GoodHeart | Educator fulfils her purpose through home economics
Published:Saturday | November 23, 2024 | 12:07 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Thirty-four years ago, when Claudette Douglas Webb returned to Rest All-Age School in Milk River, Clarendon, after training as a primary school teacher at The MICO University College, she realised the system wasn’t for her. Having started teaching at the school in 1990 at the age of 19 as a pre-trained teacher from Kemps Hill High School, she knew by the time she earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics in 1996 that it was time to move on and teach girls at the high-school level.
During an interview with The Gleaner on Wednesday, after receiving a top teacher award and delivering the vote of thanks at the Carlong Publishers Teachers’ Appreciation Luncheon at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, where 100 teachers from across the island were honoured, she emphasised that she had felt restless at the all-age school.
“I was there, and I felt like I was wasting time, because I was not doing what I love and what I was trained to do. I did secondary education and home economics, and I just felt like I was not imparting my knowledge. So I left and went overseas in England at St Mark’s Catholic School in Essex for a year and a half in 2003, and when I came back in 2005, I cleared my mind, and knew I would want to teach home economics here,” Douglas Webb told GoodHeart.
Naturally, she loves to cook and sew, and her mother instilled in her the belief that girls should be skilled homemakers, with the talent to build and nurture their homes.
Douglas Webb also noted that after attending college, she gained a deeper understanding of the real importance of home economics. However, what truly drew her to teach the subject was the way people perceived it and the stigma often attached to it.
“A lot of persons look down at the subject to say, ‘If you do home economics, you are in the area because you are dunce. You are not bright, because you’re not intelligent’, so I said [to myself], I’m going to prove them all wrong,” she said.
As fate would have it, she eventually secured a job with The Wolmer’s Trust High School for Girls as a home economics teacher.
Douglas Webb said that at the end of each day after teaching girls, she feels “good” even though she has to drive miles each day from Clarendon to Kingston.
“I see the need for it in society today. I feel good when my girls say, ‘Yes, miss. I understand.’ I feel good when I give them work, I gave instructions and they listen and they do well. I don’t count the numbers [of years I have been teaching] again. I just work. For me, when I teach, I want to know at the end of the day that the girls understand, they learn, and, if I get nothing else out of it, it’s just to see that they’ve achieved,” the educator shared, happily.
She believes her selection for the Carlong Publishers Teachers’ Appreciation Award was based on the premise of her still using physical books from Carlong Publishers, and advocating to the publishers to donate books to students in need.
She was recognised for her exemplary work, exceptional teaching skills, and for going above and beyond to help students. She ensures that her students grasp their lessons well in the field she trains in every weekday.
“I’m a good educator because I’m committed to my job. For me, if it was the salary, I don’t think I would we would have any teachers,” she explained before adding that she felt wonderful after she was announced as one of the top teachers.
She currently has one dream for Jamaica: to see a major shift in the education sector.
“I think the teaching profession needs some flavour. I think it needs some more professionalism, and for the most part, I think our institutions that are there to guide, need to [do more] as it relates to how we treat our teachers [and provide] more room for upgrading and growth.”