the future of work :  the Institute of Policy Studies, Wellington 1996

 Available to buy from The Memoir Club, tel 0191 4192288 or email memoirclub@msn.com 

£15.00 P & P £3.50 UK (£5.00 Europe £7.50 ROW)

John Bridgeman - I REMEMBER IT WELL

I REMEMBER IT WELL 

THE DIARIES, RECOLLECTIONS AND ART 

OF 

THREE GENERATIONS 

OVER 

THREE CENTURIES

by John Bridgeman

PRICE £20 + £3 P & P UK 

available from The Memoir Club, Jasprint, 12 Tower Road, Washington. NE37 2SH

email: memoirclub@msn.com   or tel 0191 4192288

Star Pool on the River Driva. Watercolour by Guida, 1922

I Remember It Well – Talk by John Bridgeman

July 3

Venue: Weston Park, Shifnal, Telford, Shropshire TF11 8LE 

I Remember It Well: The Pace of Change and what to Expect as a Guest in a Stately Home in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

The English country house and the social mores attached to it have always been a source of fascination and Weston Park’s own regular Behind The Scenes tours inevitably prompt many questions on what to expect when staying in a great country house. We are delighted, therefore, to welcome John Bridgeman for a fascinating morning talk. A member of the Earl of Bradford’s family, John Bridgeman will discuss the enormous changes that have taken place over the last hundred and fifty years and will illustrate these with the changes in correspondence and communication within his family and with changes in the methods of transport employed in getting to the country house.  He will also discuss the clothes a lady guest might need when coming to stay at a house like Weston in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the meals that might be prepared for her and her husband and the staff who might wait on them.

John Bridgeman is the younger son of the younger son of George 4th Earl of Bradford. He is a retired “mud-on the-boots” farmer who has stayed at Weston Park with his uncle, the 5th Earl, and his cousin, the 6th Earl, as well as in many stately homes belonging to his cousins – from Beaufort Castle in Inverness-shire, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire to Arundel Castle in Sussex.  He has recently published a book entitled I Remember it Well which incorporates the diaries and reminiscences of his grandparents from the 1850s, his father in Russia, China and India before the First World War, together with his own early memories of travelling around the world and meeting many famous people.  After his talk he will sign copies of this book which is not available through the trade.

10.30am Arrival and tea/ coffee in the Granary Art Gallery

11.00am Lecture in auditorium

12.00pm Conclusion of lecture, questions and opportunity to purchase I Remember It Well, the book

£5.00 per person inc serving of tea and coffee

Pre-booking is required to attend this talk. To book please contact Julieanne McMahon on julieanne@weston-park.com or 01952 852130. 

This book is about the recollections and art of three generations whose lives span the 170 years from 1845 to the present day. As it was written by six different people, each section is very different in both style and content. The art of each generation is represented by many beautiful watercolours and sketches.

Part One recalls the diaries that my paternal grandmother, who was born in 1848, wrote for the benefit of her children, memories of a life of privilege and duty, and her years as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary. They include some of her astonishingly obsequious letters to Queen Mary and her revealing daily letters to her husband while ‘in waiting’ at Windsor during the Irish crisis of April 1914.

Part Two is a light-hearted account of my grandfather’s travels in Spain and Morocco in 1887 along with his friends Lord Rowton and Lord Claud Hamilton. 

Part Three aims to include some of the most interesting of the recollections that my maternal grandmother recorded in her old age in a book entitled Avenue of Ancestors. Sir Compton Mackenzie in his foreword to it wrote that: Since I first read Walter Scott’s Tales of a Grandfather when I was eight years old I have not been beguiled by so many fascinating stories of the past. I hope that this book will include some of the best of those stories, as well as adding others equally beguiling.

Part Four incorporates extracts from the diary written by my father on his journey to India in 1908 via the recently opened Trans-Siberian Railway and on HMS Bramble, the gunboat commanded by his brother Dick some 500 miles up the Yangtze River.

Part Five is the diary written by my father’s friend Archie Stirling, about his trek with my father in Kashmir in 1913 where, along with my father’s spaniel, they climbed to over 17,600 feet in search of snow leopard, bear and such game as they could find in that inhospitable terrain. 

Part Six brings these memoirs into a third generation and a third century by including a few extracts from my own diaries and recollections of the past seventy years. These include such diverse experiences as a private visit to the Sistine Chapel, memorable fishing experiences, the rigours of the Brigade Squad, dining with Dr Hastings Banda, dancing with the Queen, bird watching with Lord Alanbroke, on a grouse moor with Paul Getty, going round the world on a shoe string and much else besides.

REVIEWS

                                                                                                
                                                                                                          

John Bridgeman's book has just arrived and we are enjoying it hugely.  Well done him and well done you!                                                                                                              Jack and Caroline de Jode 

The best £20 I have ever spent. A. S.

What a wonderful “magnum opus” you have produced.   However long it took & whatever the hard work entailed, us lucky ones who have read and enjoyed it all know that your efforts have been hugely appreciated& enjoyed!! P. N.

 How interesting I found your book.  My goodness, you must have put some hours in doing all the research & preparation for it.  It is marvellous for the family to have a record like that to which to refer.   J. B-S.

It is the perfect "dipping in" book.  The edition looks so good after all your trouble.  C. W.

I have just completed his grandmother's diary.   I am lost in admiration as to how she got about the place and moved in such exalted circles.   What a fascinating life and great for the family to have this recorded for posterity.  What a labour of love the research must have been. M. A.

 I read your book on holiday which I greatly enjoyed.  I really enjoyed each section. It will be wonderful for future generations to read.  I loved the contrast of HGOB watching man land on the moon on a TV having been brought up in Victorian England with footmen in powdered wigs. M.G.O.B.

I have just finished and much enjoyed reading your book. I found your father’s experiences on the trans-Siberian express and in China fascinating. R.T.

We are loving ‘I Remember it Well’  - another huge achievement.  I can’t believe the research and hard work that must have gone into it.  What a fabulous legacy to leave for the future generations.   We are delighted that every time Rory calls on us he asks where it is and sits down to read another chapter. C. H.

We are captivated and rather awe struck by the content of the book and the massive research involved.  C. M.

                                                          Drumlanrig Castle - Book Launch