'A Reflection on Balmain Teachers College'
David Stamp
David was Lecturer in Geography at Balmain Teachers College 1956-66
David Stamp
David was Lecturer in Geography at Balmain Teachers College 1956-66
Thank you for inviting me to your 60th Year Reunion. It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be with you today, though according to Jim Fletcher I'm lucky to make it. While scanning my emails some months back, I noticed one entitled Balmain Teachers' College Reunion. The message in part read, 'Are you the David Stamp who lectured at Balmain Teachers College in 1956'. I rang Jim and his first remark was, 'Great to hear from you David; we really thought you were dead'. However I can assure you I am not an apparition. Against that background, Jim asked me to speak at this august gathering. A task for which I feel quite inadequate, having long since departed the educational scene and having a memory akin to a sieve. At Jim's insistence, I thought it might be appropriate if I briefly reminisced about 1956 our first year together at Balmain, but from my perspective on the other side of the fence. After teaching for five years at Lismore High School, I was being transferred to Parramatta High School, when I received a terse telegram from the NSW Education Department: 'Contact Principal Balmain Teachers College re secondment'. The Principal, John Braithwaite, invited me to join him for afternoon tea at Cahill's Restaurant in Martin Place. A somewhat unconventional place for an interview but as a consequence of our meeting I was offered a secondment to Balmain commencing in 1956, one I readily accepted but with some trepidation. It wasn't until much later I learnt why the interview had taken place as it did. The Principal thought the Smith Street buildings were so dilapidated that they might discourage a new staff member from accepting a secondment. If only he had seen the staffroom I worked out of at Lismore he wouldn't have worried. You, like I, must have been less than impressed when you arrived at the old school building in Smith Street, Balmain, cheek by jowl with White Bay Power Station, and the Lever Bros Soap Factory at the bottom of the hill. I can still remember the delightful odours that wafted up on a warm summer's breeze. It brings back fond memories. In my first days at Balmain I soon realised I was on a steep learning curve coming to grips with a learning environment that emphasised methodology and procedure compared with my recent high school experience. The primary social studies syllabus provided an additional challenge. A challenge that confronts all educators, the continuous compromise between what to teach and how to teach it and I don't think that has changed. On a more practical level I recognised the need to win the approval of the matriarchy down the corridor from the office I shared with Allan Bunker. You must remember, there was Edna, Marj, Eva, Marion and Ruth. They were the senior members of staff and the power behind the throne. My aim was to keep my head down, listen, learn and help where ever I could, ingratiate myself. But remember I was beginning to enjoy college life and it might just assist in my survival. Then I almost fell at the first hurdle – supervised practice teaching. As a new member of staff, I wasn't let loose to supervise students alone. I was to share duties with Eva Duhig at Leichhardt Primary School. At sometime each day, we met to discuss our students and it gave Eva a chance to look at the students' lesson notes, my comments, etc. One afternoon Eva expressed her concern regarding the lesson notes of one of the female students she was supervising. Remember lesson notes had to be written in the writing style currently in vogue and Eva believed the lesson notes in question weren't up to standard. Asked to express an opinion, I looked at them with my high school background and thought they were fine, until I came to a page where I commented, 'The writing has certainly slipped here'. Eva gave me a cold hard stare and replied: 'I'll have you know Mr. Stamp, that is my writing'. I thought my lecturing days were over. But no, Eva was a good sport and we laughed about it later. Thinking back I feel Eva was more concerned about the young lady in question wearing red sandals than she was in her lesson notes. My other memory of Eva is her driving into the college grounds. Everyone ran for cover. |
Edna Holt was my immediate boss and was extremely helpful in guiding me through that first year, but there was one mystery surrounding Edna as Women's Warden that I was never sure I heard the definitive answer. Prior to any social events, dances, etc., Edna would have a special assembly of all female students in the hall and according to the members of the basketball team I coached, you were cautioned about the dangers of wearing red apparel, as it was likely to inflame male passions. Was that an urban myth or can the truth be revealed today? [It was true. Ed.] All too quickly the 1956 academic year ended. I received good news, being offered permanency and it was decided there would be an end of year dinner at Jonah's Restaurant on the Northern Beaches. There was much discussion among senior staff about the seating arrangements. Apparently there was some disquiet about senior and junior staff being seated together for the whole evening. The decision was made to have fixed and mobile seating. Between courses Alton Greenhalgh would ring a bell and the mobile ones would move so many spaces to the right. Problem solved, a good time was had by all, but to the best of my knowledge, we never did have another staff Christmas dinner. I spent a very happy and rewarding eleven years at Balmain. For all its physical disadvantages Balmain Teachers' College was regarded as a very successful teacher training college, especially by the NSW Education Department. School principals were always happy to have Balmain students. However, like most other teachers colleges of the day, Balmain came under increasing criticism as a fairly staid and unimaginative tertiary institution, especially from academics within the university sector. In 1967 I went on promotion to Wollongong Teachers' College and for the next 21 years became intimately involved in the rise and demise of Wollongong College of Advanced Education and the somewhat forced and acrimonious merger of Wollongong CAE and the University of Wollongong, ending my working life as head of the department of primary teacher education within the Faculty of Education at Wollongong University. In retrospect, the many changes that took place in teacher education were as much to do with government, politics and finance as they were to do with education, but that's another story. For more than 30 years teacher education has been the sole responsibility of the universities and more and more we hear criticism of educational standards and in particular the quality of teaching. So I ask you, what's new? David Stamp November 2015 David Stamp's Background 1927 - Born in Merewether, Newcastle 1932 - Attended Junction Primary School and Newcastle Boys' High School 1946 - Sydney University – B.A. (1st Class Honours Geography), Dip.Ed. 1951 - Teacher at Lismore High School 1956 - Lecturer at Balmain Teachers' College 1967 - Senior lecturer at Wollongong Teachers' College 1968 - Sydney University – M.Ed. 1974 - Principal Lecturer at Wollongong Teachers' College and Wollongong College of Advanced Education 1983 - Principal lecturer and head of the department of primary teacher education within the Faculty of Education at Wollongong University 1988 - Retired |