Blair Giles

Team Leader

“I am passionate about our country and its history and children’s individual responses to the topic make it even more rewarding to teach - it is an essential part of the curriculum.”

Blair Giles has been teaching primary school children for a long time now, many more years than he had originally anticipated and he still maintains the best thing about his job is that it is never boring. “It is easy to come to work each morning, albeit very early. This is not a nine to five job - it is very demanding at times but things never happen the same way twice, and that makes it exciting.”

After spending time at urban and rural schools in Wellington, Blair is now a team leader at an inner city Auckland school – he enjoys the people contact and challenges that lie within managing adults as well as children in this role.

His active and evolving teaching philosophy helps Blair to lead kids into what he calls a 'valued world' - where students get to know more about their teacher and their life outside of the classroom. “When I first started teaching, I used to be quite closed but I now realise how important it is for the kids to know who I am. If I don't let them into my life, then they won't let me into theirs.” He feels strongly that the valued world is also extremely important when it comes to dealing with difficult students.

Blair talks about this career as something that has helped him learn with a great deal of depth what it means to be a New Zealander. “I am passionate about our country and its history and children’s individual responses to the topic make it even more rewarding to teach - it is an essential part of the curriculum.”

Teaching is about learning. Blair worked part time to complete his Bachelor of Education though Victoria University and when finished, looked for more opportunities to further his own development. “The students in my class need to see me as a fervent learner as well as a teacher. The things that I have learned that are most valuable to me daily are the reflective skills associated with my own thinking and the incredible things I have learnt about the communication and learning. The communication process is an amazing thing.”