The Original Giles Pepler Interview with NtTRCN

“Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she will be mine for life.”

The lads in the canteen didn’t believe that I could possibly be listening to ‘The Giles Pepler tapes’ as I put it (sad isn’t it?). As one of them said “Would it be a silly question to ask, just who is Giles Pepler?”. At the time I thought I could tell him, but I’m no longer so sure. Of course he’s the Principal, but that really doesn’t explain anything. The phrase above, apparently, comes from the book ‘The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie” and, he says, sums up the opposite of his own educational ideas. When you consider the idea of a teacher who considers himself reasonably liberally minded, and is looking to produce creative, well-adapted and fair-minded young individuals whilst maintaining a certain social stability, you come across the same sort of complexities we were left with.   I was physically shaking before we went into his office. We were bang on time. The watch said 11:30 exactly. I was about to knock on the door when it opened itself. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had arranged it to be so, but it was probably just because of the bloke going the other way. The secretary, Maggie, sitting outside his office knew who we were and why we were there. The Principal called us in by our first names. He was carrying the same list of questions that we were. I felt somewhat helpless. He seemed to know. Almost the first thing he said was “Would you like a cup of coffee?”. I don’t even like coffee but the thought relaxed me somewhat. This guy was human. He grinned comfortingly. The next five minutes were spent with him explaining to us exactly what we were supposed to be doing. “Take some notes,” he said, “transcribing takes an eternity.” “Write down any key phrases or certain words you want to use,” he told us “is there a volume control on the tape recorder?”. We fiddled with it, and having listened to the tape I can honestly say that it didn’t make the slightest bit of difference. At the time, it told us that he knew exactly what we were doing, and that he was in control. He even went so far as to point out that if he sounded a bit patronising, he didn’t mean to. His office, in case you never see it, seems huge. There’s enough space for his desk, a wall of (presumably) book cases, some cabinets and a table to seat eight. It’s the kind of environment you’d like to have to work in because it’s so comfortable. But then, he is the Principal. We went through the first questions trying to find out exactly who we were talking to. He studied for a joint degree in Philosophy and Psychology and it was during this time that the young Giles Pepler first decided that teaching was the career for him. Regular work experience at a local nursery and centre for teenagers with mental handicaps told him that in this career he really could “make a difference”. Yes, he had been a teacher before coming to TRC. Yes, he had been a head teacher / Principal before (a Principal three times, a secondary school head once). He’s been in such roles for about the last twenty years. He knows what he’s doing. He joined TRC in January 1998. Why did he come here? The job, it seems, was his first choice of two nationally. He knew his predecessor, Nigel Briggs. He lived in Sheffield and had needed to travel to Leicester every day for his previous job. He had known about the College here for some time. He realised that he had reached a turning point in his career. It was the job he wanted. How has College changed during his time here? He starts by telling you that the major change took place in 1992/’93. Then, he explains, TRC ‘escaped’ from LEA control and changes started to take place. The number of admissions has grown, evening classes have been developed and more recent developments “of the business”  have led to working with disadvantaged adults, especially from Canklow. Future developments over the next couple of years may be to extend courses to include higher education. The emphasis, he stresses, however, remains with the 16 to 19 age range. We try to steer him back through education, a topic which he self-evidently holds closest to his heart. Does he have a philosophy with regard to education? “Yes,” he says, before returning to running the interview his way, “if you want two phrases, I’ll give you two phrases and then expand on them. Firstly, ‘Education opens doors’,” he pauses whilst we both scribble it down eagerly, “and another one which is a lovely cliché, ‘You’re never too old to learn’.” I laugh slightly before realising this looks somewhat strange. I don’t expand on my reaction. The cliché is what my mum says. I know what he means. He, however, does expand on his philosophy, “Education gives people opportunities to manage their own lives better,” he says “the more the education you have, the better your life chances. And I’m about increasing everybody’s life chances.” I was told something like this at a very early age. I know exactly where he’s coming from. I’m taken aback somewhat. Giles is suddenly making more sense, I’ve defined him as a sensible, realistic guy. I still don’t know him, but the respect is coming naturally. He reels off another couple of answers to the tune that the management of education in England is something of a muddle, that there is too much bureaucracy, that funding isn’t large enough, but then, the public sector is still learning that money doesn’t solve problems on its own. Finally (and he indicated his potential political bias in previous answers), he states that the present government is the only one for a long time to take education seriously enough. I cross off the question that reads ‘Do you think that the government has lived up to its pre-election cries of ‘Education, education, education!’?’. The answer would be something along the lines of  ‘Things are getting better’. For students that are considering teaching as a career he has a story. When he first started teacher training he entered a lecture theatre with about 150 others and was greeted with “So you want to be teachers, then?” “Yes, that’s why we’re here.” they all replied., seeing the answer as obvious. The professor responded “Well I hope you’ve all got thick skins. Because you’ve got to be prepared for people to dislike you for completely irrational reasons and you’ve got to be able to cope with that!” He pauses for dramatic effect. “Teaching is very rewarding, it gives you a buzz about wanting to help people to change and develop, to have a buzz about your specialist areas, but you need to have thick skins. You’re not in it for the money.” Giles says carefully. He’s been there long enough to know. You can sense it.  He wouldn’t give a general piece of advice for anyone reading this, so I’ll give you one instead. Don’t mess. The guy at the top is not there to be messed with, and he’ll take you apart if you try. The last word I noted down was ‘power’. It lies in that office and with the man who works there. It is not to be questioned.   Chris Read & Nazreen Iqbal