This much I know about...impostor syndrome

I have been a teacher for 26 years, a Headteacher for 11 years and, at the age of 50, this much I know about impostor syndrome. We’re all in this (education world) together. This morning I will be talking at The Sunday Times Festival of Education about bridging the Independent-State School Divide, with, amongst others, friend and colleague Leo Winkley the Headmaster of St Peter’s School. I currently chair York’s Independent-State School Partnership (ISSP), which some people might find strange if they had heard me speak a year ago at the Oxford Union supporting the motion that private schools do more harm than good! If you’re coming to the Festival it would be great to see you! Who, me? People keep asking me to sign their copy of my book, “This Much I Know about Love over Fear”. I do not think I will ever rid myself of the awkwardness I feel when I hear such a request. The opening 362 words to my book might give you a clue as to why it all feels so strange to be here, at Wellington College, speaking, signing books and conversing with some of the most enlightened people working in education today…

A family portrait

The difference between what you want to do and what you think you can do if you’re a working class kid is the key. We are all bound by our own self-imposed limits. But over the years I have stopped asking, Why me? and instead I’ve began asking, Why not me? And last night, as I sat as a guest at Sir Anthony Seldon’s invite-only Festival Dinner (huge thanks to the inestimable Carl Hendrick and David James for sneaking me in!), I wondered what my old man would have thought of it all…

Uckfield Post Office staff 1955

Ernest Harry Tomsett, second row, centre