My background has been in education and schools, starting as a supply teacher in a large (1700 on roll in 1973) S London boys school, continuing there as a classroom teacher after taking a PGCE course and later acquiring a whole-school role for the development of a pastoral curriculum. In my first five classroom years I also did voluntary youth work at a S London settlement. Both experiences were formative in the development of my skills, knowledge, understanding and learning, and personal friendships, and were important learning environments for me.

My formal learning was particularly characterised by my first degree in social sciences. My 'education' - turning learning into understanding - came from my work with young people and in schools as a practitioner. The theory and reality of alienation, deviance, education and social and emotional needs have been a constant part of my personal and professional lives and identity. I still live in the same part of London that I first taught in. This means that I continue to benefit from contact with former pupils, giving me invaluable insights into some of the things that 'work' in class rooms and schools. What 'works' in my experience, both at the time and with assisted hind-sight, is ethos, atmosphere and relationships: these are the focii of the comments I hear from former pupils twenty years on.

I acknowledge the further development of the skills I possess and value which I was able to practice and extend while an Advisory Teacher. I continue to find that my work then and since has largely been an exchange, not am imposition, of ideas and experience - a dialogue - with the individuals and agencies I have worked with. The additional experience and clientele I have acquired since becoming self-employed have added to my pool of understanding and knowledge; and have provided generous opportunities to reflect on my practice and the fields I work in.

The time for reflection is an aspect of professionalism which my present contacts with colleagues and friends in the public sector indicate is missing from their work because of the demands of their in-trays. I recall the comment made by a deputy headteacher at the last school I worked in as a class-room teacher: "The immediate takes over from the important." It's as true now as it was when made (in the last century...!)

I continue to develop my understanding of contexts, links and relationships through writing. I now use writing as one way of reflecting on my practice - previously I have done so through course attendance, with the Certificate in Health Education and Masters courses being major opportunities to reflect on my practice and principles; to extend my knowledge and awareness; and to avoid the complacency of habit and assumption. My paper comparing sex education and drug education was, disappointingly, not accepted at peer-review stage, but the additional reading it took and the questioning of assumptions (mine) was invaluable, and helped me to gain a greater understanding of the wider contexts in which my specialism of prevention operates.