“I started teaching after writing an essay”

– Rowena Seymour talks about her love for teaching

When one listens to Rowena Seymour, the immediate impression she exudes is her deep passion for teaching. Secondly, while listening to her experiences in the profession, which spans 26 years to date, one immediately recognises her upbeat personality and deep reassuring confidence with which she speaks.
Seymour said it all started when she wrote an essay on why she would like to become a teacher. At the time, she was a 16-year-old student at the North West Secondary School at Mabaruma.

She noted that former education official Owen Allen was working with students at the time who were preparing to write the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) English examinations. Allen was impressed with her essay. “He called me up one day and asked me if I am willing to teach,” she said.
Seymour said at that time there was a vacancy for a teacher in the area. She said it was Ann Forde, a revered educator who passed away recently, who convinced her to enter the noble profession.
Seymour said Forde, who was an education officer at the time, explained the process in which one can become a trained teacher and how one could upgrade their qualifications through training and university studies and even move on to become a Head Teacher. Seymour noted that she would never forget Forde’s convincing conversation.
She said at that time she was completing work study attachment, having completed the CXC exams. Soon after the attachment, Seymour was interviewed by the education officials for the teaching post.

The journey in a nutshell
She said she started out as a teaching aide at the Barabina Primary School at Mabaruma and after two years, she moved to the city to attend the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE). After completing the training programme, she went back to Mabaruma to teach for three years and soon after she decided to move back to the city. That was in 1997.
Seymour said she taught at the Cummings Lodge Primary School and later moved on to teach at the Cummings Lodge Secondary. She then moved to the Christ Church Secondary School in the city where she assumed the post of Head of Department for English. She was there from 2005 to 2008.
After five years at Christ Church Secondary, she was offered the post of Acting Head Teacher at the La Bonne Intention Secondary School on the East Coast of Demerara. “I spent two years at LBI Secondary School,” she said. Seymour subsequently assumed the post of Head Teacher of the Kingston Secondary School in 2016 and she spent three years in that post.
She then applied to the Ministry of Education for the post of Head Teacher at St Winifred’s Secondary School in the city and in October of 2019 she assumed the post. She currently serves in that post.

At CPCE
Moving to the city from the hinterland can be a challenge and in many instances, the young teachers would leave their families behind, including young children and adjust to the new environment.

For Seymour, it was an adjustment which she was looking forward to. “It was fun, I would say,” Seymour said of her time at the CPCE. She said that she did not experience many challenges and according to her, the regional administration at Mabaruma paid her salary. She said it was a method in which the regional authorities would convince trained teachers to return to their respective regions to teach. “So I use to get my salary and also the CPCE stipend,” she said.

She said that the transition of moving to train at the CPCE was a “smooth” one. In addition, she noted that the teachers from the region would work as a team, adding that they always looked out for each other while completing the training.

Teaching in the city
Of course, it is tough at the city schools as a Head Teacher, Seymour said. She noted that students are coming from diverse backgrounds and she noted too that there are multiple issues to deal with. “It can be tough to deal with but some days are nice also,” she said.
She said although she is the Head Teacher, she still tries to teach a class rather than undertaking administration duties continuously on a daily basis. “I still miss being in the classroom, I am not there so often as before when I was a normal teacher,” she added.
Seymour said that she grabs any opportunity which pops up for her to teach a classroom. “If while I am supervising the school a teacher is absent, I would take the class,” she added.
For this term, Seymour said the English teacher for the Fifth Formers was on leave and as such she decided to fill the gap. “So when the teacher return I said I will continue to work with the year and she will also continue doing her part,” she added.

Memorable moments
When asked about memorable experiences along her teaching journey, Seymour said, “I think I would have a lot to recall but of course there are outstanding ones”. She said while at the Christ Church Secondary School there was a male student who was “always in some sort of problem”.
She said she called him one day and sat down with him. “I told him that I want you to be on the school debate team,” she said, noting that he willingly accepted the offer. She said to his and her surprise, he was adjudged “best speaker” in various rounds of the debate competitions. “Even when we had impromptu speeches he was there, one time he went up to partake in a science quiz and Christ Church won the competition,” she added.
She said one day the student brought his mother to the school to meet her and Seymour said it was an emotional moment. “He said to his mother, this is the teacher who made me win those prizes,” she recalled him saying. “I was shocked when he did the introduction like that but then when I thought about it he could have strayed in another direction but I saw the good qualities in him and brought him to take part in the debates and to do speeches and I think that really had an impact on him,” Seymour said.
In addition, she recalled working with students who couldn’t read properly or who needed help with their English writing skills. She said she would dedicate her lunch hour to assist them. “So when they come out of my class they must know to read well,” she added.

Family support and COVID-19
Seymour is a mother of two daughters and she noted that it can be a challenge to balance her family life and heading a school. However, she noted that she would adjust and try her utmost. She said she has a daughter who is moving into the Grade 8 level of schooling and she would dedicate her time to ensure her daughter does well at school. “It is a bit challenging to deal with work and deal with your own children at home. When you get home from work still have to be with them and transition to being a normal parent,” she said with a smile. In addition, she said her husband, who is also an educator, is very supportive in helping the children with their school work.
Seymour said that while COVID-19 disrupted the school system, the teaching staff at St Winifred’s adjusted and as such they worked as a team in ensuring the education of the children remained a priority during the pandemic.

Advice to new teachers
Seymour said love for the profession is the foundation on which new teachers should build their respective careers. “New teachers coming into the system must have a love for children, for working with children because if you do not have a love for working with children you are going to snap at them, you need to understand them,” she added. She reiterated that one must have a love for teaching. “One must have this interest in teaching, you must want to explain and deliver so people can understand and you must have patience in doing that,” she added. “And believe me, at secondary school you have to come in with broad shoulders because if the students see you as being soft they tend to take advantage of that,” Seymour said.
Seymour said one of her strengths is being able to relate to the people she works with. She explained that if she did not possess that ability, then the team effort which is required from the staff, would not be realised. “So we work in an environment where you have people with different issues or personalities so it is important for a Head Teacher or for me, to understand each teacher at an individual level,” Seymour said.
Seymour said she will continue to display her endless love for teaching and according to her, teachers are special, in that they often work beyond their own expectations just for the love of the profession, and the students.