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Dorothy Birchall OBE

Dorothy grew up and was educated in Oxford , where her father was in university administration. The family was always expected to help entertain students from all parts of the world - an interesting experience. After training to be a teacher, she was fortunate to be one of only three to obtain a job in Willesden; when being interviewed she was asked if her hair was naturally curly - was that a prerequisite in those days! After a few years teaching in a tough primary school she had a year's exchange to Toronto which was a different experience. At the end of the year she travelled 9,000 miles round America with 120 women and 4 men in 3 home made buses.

On return to England she went to Birmingham University for further study and after a short spell in London and Cambridgeshire she was invited to join the staff of the Child Guidance Clinic in Winnipeg , Canada . After 5 rewarding years she returned to London and became a research officer at the National Children's Bureau, working mainly in the fields of special education and early years education.

She was keen to give back something of the exchange experience which had proved such a valuable one, both personally and professionally. She became involved with the teacher exchange clubs both in England and Canada , and was elected to the Council of LECT in 1967. She was made vice-chairman in 1973, and elected chairman in 1988 - the first woman and the first exchange teacher to hold the position. Dorothy was commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat to write a study on commonwealth exchanges; A Teacher for a Teacher was published in 1990. She retired in 1999, and was awarded the OBE for services to the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers.

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