Top of the class at 89! Irene still teaching after 70 years
BRITAIN’S oldest teacher is still hard at work with her marking pen at 89 – because she does not believe that modern education chiefs appreciate the benefits of learning the three Rs.
Irene Basham has been taking lessons for almost 70 years and estimates more than 3,500 children have come under her care.
She began her career at 20 in 1947 and continued at the same primary school, rising to head teacher, before retiring in 1992.
But within weeks of leaving Farfield Primary School in Bradford, West Yorkshire, the veteran teacher yearned to be back in the classroom.
A chat with the head of her grandson’s infant school led to her being recruited as a teaching assistant.
Although her hours have been reduced gradually she still works one day a week.
She said: “I was at my grandson’s Christmas play and told the head teacher how much I missed the children. She offered me the chance to go in to help and I have been there ever since. I have always loved teaching children and I love to be with them.”
Irene is now a volunteer at Pool Church of England Primary School in Starting out...Irene pictured in 1947 Retirement...stepping down in 1992 Leeds, and, despite turning 90 at the end of this month, the grandmother of three insists that she remains as keen as the first day she started.
Irene, who reads one-to-one with a class of 30 aged between five and seven, said: “The kids get really excited by learning about the world and language and I love to see that.
“I think they try to teach children too much too soon – they don’t give them time to assimilate information.”
Irene graduated from Furzedown Teaching College in London in 1945 and married her late husband John two years later.