I don’t remember any teachers being encouraging, though there was one who made A level Economics very interesting and I have maintained that interest all my life.
In the mid 60s I “failed “ the 11+. Only 3 girls and 7 boys from my year passed (the boys grammar school was a lot bigger)
I went to a Secondary modern school for one year and was then transferred to the Girls Grammar school because I did well in the tests. I remember most of the teachers at the Secondary Modern school did not enjoy teaching, except for the music and art teachers.
Going straight into the second year of Grammar school was hard. It meant I had to catchup with all the sciences, languages and maths which had been so poorly taught at the Secondary Modern school, and all my old friends called me a snob!
I was one of 4 girls and my parents were very keen to give us a good education, particularly my mother who left school at 14.. However when I said I wanted to study for A levels, she asked me if I was sure I could cope, as I was no academic and a plodder.
The Grammar school definitely focussed on getting as many girls into university as possible. However if you weren’t university material then you were advised the bank, civil service, teaching or nursing.
The history teacher was also our careers teacher and he suggested I trained to be a teacher as I would be good at it and “it is a great career walking around the school corridors with a sheaf of papers in your hand and no one challenges you”!
The thought of teaching horrified me as I didn’t enjoy school or studying very much..
We also had a woman who came to give us one to one career advice in the Lower Sixth. When I told her what I would like to do ( to be a chef) she said” Oh you should have left school at 16 and joined the local further education college. Never mind you might as well finish your A levels now” which I did.
After leaving Polytechnic and a few years working as a manager, I moved abroad and started teaching Professional Cookery at a further education college. I enjoyed it so much that I then studied for a teaching qualification. I continued teaching in Further Education colleges right up to my retirement.
I think the Sidney Poitier film “To Sir With Love” inspired me to go into Further Education teaching, not school or parents.