I am accepting this Honorary Fellowship, which Goldsmiths has conferred on me, with gratitude and humility. Gratitude to Goldsmiths where I completed my Master’s degree a long time ago. I was lucky to be supervised by giants in the field of nursery and infant education.
I am accepting this on behalf of early years teachers who teach in the Foundation Stage and Year 1 and who care passionately about the education and care of children aged from birth to seven.
Congratulations to you all for gaining your degrees and joining this great and most important of professions.
I had real difficulty deciding what to say to newly graduated teachers, and to post-graduates, whether to be light-hearted or earnest. Would I be really serious, sharing with you the awful challenges you face from a general public and politicians who fail to respect teachers, especially in the early years? The thought that the most formative time in children’s learning can be left to minimally trained opinion and intuition is horrifying – but is happening.
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