A Conversation With... Mr Joe Player

In this week’s ‘A Conversation With…’ we caught up with Mr Joe Player. Mr Player joined the History department in January 2020 and quickly became a favourite amongst the pupils. Here he tells us about what lead him to become a teacher, his passion for history, and how he plans to ‘destroy’ the geography department…

What is your role at Shiplake College?

I am a history teacher, a Year 13 tutor and I coach the debate team. This year I was the proud coach of the 3rd XI football team, AKA the Red Terror, AKA the most successful team in the school. 

Where were you previously?

My first teaching job was teaching English as a foreign language at a school in Guangdong Province in the south of China (where I met my now wife). I taught in a few places after that, then my last job was at a big comprehensive school in Mansfield in Nottinghamshire for three and a half years before I came to Shiplake.

What is the best thing about Shiplake College?

The fantastic students. My brilliant department - Mr McCraw, Miss Lane, Mr Brown. The bucolic campus. Roast dinner on a Tuesday. I have also really enjoyed the football coaching and hope I can continue to do that, preaching my brand of football - a combination of Diego Simeone-Atletico Madrid mixed with Viking war band.

What first sparked your passion for history and what inspired you to become a teacher?

When I finished university I had no idea what to do – but I was sick of grades and tutors and exams, and I just wanted to get away and travel. Unfortunately, my dad wouldn't give me any money (something about getting a real job or whatever...). So, I was faced with working six months stacking shelves in a shop to make enough to go anywhere ... or, I heard that if you had a degree, you could quickly train up as an English language teacher and get a post in China, with lots of opportunity to explore. I did that and it was a really awesome experience. I taught in different countries for a while, really enjoyed it, and decided teaching was for me - but if I was going to do it for real, I was going to teach History rather than English (can you imagine?!) So I went back to the UK to do my qualification.

What aspect of the subject do you enjoy teaching most and why?

Revolution. History is essentially about change - and the powerful and relentless forces pushing against each other to drive, shape or hinder that change. And there is no change more extreme than revolution. Additionally, what is so engaging about revolutions - American, French, Russian, etc - is the impact. As King George sings in Hamilton, 'What Comes Next?' It is that crucial after-phase of the revolution, the ‘but some animals are more equal than others' moment that is so compelling, and can serve as enlightening but also a warning about what it really means to challenge the status quo, as it doesn't always end the way people hoped. After all, history is a vital instrument for understanding the present as well as the past.

If you could teleport yourself back in time to a moment in history, when would that be and why?

Good question. It is my dream to visit Japan one day - so I'll say 1600s Kyoto. It would be awesome to see the samurai in their full-pomp, not to mention all the ukiyoe culture, the music, art, colours, geisha, and castles, all in the fresh, warm light of the present, rather than snatching at glimpses through the shadowy mist of history...

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Supporting Nottingham Forest, reading history and detective books, learning Dutch, watching Star Wars, annoying Miss Lane, plotting the total destruction of geography as a timetabled subject.

What does the future hold for Mr Player?

From September I will start as People's Commissar of History and Politics (AKA Head of Department), which I am looking forward to. I also really want to take the debate team out to some contests. I don't really know where life will take me in the long-term. I just hope that I will always find opportunities to put in what I can and help where I'm needed. Workers of the world unite!