Who is Neil Mayers?
Haven't decided yet! Still trying to be a good husband and father at the moment which is obviously my first priority. I have written a book but I wouldn't say I'm a writer. I do portrait photography but I wouldn't call myself a photographer. I think I would confidently call myself a teacher even though I've been doing photography longer because whatever I do, my first thought is how can I let everyone else know what I know. Neil Mayers is just a brother trying to spread the word.
How long have you been involved in education?
This is my 14th year as a qualified teacher. I've been a form tutor, Head of Year, Head of Inclusion, Head of Key Stage 4 Mathematics (GCSE Coordinator, effectively) and Assistant Head of Year focusing on Year-11 African pupils achievement. Done quite a bit!
Why did you choose to enter this field?
This is a long story so, I'll do it in bullet point format!
• Thought I wanted to be an engineer
• Thought wrong
• Finished my degree anyway
• Knocked around working at HMV and Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square killing time for a year or two
• Signed up for an African World Studies class with Dr Femi Biko - put my life in focus!
• Decided that all students had to learn a version of this course to get the same 'purpose' in their lives.
• Realised they don't teach African history in schools
• Thought about what I could teach (and teach African History on the side)
• Did a lot of maths on my degree and a lot of African students find it challenging!
Give us some example of the challenges you faced?
The teacher training course was damn near worthless and totally irrelevant. It was very hard motivating myself to write essays on child pedagogy when I knew they were of little use in the classroom. They didn't even teach me how to manage a classroom! Thankfully, I used the techniques my mum used for managing me and I've never had an altercation with a student.
I go round to the students houses to meet parents if there are issues that need to be resolved. The school openly told me that they did not support that behaviour for obvious legal reasons. They just left me to it - which was fine. I was happy they were not involved. But it's symptomatic to the general policy on breaking from the norm - you will not be supported. Unfortunately that means that they will support you in practices which continue to fail our community. Interesting!
In my last 2 years I've noticed that Headteachers will make your life difficult not only if you are failing the students (which other teachers were) but also if you push the students further than the limitations of their age brackets. Interesting.
What inspired you and who would you like to have inspired?
Not so much a "what". More "Who"
My wife inspires me to be a better man than I am. She's sunshine. Even when she's miserable and more like rain, she's like a 2-hour downpour in a sweltering desert - always needed.
I share my birthday with the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. He is a constant source of inspiration in terms of how high I can set the bar for myself and my community.
I'm not particularly interested in inspiring people to be honest. I know that you can inspire people to act, but I just want people to act.
Some people get inspired and don't do anything so, I'm not so interested in changing people's feelings (primarily), but I am interested in changing people actions and behaviour towards themselves and their community. Obviously you have to change a person’s thoughts before actions so I consider it a blessing if I've managed to inspire somebody, but I will check up on them at a later date! "potential" is a waste.
If you are asking me why did I write the book, then that was simply out of anger and frustration. I was sitting at a parents evening watching all the African parents and children I didn't teach walk past my desk to speak to the other maths teachers. The African parents I had never met were saying, "I don't know why their grades are not as good as we wanted. They used to love maths. I don't know what is going on. What can I do?" The parents I saw the year before were saying, "Thank you so much for everything you said last time. I have my old child back! It's like I have a new child on my hands. They are doing so well. Can you make sure you are the teacher for my other children!" And I got really annoyed that all those other African parents wouldn't benefit from my past experience. I needed a 'megaphone' to tell the rest of the community. The book became that 'megaphone'.
How do you think your work contributes to the Pan African community?
I try to teach self-reliance. I teach my maths students how to teach themselves. A good teacher is one that makes themselves progressively unnecessary. This society tries to breed dependency and that will forever keep us enslaved. I try to teach African ethics and values as our benchmarks. The person is more important than the grade. I often remind my students that in most films with "goodies" and "baddies" the arch nemesis is often an evil genius with just as much intelligence as the hero. Unfortunately, they chose to use their intelligence for selfish desires instead of selfless ones. There's no point spending time and money educating someone if you do not do it in a cultural context otherwise they will just use their "book-smarts" to the detriment of the African continent and its people.
Sometimes it's frustrating knowing that you would like to spend more time saying that, rather than teaching what's on the maths syllabus. That's why building and maintaining our own schools is so important. Then they would not have to be 2 separate endeavours.
Your book has some fantastic tips for parents and is written in a jargon free style that is accessible to many – was this deliberate and why?
Absolutely. The first book I read that inspired me to read more was "From the Browder File" I have never been a great reader. I often have to read each sentence 3 or 4 times to make it sink in depending on my environment. I think that the language of the book should only add to your experience. It should never be an obstacle. I read Anthony Browder's book when I was quite young and I understood every word of it because it was written in a jargon-free style.
I really wanted to know what Ivan Van Sertima had to say about African History but I simply couldn't handle his use of language. So yes, it was a very deliberate action to remove EVERYTHING from that book which would have switched people off. Even with my mathematics background I tried very hard not to throw any statistics in the book or use footnotes. I did not want to impress anyone with how I was speaking, I just wanted everyone to be able to hear me and understand me.
Tell us something unique about you?
I can't stand mobile phones! I don't have one.
How can we get in touch?
Visit the website www.giftedatprimary.com and email me on info@giftedatprimary.com
External Links
Gifted At Primary
Haven't decided yet! Still trying to be a good husband and father at the moment which is obviously my first priority. I have written a book but I wouldn't say I'm a writer. I do portrait photography but I wouldn't call myself a photographer. I think I would confidently call myself a teacher even though I've been doing photography longer because whatever I do, my first thought is how can I let everyone else know what I know. Neil Mayers is just a brother trying to spread the word.
How long have you been involved in education?
This is my 14th year as a qualified teacher. I've been a form tutor, Head of Year, Head of Inclusion, Head of Key Stage 4 Mathematics (GCSE Coordinator, effectively) and Assistant Head of Year focusing on Year-11 African pupils achievement. Done quite a bit!
Why did you choose to enter this field?
This is a long story so, I'll do it in bullet point format!
• Thought I wanted to be an engineer
• Thought wrong
• Finished my degree anyway
• Knocked around working at HMV and Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square killing time for a year or two
• Signed up for an African World Studies class with Dr Femi Biko - put my life in focus!
• Decided that all students had to learn a version of this course to get the same 'purpose' in their lives.
• Realised they don't teach African history in schools
• Thought about what I could teach (and teach African History on the side)
• Did a lot of maths on my degree and a lot of African students find it challenging!
Give us some example of the challenges you faced?
The teacher training course was damn near worthless and totally irrelevant. It was very hard motivating myself to write essays on child pedagogy when I knew they were of little use in the classroom. They didn't even teach me how to manage a classroom! Thankfully, I used the techniques my mum used for managing me and I've never had an altercation with a student.
I go round to the students houses to meet parents if there are issues that need to be resolved. The school openly told me that they did not support that behaviour for obvious legal reasons. They just left me to it - which was fine. I was happy they were not involved. But it's symptomatic to the general policy on breaking from the norm - you will not be supported. Unfortunately that means that they will support you in practices which continue to fail our community. Interesting!
In my last 2 years I've noticed that Headteachers will make your life difficult not only if you are failing the students (which other teachers were) but also if you push the students further than the limitations of their age brackets. Interesting.
What inspired you and who would you like to have inspired?
Not so much a "what". More "Who"
My wife inspires me to be a better man than I am. She's sunshine. Even when she's miserable and more like rain, she's like a 2-hour downpour in a sweltering desert - always needed.
I share my birthday with the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. He is a constant source of inspiration in terms of how high I can set the bar for myself and my community.
I'm not particularly interested in inspiring people to be honest. I know that you can inspire people to act, but I just want people to act.
Some people get inspired and don't do anything so, I'm not so interested in changing people's feelings (primarily), but I am interested in changing people actions and behaviour towards themselves and their community. Obviously you have to change a person’s thoughts before actions so I consider it a blessing if I've managed to inspire somebody, but I will check up on them at a later date! "potential" is a waste.
If you are asking me why did I write the book, then that was simply out of anger and frustration. I was sitting at a parents evening watching all the African parents and children I didn't teach walk past my desk to speak to the other maths teachers. The African parents I had never met were saying, "I don't know why their grades are not as good as we wanted. They used to love maths. I don't know what is going on. What can I do?" The parents I saw the year before were saying, "Thank you so much for everything you said last time. I have my old child back! It's like I have a new child on my hands. They are doing so well. Can you make sure you are the teacher for my other children!" And I got really annoyed that all those other African parents wouldn't benefit from my past experience. I needed a 'megaphone' to tell the rest of the community. The book became that 'megaphone'.
Book: Gifted at Primary, Failing by Secondary
I try to teach self-reliance. I teach my maths students how to teach themselves. A good teacher is one that makes themselves progressively unnecessary. This society tries to breed dependency and that will forever keep us enslaved. I try to teach African ethics and values as our benchmarks. The person is more important than the grade. I often remind my students that in most films with "goodies" and "baddies" the arch nemesis is often an evil genius with just as much intelligence as the hero. Unfortunately, they chose to use their intelligence for selfish desires instead of selfless ones. There's no point spending time and money educating someone if you do not do it in a cultural context otherwise they will just use their "book-smarts" to the detriment of the African continent and its people.
Sometimes it's frustrating knowing that you would like to spend more time saying that, rather than teaching what's on the maths syllabus. That's why building and maintaining our own schools is so important. Then they would not have to be 2 separate endeavours.
Your book has some fantastic tips for parents and is written in a jargon free style that is accessible to many – was this deliberate and why?
Absolutely. The first book I read that inspired me to read more was "From the Browder File" I have never been a great reader. I often have to read each sentence 3 or 4 times to make it sink in depending on my environment. I think that the language of the book should only add to your experience. It should never be an obstacle. I read Anthony Browder's book when I was quite young and I understood every word of it because it was written in a jargon-free style.
I really wanted to know what Ivan Van Sertima had to say about African History but I simply couldn't handle his use of language. So yes, it was a very deliberate action to remove EVERYTHING from that book which would have switched people off. Even with my mathematics background I tried very hard not to throw any statistics in the book or use footnotes. I did not want to impress anyone with how I was speaking, I just wanted everyone to be able to hear me and understand me.
Tell us something unique about you?
I can't stand mobile phones! I don't have one.
How can we get in touch?
Visit the website www.giftedatprimary.com and email me on info@giftedatprimary.com
External Links
Gifted At Primary
Ligali is not responsible for the content of third party sites
Speak Out!
Click here to speak out and share your perspective on this article.There’s no point spending time and money educating someone if you do not do it in a cultural context otherwise they will just use their “book-smarts” to the detriment of the African continent and its people.
Neil Mayers
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