Never too late to learn, says Jackie

STILL LEARNING: New pHD graduate Jackie Bews, Masterton, with her mentor Colwyn Trevarthen, Professor Emeritus of Child Psychology and Psychobiology at Edinburgh University.

Jackie Bews is living proof of the old adage: "you're never too old to learn".

At 70, following a half-century long career in education, one would forgive Jackie for wanting a care-free retirement, full of leisurely walks around Henley Lake and coffee with friends.

Instead, the Masterton resident has spent the past six years travelling between here and the UK, researching and writing a doctoral thesis on rhythm and musicality through the University of Edinburgh.

After countless hours flying, meetings with professors "younger than [her] children", and days bent over her computer, Jackie was presented with her PhD in "Musicology, Kinaesthetics and Mathematical Sciences" in August.

In addition, she has been awarded a fellowship to Strathclyde University in Glasgow, where she will travel in January to test the rhythmic models she created for treating neurological conditions.

Not bad for someone who believed she was "hopeless" at school.

"I'm not at all clever. I wrote on rhythm, and I keep spelling it wrong," she said.

"There were all these brilliant brains at the University and I didn't think I could compare.

"But it was the insatiable curiosity that got me through."

Jackie attended Masterton Central School and Wairarapa College where she excelled at sport, but not academically.

"School was very structured back then, which didn't work for me.

"I loved art, but even that was structured, and my work got ripped up."

After leaving school, Jackie went to Teacher's College, and began a colourful career in the field -- one of her biggest successes being Sportplay, a programme she created using playful movement to assist children's learning, for Sport Wellington.

In 2009, Jackie received a call "out of the blue" from Colwyn Trevarthen, Emeritus Professor of Child Psychology at Edinburgh University.

Prof Trevarthen was touring New Zealand with his book Communicate Musicality, and wished to speak with Jackie about her work with Sport Wellington.

They agreed to meet that December, when Jackie would be in Europe visiting family. "He sent me a copy of his book in the meantime. I couldn't understand a word of it."

Eventually, Prof Trevarthen invited Jackie to study with him, researching the impact of music on brain development.

She began a PhD exploring rhythm in the butterfly stroke, working with Olympic-level swimmers in Edinburgh and Auckland.

But she changed her research topic, and began studying the effects of rhythm and music on neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and autism.

With no experience in academic writing, she admits she struggled at first.

"My earlier writing was very dreamy and Pollyanna-ish.

"Colwyn took one look and said, 'your brain is guddled'."

But her confidence was renewed upon creating a new mathematical research model, coding musical notations according to colours and numbers.

"They told me it was like opening a new window in academia.

"It was amazing, I'd always believed, and been told, I was hopeless at maths."

Throughout her journey, her biggest inspiration was her disabled older sister who imparted some unforgettable words of wisdom.

"When we were young, she wrote this in my autograph book: 'Good, better best, never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best.'

"That's been my motto ever since."