Inspiring and completely contemporary despite its historic context. Beautifully done and very essential reading.

Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy is a memoir about her journey to becoming one of Britain’s first Black headteachers.

I found this book an absolute gem, even though that is probably a weird word to use considering Beryl talks about all the things she experienced on her way to becoming a headteacher and while teaching. Still it is a gem because we don't have many accounts like that in print, even though I am sure there could be more of them, so every single one of them just feels so precious. It's also quite devastating to realise that not all that much has changed.

My thanks to #Netgalley and #Faber&Faber publishers for the opportunity of reviewing this book.
What a stunning memoir about a life well lived.
A shocking, amusing and inspiring, warm, easy flowing read that informs just how far we have traveled towards interracial acceptance.
However we still have a long way to go. I would highly recommend this book.as a guide.

When Beryl came to the UK from British Guyana she arrived to a Britain that was unused to seeing black faces. Trying to get back into teaching was a very difficult uphill struggle. Whilst many schools were becoming multi-cultural, education authorities hadn't quite caught up! Eventually she managed to find herself back doing what she was made to do- work with children & teach.

Much has been in the news lately about the Windrush Generation, although she may not have been on the Windrush it was fascinating to read about the struggles of someone who lived through those days. I really warmed to Beryl. I found her attitude to teaching to be very modern- she appeared to be utilising Co-operative Learning long before it became in common usage. Her love for her work & for her charges shone through. In spite of the vile prejudice she & others endured, she came across as a fascinating warm person. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

First of all, I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with the eARC of this book, Black Teacher by Beryl Gilroy, introduced Bernardine Evaristo.

Black Teacher is a memoir that was first published in 1976, now republished with a foreword by Bernardine Evaristo. Beryl Gilroy, known for being the first black headteacher in London, recounts her journey from leaving what was then known as British Guiana to study in England in 1952 to becoming headteacher at Beckford Primary School, London in 1969.

This is an essential read for those currently practicing or wishing to pursue a career in education. Beryl’s approach to her to the way she educated the children she taught and the relationships she forged with them is something to be revered and practiced today.

The way in which this is written is of particular interest to me with Beryl leaning in to the vernacular of the children, and their parents, that she taught over the course of her career. I find it lends to truly appreciating this book and the extent to which Beryl went to fully portray everything discussed in the book.

Beryl Gilroy's groundbreaking 1976 memoir is rightly being republished with an introduction by Bernadine Evaristo. Gilroy came to London in 1952 from British Guiana, and in 1969 became one of the first black headteachers at a Camden school. The memoir paints a horrifying picture of the racism and bigotry endemic in society in this period of time, inevitably present in education, schools and amidst pupils and parents, making it hard for Beryl to be taken on as a teacher, a situation that refused to deter her. After working in a office, and serving as a lady's maid to the eccentric pro-Empire Lady Anne, which turned out to fortuitously to be a positive experience where Beryl learned that it was possible to be educated without going to school. Her first post as an infant teacher was at a Catholic school, where astonishingly many children were afraid, and went into hiding upon seeing that she was black, only to be gently coaxed out by her.

There is ignorance and prejudice inbuilt in the curriculum and within the teaching staff, overflowing with all the negative connotations of being black. It is eye opening to see Beryl's strategies, often teaching by stealth, bear fruit as the children, and even a number of parents slowly come to accept her, with schools reflect the communities they are based in. She moved on to other schools, ambitious, intent on widening her perspectives, experiences, and understanding, feeling the excitement of developing as a teacher. Beryl adopts the approach of seeing herself as a partner, rather than being the dominating presence in the classroom, seeking social integration within her pupils amidst factionalised communities, providing a faint glimpse of the future of multiculturalism in the country.

This memoir provides a valuable insight into the state of British education in the 1950s and 1960s, capturing the positive experiences as well as the negatives, such as the greater freedom of teachers in being able to respond to the individual child's needs in comparison to the National Curriculum restrictions of today. Recently, many of you may have seen Steve McQueen's excellent acclaimed Small Axe education drama depicting how schools failed black pupils on an industrial scale in the 1970s, it echoed many of the issues and attitudes raised by Beryl. This is a fascinating, compelling and engaging read, still highly relevant, a memoir that should be on reading lists at teacher training colleges. Beryl Gilroy was a pioneer, teaching in the most challenging of environments, whose work and career deserves to be rediscovered and recognised today. Highly recommended to all readers, and I think it will particularly appeal to practicing teachers. Many thanks to the publisher for a copy.

Beryl Gilroy, a talented teacher from Guiana, came to London because she was inspired by the new approaches to teaching that she had heard about, but once here, faced, and faced down, prejudiced and racist attitudes from employers, parents and to some extent also the children she taught. Throughout all this, she remains composed and dignified. I admired her bravery and determination, and applauded her put-downs of those who denigrated her: for example, she tells a colleague who compains that ''foreign people" are swamping "our traditions", that "As for *my* tradition, I haven't got one. Your ancestors saw to that."

I started school in the 1970s., and some of the ways of learning that Gilroy talks about seemed very familiar. But as a white child in the home counties, I had no idea what multi-cultural schooling looked like, and I feel shocked and ashamed of the attitudes that were embedded in our lives then. What shines out, and makes this book so enjoyable, is Gilroy's love of the children she teaches: she wants the best for them, and she is determined to engage the whole community in bettering the lives of her students. The backgrounds of some of the children are heartbreaking, but at least they have Miss Gilroy on their side.

'Black Teacher' is an enjoyable, and a very painful, read.

I was born two years before this book was originally published and also grew up in an almost entirely white Home Counties village so this book was painfully eye opening to me. We still have a long, long way to go in terms of racial equality and attitudes to people with any ‘difference’ but this memoir shows us just how far we have come. Beryl’s ability to keep going and be pushing against a tide of racist school boards, school staff, parents and children raised to repeat their parents beliefs is simply remarkable and what a huge benefit she gave to those children. Miss Gilroy’s children are very possibly today’s community leaders, advocates and socially aware parents who have helped shape the multi cultural Britain of the 21st century.
The best thing about this book for me though was seeing the complete and total freedom that teachers and children had in the days before the National Curriculum and SATs. Where learning to read in year 2 wasn’t seen as an abject failure but simply someone for whom the door to reading hadn’t been unlocked yet. My mother was starting her teaching career at the same time as Beryl and my daughter is beginning hers now. The contrast in what the role was and now is , is alarming in the extreme. We must continue to work towards ending racism in our schools but we should also take a look back to the ‘60s and 70s and see where we could allow our teachers that creative freedom and our children a childhood free from academic pressure.

As a teacher myself, it is always interesting to see teaching through other people’s eyes. I found this book to be wonderful and insightful. I really, thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found her thoughts on raising children interesting. I would recommend this book to my fellow educators.

I strongly encourage anyone who is or wants to become a teacher in our multicultural society to read this book.

Beryl Gilroy came from Guyana to Britain in the 1950s to fulfil her ambition to be a primary school teacher in England. Her struggle to find work shows how far we have progressed in terms of equality. Racism was rife in Britain in the Sixties and Seventies and in every level of society whether it was local authorities, educational boards and employment exchanges who refused to employ an educated and well qualified professional woman down to working class children of the East End and their parents who saw black people as unclean naked savages with cannibalistic tendencies.

This was an extremely eye-opening read ,Though born in 1960's UK, I had no idea that racism was that common in Britain in that era and Gilroy's book serves as a powerful reminder of just how far we have come. It was extremely uncomfortable in parts and one really felt for Beryl. This book has such depth . Aside from being an invaluable and important documentation of racism in Britain, this memoir reads like a testament to the power of education. Beryl conducted herself with grace, class and quiet dignity despite the considerable challenges she faced on a day to day basis both in her personal and professional life and achieved amazing results. She believed wholeheartedly in the power of education as a tool for shaping character.

"They became people in their own right able to break out of the straitjacket of parental dreams and expectations in which they were held.. I helped them to build up their own expectancies, to think of the interests and excitements of each new day"

Beautifully written and reminiscent of a time when teachers saw their job as a vocation and children wanted to learn. I wish everyone could have a teacher like Beryl!

As a teacher myself, I thought that this book was an incredibly important one, and one that I would recommend to staff members rather than pupils. Such an interesting read and I am so glad that it is being republished. Her story is an important one and I am so grateful to NetGalley for letting me read this memoir.