Sally Burns

“You are a born teacher.” That is what Miss Spiby said to me when I was seventeen, helping her by teaching the non-swimmers to swim. Her words stuck with me, although I rejected them at the time. I had never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a diplomat or do a job where I could travel and use my languages. Just three years later, however, I found myself working as a language assistant in a school in Germany – during the third year of my Languages degree – and thoroughly enjoying it. And another three years on, I had my first EFL job in a private language school in North Wales.

Now, nearly forty years later, I can say that Miss Spiby was right. I am a born teacher. I am passionate about education and have made it my life’s work. I have worked in all three education sectors in U.K., Germany, remote northern Sudan and Oman. I was a freelance educational consultant based in Wales while raising my three sons.

What matters to me in teaching are the students, the young people. I want to know them: who they are and what has made them who they are. I want to take them on adventures, expose them to different cultures and support them as they take risks.

In the nineties, I began to work closely with Georgeanne Lamont. Together we wrote Values and Visions: A Handbook for Spiritual Development and Global Awareness. Over the past thirty-five years, I have also written a number of refereed articles and contributed chapters to three books.

All of this is what I bring to our new work: Values and Visions.