My mother, born 1930, graduated from teacher training college in the spring of 1952. Here she is on her graduation day together with her parents. Her father was a school teacher as well. Her mother, before she got married, had had a secretarial job.
In the autumn of 1952, my mum moved to a small countryside village for her first teaching job. It was a very small school. From the few photos in her photo album, it seems her pupils were all ages, from beginners (7 year olds) to their early teens. (Rather reminding of Anne of Green Gables or Little House of the Prairie kind of schools.)
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| The school house |
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| "My children" |
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| "First year" |
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| "Break" |
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| (Drawing by my mum in her album) |
The school house from another angle. Photo taken when my dad (then her boyfriend) and his parents came to visit. My parents with my grandmother Sally + my grandparents' dog Zepp (a collie). Photo taken by my grandfather Gustaf. (My parents got engaged at Christmas that year, 1952.)
As teacher, my mum lived in this small cottage next to a farm house.
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| "View from my window" |
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| "Winter break" |
At the end of the spring term 1953, she took the older of her pupils on a school trip to Gothenburg.
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| Photo from tourist boat 'Paddan' in Gothenburg |
While I don't know how many of the young people aboard "belong" to my mum, I think I can spot evidence that her fiancé joined them for this boat trip: Dark-haired young man with sunglasses, next to dark-haired young woman - on the right, 7th row or so from the front...
Linking to Sepia Saturday 715
That sure was a boatload of people. I bet the young ones were so thrilled to be out and about, (as well as those older ones!) Such a sweet little school and cottage that she had for living and working.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I think that sightseeing tour of Gothenburg by boat is still available. I know it was back in my own school days. I went on similar school trips myself back in the mid/late 1960s. And they always took those group photos which one could buy afterwards.
DeleteWonderful pictures! That boatload of folks is quite something! But it was the bottom of the 3-in-1 collage that caught my eye because of the dress the blond gal, second in from the left, is wearing. When I was 8 years old I had a dress with a ruffled bodice top like that & short puffed sleeves. It was light blue, the inset ruffled top was white with white spotted red capped mushroom appliques on it. I loved that dress and hadn't thought about it in a long time until seeing that gal wearing one so similar brought it happily to mind. :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you found something to stir a bit of nostalgia, Gail! :-)
DeleteThis was a perfect collection to post for this theme of work. Teachers have always needed more recognition as members of labor. Preparing daily lessons and organizing young kids is tough work. Recently I found one of my mother's lesson plan books that she kept when she was an elementary school art teacher. It had many drawings just like your mum's. My mom was responsible for demonstrating and instructing children in a wide variety of art techniques, and each week was filled with detailed outlines of what she hoped to accomplish. What impresses me most though is that these plans were for an entire school, sometime over 600 students. I think she would have enjoyed teaching at a little country school like your mum's. Was your mother the only teacher there?
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike. Yes, it's my impression that this was a very small countryside village school and my mother the only teacher for a group of children of all ages. Which must have been a very different kind of challenge than today's schools. She was only there for a year, or possibly two. She married my dad in 1954, and the first year after that she taught a class of year 5-6 students in a somewhat larger village school. The next summer my parents moved to a bigger town; but then I came into the picture, and some years later my brother, and mum never went back to work outside the home again. (There were no day care centres or nursery schools back then.)
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