7 in primary school - some of whom I remember, some not.
I guess about 15 in senior school no. 1 and the same number again after I moved schools at 13, a few of whom I remember.
Countless lecturers at university - but they mostly don¡¯t form a relationship, they just ¡®deliver content¡¯ on their specialism, so I would mainly count my personal tutors there - maybe about 6 or 7 in total - universities in the uk in those days were quite autonomous - the content was delivered but it wasn¡¯t taught much - you had to get out the books and make sense of it yourself.
Some wonderful mentors while I was training to be a teacher myself - who were generously letting me loose on their classes. Maybe 6 or so of those.
3 violin teachers over the years from 7 to 20. All patient and lovely and increasingly inspiring humans as I got older. Two piano teachers (i was untalented but my first teacher enjoyed humiliating young children and got the sack from my mum. My second teacher gently suggested I focus on the violin!).
As an adult, a long and invested relationship with two teachers (And 4 regular guest teachers) who trained me in the Alexander Technique at their ¡®school¡¯. - not something you can teach yourself from books, but not something you can simply be instructed to do - so a careful balance between being directed and allowing the internal learning to happen was curated. It was the first time I¡¯d ever been a ¡®student¡¯ but given almost no direct feedback. It was challenging, and life changing. I wanted to know if I was doing ¡®well¡¯, if I was doing it ¡®right¡¯ but they challenged us to work it out for ourselves by observing our own work. This was liberating and took me out of the ¡°tick box eager to please A student¡± mindset I had held for 30 years. I think it helped me discover and have confidence in unschooling, actually. So that was an amazing 3 years of growth, curated by ¡®teachers¡¯ but not as I¡¯d ever experienced before or since.
I had a yoga teacher I loved when I was 20 and many I haven¡¯t since.
I have a qigong teacher online now who is amazing.
So that¡¯s about 60 who I had a direct relationship with, and many many more at the periphery. Wow! It really adds up doesn¡¯t it?
belinda dutch