A Teacher's View of Educatlen

Other than her family, there are two things about which Moira Walsh cares, and cares passionately ..."teaching children in the classroom" and Gibraltar. She "lost" the first of these loves three years ago when she retired after more than three decades as a dedicated educationist; the second is in her blood and something of which she re mains proud. And it is the latter passion which has pitch-forked her into local politics at a time of life when most retired parents relax and enjoy their grandchildren.

Walsh, a relatively recent addi tion to the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP)executive, does man age to spend time each day with her grandchildren and, in spite of her new political commitments, hopes to continue to find time for her outdoor enthusiasms — skiing in winter and walking.

"I'm not really a political person at all... I have never felt the urge to join either of the ln\'0 main political parties," she says in an accent that owes more to England's southern counties than to the Rock's cosmo politan linguistic ancestry. "1 am not English and 1 am not Spanish, I am Gibraltarian... and that's something special. And because I care about Gibraltar,I was worried about what is happening...

"1 felt that there was a need for change and, when 1 saw the launch of the PDP and read about the party's views and commitments, I thought to myself'My God! There are others out there who think as I do', And that's the thing about the PDP — we are all ordinary people, but people who want to make a dif ference. People who CARE about Gibraltar."

As she speaks the blue-grey eyes sparkle with enthusiasm and one can almost hear the capital letters as she stresses the word 'CARE'.

It was this caring at a non-political level and a belief that"when things matter people need to stand up and be counted" that set Walsh — then vice-president of the local teachers' union — among the lead ers of the movement which organ ised the protest march to the House of Assembly which forced Joe Bossano the then Chief Minister to act to stop the "fast launches" and the tobacco smuggling to which his administration had previously turned a blind eye.

"Teachers were concerned at the impact of the fast launches on our pupils, many of whom took the atti tude that there wasso much money to be made by these criminal opera tors that they did not need to leam," Walsh recalls. "At the AGM of the teachers' association we adopted a motion to act on our concerns... and the rest is history.

"The day we went out on the street we did not know how many people would turn out to support us, but as we progressed up Main Street people poured out of every side street and alley to join and by the time we reached here" — she gestures around the Piazza of the House of Assembly where we have met for coffee — "there were thousands."

Though Walsh's "stand up and be counted" move tojoin the PDP's executive is her first real venture into the political arena,it is a sphere not entirely unknown to Walsh. Her father was John Clinton,a civil servant who for many years was the Government's PRO, so that "to some extent, I've lived with it (the machinery"of government]from an early age." It was Clinton,too, who nurtured her well-spoken English.

"Though a typical Gibraltarian family, we always spoke English at home. Father used to say that we (Walsh was one of seven children in the family)would pick up Span ish at school and at play but our education would be in English," she explains.

Walsh was"bom,bred and edu cated" on the Rock, first attending Loreto Convent and later Loreto High, then the convent's school which has since closed.

"In those days special qualifica tions were not required to become a teacher and when I left school at 18, 1 immediately started teaching at the school in Catalan Bav — an- other institution which has since closed," Walsh explains."But 1 was already courting my husband at the lime and I got married young and we started a family."

Her first daughter was born when Walsh was barely 20 and she "stayed at home to be a practical and caring mother." However, when her first born was 13 months old, with her husband,who worked in the Dockyard, Walsh moved to the UK where her second daughter was born a year later.

Though the growing Walsh fam ily returned to the Rock every year, they bought a home in England and — when her daughters were two and four respectively — Walsh went back to school... this time as a student at Sittingboume College for Further Education, taking a threeyear course to qualify as a teacher. She taught English in Raynham,in Kent, but when her son was born she again discarded blackboard and chalk and returned to the role of full-time mother.

"1 did a little supply teaching,but I thought it more important to be with my young son and, anyway, I wanted to..."

Walsh and her three children spent every summer in Gibraltar where thev were joined for a month by her husband for his annual leave. In 1983 he decided to return to the Rock to enlist in the RGP and at Christmas that year he sat — and passed — the police exam. The family returned to Gibraltar early in 1984 and, with the scarcity of teachers the Rock faced at the time, Walsh resumed her career.

"Gibraltar was desperate for teachers and they were waiting for me to come," she recalls. "I had remained in England to sell the house and they kept telephoning asking when I was coming."

Walsh accepted a post at St. Joseph's teaching children with special needs and for the next 19 years "enjoyed my one great love — being with children in the class room." It also led eventually to her vice-presidency of the teachers' union, a post which "gave me the opportunity to see things from a different perspective and I became very aware of how hard teachers^

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With her peers she campaigned to have class sizes lowered... a need which she still feels strongly about.

"We have a good educational system herewithexcellentteachers, and the opportunity for schoolleavers to continue into tertiary education with government fund ing is great... but there is room for improvement," she says.

"I have known for a long time that our present very academic system isnotsuitable forall," Walsh told me. "Theargument is thatsince all our children go to university in the UK it is preferable to follow all the British initiatives. But not ALL ourchildren goon to furthereduca tion in the UK. It is these children 1 would like to see targeted. They wouldbe channelled, with parental consent, via the vocational route at age 14 — but English and maths would continue tobe taughtsothat they can function adequately inthe world of work."

Though Walsh believes that the level ofteaching inGibraltarishigh she adds that though the levels of illiteracy among Gibraltar schoolleavers is considerably lower than in Britain, there are local teenagers who are still technically illiterate when they leave school.

"We were wrong to follow the British curriculum as slavishly as we have," she adds. "They have now realised you can't just have an academic route and have begun to change — as we have — but we could have made the switch before."

Gibtelecom makes history

Archaeologists in a few hundred years' time will be excited when they discover the time capsule buried at Gibtelecom's city centre offices.

Minister for Heritage, Culture, Youth and Sport, the Hon Fabian Vinet, combined his heritage brief with his role as Chairman of Gibt elecom when he formally buried a sealed steel chest containing early 21st century relics-to-be, including telecommunications equipment, Gibtelecom corporate records and Company publications, in the floor of the John Mackintosh Square building.

An engraved plaque will be placed over the floor of what is to be the new Customer Service Centre, to mark the time capsule's location.

The ceremony was attended by Gibtelecom's CEO, Tim Bristow, along with Verizon Communica tions' Vice President (Europe) Ra hul Saxena and other Gibtelecom board members. Verizon are joint owners of Gibtelecom along with the Government of Gibraltar.

Representatives of every Gibt elecomdepartmentalsowitnessed the event.

Fabian Vinet paid tribute to Gibtelecom for what he described as an innovative initiative to preserve part of Gibraltar's his tory. He added, "The capsule will provide future generations with a glimpse of the way telecommu nications has developed over the last century or so."

Much of this history will be expressed in Malcolm Beanland's book Gibraltar Calling, part of

Minister for Heritage, Culture, YouHt and Sport the Hon Fabian Vinet and Verizon Communications' Vice President (Eurape} Mr Rahul Saxena lower the time capsule into place the time capsule, which traces the origins of Gibtelecom back to the mid 1880s and the Eastern Telegraph Company. It also cov ers the history of the company up to the merger of Gibraltar Nynex with Gibtel.

Gibraltar Nynex Communica tions Ltd was formed in 1990 when the former government Gibraltar Telephone Department was privatised.

The new offices atJohn Mackin tosh Square are partly the recon struction of the existing building, which dates back to 1801 or earlier.

The new construction rests on piles, or legs, some of which pen etrate a full 20 metres down to the bedrock below.

PUes were also driven tight to the adjoining wall of the Haven, as the newly-excavated cellar went lower than the foundations of that 1970s' building.

This was not necessary on the Other side, as the neighbouring Old Guard Room's foundations surprisingly went lower than the new basement.

Work is expected to be com pleted within 18 months, with tine new building housing the Cus tomer Service Centre and general offices, which will be integrated with the nearby Haven and City Hall, where Gibtelecom also has technical departments.