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Meet Rick, Secondary School Head of Department (Retired)
- maryhartley19
- Nov 10
- 3 min read
Name: Rick Varley
Degree: French and German, Queen's College, University of Oxford
How did you spend your Year Abroad?
English assistant in a Lycée and Collège in Eastern France. Helping staff in any way they deemed fit, from in-class support to group or one-to-one conversation sessions. From a personal development perspective, it's how you learn 'proper' French or German, and not the rather correct and formal sounding stuff you get taught in schools and at university. You get the chance to mix with a whole variety of people from different cultural, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. A whole new world of language opens up for you.
Briefly outline your journey from graduation to now.
Left Oxford in 1981, did the year abroad, PGCE Certificate at Nottingham University School of Education. First job in 1983 at Eckington School in Derbyshire where I stayed 10 years, ultimately rising to Head of German and Second in Department. In 1993, became Head of MFL at Lady Manners School in Bakewell where I stayed for 24 years before retiring. I stood down as Head of Department after 15 years because the incessant changes in exam syllabi, the increasing pressure of using data and targets and the inevitable 'worn-out' feeling you get made me realise that it was time for someone else to take over. I had a happy remaining 9 years as a Main Scale teacher and went down to 4 days in my final year before retirement.
What did your job involve day to day?
I think it's pretty obvious what a Head of MFL has to do. You're basically responsible for everything in your curriculum area, you have to do the fine balancing act between keeping your staff onside and satisfying Senior Management that you're doing what, in their eyes, you're supposed to be doing. As for the work environment, it was a school originally founded in 1636, the current building was built in 1938 and so there was a very old-school feel about the place. But it was staffed by some highly qualified, intelligent and very interesting people and there was a tremendous sense of community. Many staff lived in or near Bakewell. There were several married couples on the staff and people stayed there a long time. Generations of the same families came to the school.
What did you enjoy most about your job?
What I enjoyed most took place in my classroom. Before teaching became a more prescriptive and homogenised entity as regards lesson structure etc, every teacher had their way of doing things and if it worked, you were left to get on with it without interference. There wasn't a right way and a wrong way; just different ways. So, I did things my way. I loved teaching students with a genuine interest, pushing them to their limits. I sympathised with the less able who found languages hard; a lot had enough trouble coping with English. And I don't mean because the school was very multicultural. There was a significant farming community and many of these students had to be understood and given some leeway, because they just wanted to take over their parents' farm when the time came.
What advice would you give to someone interested in this job?
The one thing which summed up the principal tenet of teaching was said to me by the then Head on the day I was appointed. He said to me: "Remember you're not just a teacher of languages, you're a teacher of children'. Wise words. Teaching is a vocation, not a mere 'job'. Anyone who goes into teaching without that sense of vocation will not find it fulfilling and it will be obvious to other staff. You need to make sure that you are secure in your own language knowledge; students believe every word you say. Be prepared to take advice and not think you know everything. Teach with a smile on your face; it's much more disarming than a scowl. Prove to students, bright or otherwise, that you are interested in them as young people and not just statistics on a spreadsheet.
Do you use or practise your languages outside of work?
It's always been handy on family holidays abroad.
Thanks very much to Rick for sharing his journey!
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