Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

It was a huge pleasure this week to interview Janet Neilson, former school teacher in Swansea, who talks about her educational background and the differences in career advice given in those days compared to today as well as about her parents’ military experiences during the Second World War and about the days when married women were not allowed to teach. Janet was a junior school teacher who specialized in music and she tells us how she made sure her pupils were good readers. We learn why Janet went into teaching and worked as a piano teacher and we learn why she thinks the National Curriculum is one of the worst things that could have happened. We find out about Janet’s earliest memories, including her time in the Girl Guides, and learn that she didn’t have a TV before 1962 but listened to Children’s Hour on the radio, but was mainly into classical music. She also sang in the Swansea Philharmonic Choir. Janet talks about the teachers who inspired her, the change in pastoral care in education over th