OPINION: A personal tribute to an outstanding teacher, late Grainne Cunningham

Of all the things I learned in school, many of the most useful, practical, and occasionally surprising were in my Home Economics class under the guidance of Grainne Cunningham.

Much of her teaching is so ingrained into my daily habits that it would be easy to forget that it was ever something that was learned, and not just with a view to passing exams. 

Grainne took her role in setting us up for life very seriously. Everything had a practical application, and long before it became a buzzword, our physical and emotional well-being was never from her mind.

Since her death last month, I have found myself reflecting on the wisdom she imparted. Whether it was from the pages of our Home Economics book or her own life experience, it was delivered gently but firmly, and with utter commitment to our betterment as students and as people.

I know I’m not alone in this view of Grainne. I mentioned her here in passing, in a column I wrote earlier this year on the topic of that Irish Home Economics bible, All In The Cooking. 

The feedback was incredible. Some came from people I knew, and it started a lot of conversations. More was from people I never met who commented on our social media pages and in direct messages, sharing their memories of Grainne Cunningham and the life lessons that they still held dear. 

It’s well known that a teacher can make or break your school experience. While I had good friends, school wasn’t a particularly happy place for me. It is only in the last decade or so, with a greater understanding of so many things - about myself as well as about people in general - that I can analyse and accept the reasons behind this with a degree of objectivity and healing. 

For the last two years of my education in particular, I really didn’t want to be at school. I felt frustrated, restricted, keen to move on.

Although a fast learner, I struggled a lot with focus and application, with sitting still for six or seven hours a day, with adhering to a strict set of rules, even with wearing a uniform.

Again, it would be many years before I came to realise that I was far from alone in this, and that conventional education systems do not work for everyone - including me. 

I have no doubt that were it not for the intervention of Grainne Cunningham, I would have left school without my Leaving Cert - or at least, have had a much more challenging time than I did. 

She had been my form teacher as far as Third Year - a role which she took as seriously as everything else in her work - and so there was already a feeling that she had our backs.

Any time I was in trouble at school she was there to support me rather than to add to the telling off or the criticism. 

And rather than telling me to behave, she would take me aside when I was receptive to advice and say something along the lines of ‘would you have a little think about why that wasn’t such a good idea.’

Grainne was a firm believer in accountability, and so she never let me off the hook. She just took a non-confrontational approach.

She wasn’t a miracle worker, but she got me through those few years. 

It also helped that I really loved her subject and so I worked hard at it. 

Home Economics has changed massively in a generation. The practical side of it has been scaled back significantly, and that is such a shame. As First and Second Years our sewing classes saw us cutting patterns, pressing material, making dresses, aprons, being examined in technical skills such as making button holes, fitting a sleeve or cuff, placing a zip.

We could cook healthy, nutritious and tasty family meals at the age of 13 or 14. 

We took it all in our stride, our confidence buoyed by a teacher who rarely needed to raise her voice to get our attention.

I mentioned at the start here that there were so many life skills learned on Grainne Cunningham’s watch. The conversations I’ve had about her with other people reminded me of even more. 

I’ll try and remember as many as I can, starting with about 90% of my cookery knowledge. We learned enough about nutrition to understand what was meant by a balanced diet and why it mattered. We learned to bake, to cook all the basics as well as making sauces, soups, stews, cakes of all kinds including perfect meringues, how to keep your pastry cool and how to roll it out properly so that it wasn’t stodgy - I can still hear her saying ‘one direction only and never from side to side,’ how to recognise if fish or meat was fresh and of good quality, how to hang out washing so that it didn’t get pulled out of shape, how best to iron, to sew on a button so that nothing short of a very sharp pair of scissors would budge it, how to shut off your cold water supply, or your hot water from the attic, the best way to clean just about anything, how to take a confident approach to learning new skills, how to share the workload with cooking and sewing partners.

As our Leaving Cert approached, she gave a lot of guidance on how to study and how to learn, and I have often fallen back on her efficient and reliable methods when juggling life as an adult learner with raising a family. 

Looking back as an adult I am also aware that she instilled in us a degree of critical thinking and a can-do approach that helped us to cope with many of life’s challenges. 

That is quite a legacy for one person. 

I remember walking out of the AVS gym a little early, having completed my Leaving Cert Home Economics exam, and there she was, waiting outside the door along with her colleague, Mrs Keeney.

She was dying to know what had come up on the paper, and was clearly relieved and delighted to discover that it was mostly all material that we had covered well.

There is one story I’d like to share about her which I think sums up Grainne Cunningham and her relationship with her students perfectly. 

I had carried out some significant adjustments to my school uniform skirt, transforming it from an A-line, below the knee style, pleated front and back, to a straight, above knee skirt with only enough of the pleat left to allow me to walk. 

Needless to say, it didn’t go down well and I was called to the office to explain myself. Hearing my name called out, Grainne came along to see what latest bother I’d made for myself. She was immediately brought into the conversation, and as she looked at the evidence - my significantly modified school skirt - she gave me a subtle smile while also saying that she would have ‘a word’ with me about what I had done. 

The conversation continued in this vein - she was beaming with pride at my sewing skills but trying her best to hide it, a situation which I found very amusing. 

Finally the moment came when she could get it out of her system. 

I was ordered to return the skirt to its original state.

“Oh I’m afraid she can’t do that,” said Grainne. “She’s done far too thorough a job.”

She then turned to me and added the obligatory ‘but you do know you shouldn’t have done it.’

As we left the office together, she was very interested to know what steps I had taken to stop the material from fraying given the stress that the new shape was putting on the seams, and she couldn’t resist having a closer inspection of my handiwork.

This didn’t go unnoticed, and funny enough, for my remaining time at school, not another word was ever said about my modified skirt. 

I’m glad I mentioned her in my column earlier in the year, because I know that it was brought to her attention, as was the beautiful, positive reaction on my social media accounts.

I’m grateful that she got a flavour of how she will be remembered.