An excited but sad Carol Haupt of Athlone retired from teaching after 33 years at Athlone North Primary School on Friday 9 December, when she and two others said goodbye to the school.
Originally from District Six, she has mixed emotions about her early retirement.
“I am happy, excited and sad, but mostly excited because my body feels run-down and it is time I retire. What I loved most about teaching is the fact that I could make an impact on the lives of children. I could take the learners from knowing nothing to the end of the year when they can read and write confidently.
“The most rewarding part was when children could leave Grade 1 able to read. When I started my teaching career I enjoyed physical education (PE) with girls the most, as I was the most loved person at school. Nowadays physical education is not part of the curriculum.”
The learners looked forward to PE time. Haupt taught them gymnastrada, folk dancing, eisteddfods, athletics, line dancing as well as spiritual dancing.
“The best time of the year was athletics,” she said. “Those times I will treasure the most, as I was an extremely active young teacher back then. In my later years, making a difference in the lives of my learners and my colleagues became my focal point. My colleagues became friends as well.”
Haupt instilled the values of honesty, kindness, compassion, helpfulness, thoughtfulness and being the best one can be.
“To me, it was important never to give up on any of my learners,” she said.
“I obtained my teacher training at Hewat College in Athlone in 1988. After qualifying at Hewat I applied for the PE education post at Athlone North Primary and remained there for the duration of my teaching career.
“I attended Myhof Primary School in Claremont and Oaklands High School in Lansdowne. Teaching was not my choice of career. I always wanted to be a secretary, but when I completed Std 8 (Grade 10) I decided to continue my schooling and finish matric. In matric I decided to study to become a PT teacher,” she says.
Through the years Haupt learned schooling has changed, both for learners and teachers, the community changed and the environment also changed.
“Nothing is a constant is what I learned as a teacher and you need to move with the change. The type of children you taught through the years has become very challenging for me. As a teacher you must move with the times, your teaching style, methodologies and discipline style must change.
“For now I just want to be on holiday first, not necessarily travelling, being at the poolside, relaxing, reading that book I could never pick up, watching a few series on television. Binge-watching was never on the cards as there was no time for that, having breakfast in the morning which I never had time for as I was always on the run and trying to multi-task.”
She hopes to start up her love for gardening, walking, cooking, and baking.
Haupt feels there is no use saying the education department can help to make teaching more enjoyable.
“There is no use saying that things can be done differently because the education department is not capable of implementing drastic change, like giving teachers teacher-assistants, especially in the foundation phase to assist them. Shorter hours for Grades 1 to 3 to allow time for more extra-curricular activities and to make the administration load a whole lot less.”
She paid for her teaching assistant in her class for many years just to give her students more attention. Parental involvement must become more evident in the lives of our children to assist the teacher.
If Haupt had the finances or won the lotto she would appoint teaching assistants for teachers in the foundation phase classes. She would also have more toilets built at her school and a hall built for indoor activity, especially during the winter season.
“My advice for students wanting to become a teacher would be they job-shadow or be a teacher’s assistant and see if that is what they want to do because not everyone is out to be a teacher. My funny story in my teaching career is enjoying watching my learners imitating my teaching style when the learners have free time.
“I was a passionate dedicated, kind, compassionate educator, well-loved by all at Athlone North Primary and will miss everyone.”
