Paul Patrick - Career

Career

He came out in 1969 and went on to become a teacher in 1972 at the Roger Manwood School, Lewisham. He became Head of Drama and a member of the teachers’ advisory panel for Greenwich Young People’s Theatre in Education Company and worked with the teachers and advisors who produced the Inner London Education Authority’s “Drama Bulletin.”

In 1976, he co-founded the Lewisham Association for Multicultural Education. In 1983, he became the Equal opportunities Officer for the school he had just helped into amalgamation as a member of the Crofton School Advisory Team. While continuing to teach English and Drama, he became the co-ordinator for a project bringing adults with learning disabilities into the school to use the facilities and work with pupils.

This work was recognised by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) who appointed him an advisor for equal opportunities in the areas of Expressive Arts, particularly Drama & Theatre Studies, PHSE and the pastoral curriculum. Soon he was co-opted to the Relationships and Sexuality Project and was a member of its steering group, became the Multi-ethnic Inspectorate representative on the Authority's P.H.S.E. Advisory panel, a member of the Authority's video panel. He also worked with the ILEA publishing section to produce materials, videos and guidelines for teachers. This was until the abolition of the ILEA in 1990 when he returned to teaching English and Drama at Crofton School.

In May 1996, he took some time out to concentrate on writing and his training work and co-founded Chrysalis, a training collective with his close friend and colleague, Sue Sanders.

In 1997 he joined the staff of Accrington and Rossendale College, working first in their Student Services Department and later moving on to full-time lectureship. In September 1999 he joined their Performing Arts Team to work full time teaching BTEC Foundation, BTEC National and HND Performing Arts. He also directed several plays including an education piece on homophobic bullying which toured local schools and was performed at teachers’ conferences. He then moved to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School where he taught for three years, leaving after a period of illness.

He also worked as a consultant to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

In 2006 he taught at Ribblesdale High School Clitheroe where he used to teach drama. In 2007 he founded the Rossendale Players Youth Theatre at the Millennium Theatre in Waterfoot, Rossendale.