Schedules, School
Interview with Barbara Robinson
Date: 16 Apr 2007
From: Wellington Girls College 125th Jubilee oral history project
By: Robinson, Barbara Mary, 1940-
Reference: OHInt-0873-07
Description: Interview with Barbara Robertson, born in Auckland in 1940. Talks about attending Wellington Girls College, the school's traditions at the time, and enjoying maths. Mentions studying maths at Victoria University, then training as a teacher in Christchurch, and her first job teaching at Upper Hutt College. Comments on how her career was punctuated by spells teaching overseas in countries where her diplomat husband was posted, and having to begin from the bottom again whenever they returned. Describes teaching fourth formers in the Vogel Builging while the College's Brook building was being remodelled and the instructions on access and behaviour given to the students. Discusses doing timetabling, first at Upper Hutt College, and later at Wellington Girls College, and enjoying it as a logical exercise. Refers to children who have grown up with television expecting to be passively entertained and not valuing learning for its own sake. Mentions that adult students were a good influence in class. Reflects on the change in attitudes of students and parents to teachers and the school and the Wellington Girls College parents being more demanding than parents at other schools where she taught. Outlines changes in the teaching of maths, beginning with the introduction of new maths when she was teaching at Upper Hutt College. Reflects on the changes from mental arithmetic and log tables to slide rules, then calculators and graphics calculators. Discusses NCEA, which benefits the slower students but brighter students no longer having an incentive to extend themselves. Refers to now just teaching what will be assessed and not broadening what is taught. Comments that maths educates the mind. Refers to interschool maths competitions. Discusses the evolution of computer studies at Wellington Girls College, and refers to holiday courses on computing that she attended. Outlines the fund-raising schemes to buy computers for the school, having Apples computers initially but later moving to PCs when the windows operating system was available. Mentions the main early uses of computers in the school were for databases, word processing and spreadsheets, and the Commerce Department taking over teaching computing. Comments that most of the computer studies teachers were also maths teachers and the need to think beyond maths in computer use. Refers to the parallel push to use computers as tools and to teach programming. Comments she enjoying teaching programming because it required logical thinking and attention to detail. Interviewer(s) - Pip Oldham Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-000120 Quantity: 1 transcript(s). 1 digital sound recording(s) digital sound recording(s). 1 interview(s). 2.18 Hours and minutes Duration. Physical Description: Sound files - wave files Finding Aids: Abstract Available - transcript(s) available OHA-5866. Search dates: 1940 - 2007
Nisbet, Alastair, 1958- :School Holidays. 10 October 2012
Date: 2012
From: Nisbet, Alastair, 1958- :Digital cartoons
By: Press (Christchurch, N.Z.)
Reference: DCDL-0023191
Description: Shows dark clouds and raindrops raining over the words `school holidays'. Refers to the October 2012 school holidays in New Zealand which were marred by bad weather. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).