educator_summer_2019_1

Australian

Financial literacy

P RINT P OST A PP ROVED 10 000 8182

// School banking doesn’t add up

First Nations

// Watershed year for Indigenous languages

Capacity crunch!

New educators

// Reviewing the year’s ups and downs

The race to keep up with the public school enrolment boom

SUMMER 2019 // ISSUE 104 $9.95

Global solidarity // Helping educators under threat

7th Annual

Technology

I

Environment

3000 PARTICIPANTS

NEARLY FREE (AND *FREE) HIGH QUALITY PD *Apply for a bursary ticket today!

9AM 9PM

OPEN LATE 9AM - 9PM 16 TOPICS 110 LEARNING HOURS

RE-IMAGINED PRICE ONLY $350* REGISTER NOW

WITH CODE: AUSED AND SAVE $150* before 07/02/2020

www.futureschools.com.au *Price excludes GST

220 SPEAKERS BUILD YOUR OWN AGENDA

SPONSORSHIP/PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES STILL AVAILABLE. INQUIRE NOW: education@terrapinn.com

AUSTRALIA’S MOST IMPORTANT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ‘FESTIVAL OF IDEAS’ FOR K-12 EDUCATORS AND PARTNERS

I

Pedagogy

I

18 & 19 March 2020 Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre www.futureschools.com.au

Curriculum

HEAR FROM 220 SPEAKERS ACROSS 16 TOPICS

Yasodai Selvakumaran Global Teacher Prize Finalist Rooty Hill High School NSW

Ted Dintersmith World leading educational thinker and film producer

Beth Blackwood CEO Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia

Pasi Sahlberg World leading authority in education systems and teaching UNSW

Tamsyn Rosenberg Founder & CEO Alive Project

Saku Tuominen Founder HundrED

Dr Anita Collins World renowned music educator Muse Consulting

Iris Nastasi Assistant Director - Teaching And Learning Sydney Catholic Schools

Lee Crockett President Wabisabi Learning

Craig Kemp World travelling school ICT guru

Ann Caro Principal Lithgow High School

Anita Hobson Powell CEO Exercise Sport Science Australia

Michael Carr-Gregg Australia’s most respected Psychologist CPC Consulting

Ian Jukes Author, international consultant and educational speaker

Prof. Erica Southgate Associate Professor of Education University of Newcastle

Adrian Piccoli Director Gonski Institute

SPONSORSHIP/PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES STILL AVAILABLE. INQUIRE NOW: education@terrapinn.com

E E FR w tint#

o d se a n i e l w every with

ot g t s u j r e m m Su

Quoted prices include: Finance Volkswagen Golf 110TSI Highline

Rego

$

save

2,726

CTP Hyundai i30 N Line Premium

on purchase price†

$

402* PER FORTNIGHT

INC. $141 OF RUNNING COSTS

Nissan X-Trail Series II Ti

$

save

5,735

496* PER FORTNIGHT

INC. $176 OF RUNNING COSTS

Maintenance save

1,743

$

Mitusbishi Triton GLX+ 4X4

on purchase price†

$

433* PER FORTNIGHT

INC. $158 OF RUNNING COSTS

Subaru Forester 2.5i-S

on purchase price†

$

Fuel

r e l coo

save

1,830

$

on purchase price†

$

497* PER FORTNIGHT

INC. $165 OF RUNNING COSTS

Insurance save

7,182

$

on purchase price†

$

456* PER FORTNIGHT

INC. $165 OF RUNNING COSTS

Looking for a different car?

Request a quote on a car you love to see how much you could save!

Find out how much you can save with a novated car lease.

1300 156 497 | teachersleasing.com.au To receive the free window tint, customers must order and finance a new vehicle (including demonstrator models) through Smartleasing between 4 Nov 2019 – 31 Dec 2019.

The new vehicle must be procured through Smartgroup’s procurement team. Customers who are eligible and opt for the free window tint must have the tint for their new vehicle arranged for by Smartleasing and completed by a Smartleasing appointed provider, after the lease has settled. Customers acknowledge that the free window tint is non-transferrable and cannot be exchanged or substituted for cash or any other product. Vehicle orders placed by Smartgroup’s procurement team prior to 4 Nov 2019 are not eligible for this offer. Customers who choose to refinance their existing novated lease vehicle or salary package a used vehicle, irrespective of finance type, are not eligible for this offer. The directors, management and employees of Smartleasing, and their immediate families, as well as Smartleasing’s related companies, agencies, suppliers and all employees of the Queensland Government are not eligible for this offer. † Negotiated Smartleasing buying power discount on chosen vehicle may vary. *Based on the following assumptions: living in NSW 2560, salary: $70,000 gross p.a., travelling 15,000 kms p.a., lease term: 60 months, using the Employee Contribution Method for FBT purposes.

Images shown may not be the exact car that the calculations have been based on. All figures quoted include budgets for finance, fuel, servicing, tyres, maintenance, Vero by Suncorp comprehensive motor insurance, Hydro Platinum Pack and re-registration over the period of the lease. Also includes, for Suzuki, Audi and BMW models only, 2 year Platinum Warranty insurance. Vehicle residual, as set by Australian Taxation Office, payable at the end of lease term. The exact residual amount will be specified in your vehicle quote. Vehicle pricing is correct at the time of distribution but may be subject to change based on availability.

#

Contents ON THE COVER Growing numbers of students are enrolling in public schools across Australia but teacher training and supply isn’t keeping up with the demand.

PHOTOGRAPHY iStockphoto.com

18

22

30

08

22

36

NEWS IN BRIEF • Worrying trend in Pacific education • Asbestos risks for disaster victims • Public education features in US

SUPPORT MAKES A DIFFERENCE

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

presidential election race • Your essential summer reading list

10

CLASSROOM READY? NOT YET A big jump in student numbers during the next decade calls for better planning, proper funding and many more teachers.

But time is running out.

16 CAPITAL WORKS CRISIS Hundreds of new public schools are needed yet the federal government is funnelling capital works funding to wealthy private schools.

18 DEMAND TO IMPROVE CLIMATE EDUCATION Educators joined students, union members and fellow protestors in September to demand action on the climate crisis.

Signing a petition or writing a letter of protest on behalf of an educator in another part of the world is the least we can do.

24 FIRST LANGUAGES LESSONS GROW

Educators are turning to 'design thinking' to deal with changing times and student needs.

REGULARS 06 From the president 07 Know your union 38 Recess

The International Year of Indigenous Languages might prove to be a watershed year for Australian languages education.

28 SCHOOL BANKING DOESN'T ADD UP The corporate regulator says banks are cashing in on programs in schools.

30 STEPS TO SUCCESS Teachers reflect on a year of self discovery as they hone their skills and encourage their students to grow.

www.aeufederal.org.au

SUM M E R 2 0 1 9 // 5

From the president

W

hen I was 15 years old I dropped out of school and went fishing.

My school, Streaky Bay Area School, about 700 kilometres from Adelaide, didn’t offer a year 12 curriculum and, as a result, I lost interest in school and took a job as a deckhand on a fishing boat.

If it wasn’t for a small group of highly committed public school teachers who became frustrated by the lack of senior secondary options for students in our rural community, my life would have taken a very different course.

Six months after setting sail, I found myself back in the classroom, thanks to those teachers who successfully lobbied the South Australian Department of Education to offer a Year 12 curriculum. In doing so, they made sure that a few country kids had the opportunity to reach their potential. It was a year that set the foundation for long-term change at Streaky Bay Area School and hundreds of local students there have since completed their schooling there.

It’s a fantastic example of the positive effect that extra school resourcing can have at a personal level.

When we talk about securing extra funding for public schools we know that this is life-changing for the students and staff. For me, that investment by the department in my local public school meant that I competed Year 12 and had the opportunity to change my future.

Governments all too often ignore the human consequences of their decisions. It’s a lesson that Prime Minister Scott Morrison should take to heart.

The funding cuts he has imposed on public schools across the country are more than just numbers in a spreadsheet — they represent billions of dollars’ worth

Australian Educator

(ISSN: 0728-8387) is published for the Australian Education Union by Hardie Grant Media.

The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.

6 // SU MME R 2 0 1 9

Hardie Grant Media

Ground Level, Building 1 658 Church St, Richmond 3121 Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: educator@hardiegrant.com

Never forget – teachers make a huge difference in the lives of each and every one of our students.

of missed opportunities for an entire generation of public school students.

My teachers gave me and my classmates a future that we did not know was possible. Their ability to influence government and inspire disengaged teenagers left a deep imprint on me. It’s the reason I became a teacher and subsequently joined the union.

It is this passion, this professionalism and this sense of purpose from our members that still motivates me when I visit preschools, schools and TAFE campuses across the country.

AEU and subscription enquiries Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158 South Melbourne Victoria 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal

Editor Susan Hopgood Publisher Fiona Hardie Account manager Hannah Louey Managing editor Lucy Siebert Commissioning editor Tracey Evans Subeditor Leanne Tolra Art director Dallas Budde Design Natalie LaChina

And as a parent, I have seen passionate and dedicated teachers weaving the magic of education into the lives of my children. My youngest daughter Kate is completing Year 12 and, like many students around the country, this has been a tough year for her.

Anyone involved with Year 12 students, be they parent or teacher, is intimately familiar with the looming deadlines of assignments, and the pressure and anxiety caused by end-of-year exams.

For Kate, her journey this year would have been much harder were it not for the amazing teachers who have worked with her.

Teaching is a tough, complex but incredibly rewarding profession. As teachers we are part mentor, part confidante and part traffic cop for our students.

The days can be long, the classrooms complex, the workload intense and the resource shortages evident.

But never forget — teachers make a huge difference in the lives of each and every one of our students.

Those moments of victory or success in the classroom will be remembered and cherished by students for decades to come.

World Teacher’s Day each October is a chance for the community to recognise the work that teachers do, and this year the theme was in recognition of young teachers — the next generation entering the profession.

But for every teacher, your driving passion to make a difference for our students must be backed up by the resources needed to deliver a high-quality education.

Kate was five when I started working on the Public Education for our Future campaign. She is now 17 and the job is not yet finished. We have an entire generation of students whose schools have been denied resources. Yet the incredible passion of the teaching workforce, of each of you, has helped create opportunities for these students despite funding shortfalls.

On behalf of these students, and as a former public school student — thank you for everything that you do that makes our public education system one of the best in the world.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

Advertising manager Kerri Spillane Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Email: kerrispillane@ hardiegrant.com

Audited circulation: 123,327 (1 October 2017 _ 30 September 2018)

Printer Ovato 42 Boorea Street Lidcombe NSW 2141

Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Hardie Grant Media. No part of this pub­lication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU.

Know your union With a federal office and branches or associated bodies in every state and territory, the AEU represents more than 188,000 members industrially and professionally.

AEU FEDERAL 120 Clarendon St, Southbank, VIC, 3006 Phone: +61 3 9693 1800 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au Web: aeufederal.org.au

Federal president Correna Haythorpe Federal secretary Susan Hopgood

AEU ACT BRANCH Branch president Angela Burroughs Branch secretary Glenn Fowler 40 Brisbane Avenue Barton 2600 Phone: 02 6272 7900 Email: aeuact@aeuact.org.au Web: aeuact.org.au

AEU NT BRANCH Branch president Jarvis Ryan Branch secretary Adam Lampe 3/8 Totem Road Coconut Grove 0811 Phone: 08 8948 5399 Email: admin@aeunt.org.au Web: aeunt.org.au

AEU SA BRANCH Branch president Howard Spreadbury Branch secretary Leah York 163 Greenhill Road Parkside 5063 Phone: 08 8172 6300 Email: aeusa@aeusa.asn.au Web: aeusa.asn.au

AEU TAS BRANCH Branch president Helen Richardson Branch state manager Roz Madsen 1/32 Patrick Street Hobart 7000 Phone: 03 6234 9500 Email: support@aeutas.org.au Web: aeutas.org.au

AEU VIC BRANCH Branch president Meredith Peace Branch secretary Erin Aullich 126 Trenerry Crescent Abbotsford 3067 Phone: 03 9417 2822 Email: melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au Web: aeuvic.asn.au

QUEENSLAND TEACHERS UNION President Kevin Bates General secretary Graham Moloney 21 Graham Street Milton 4064 Phone: 07 3512 9000 Email: qtu@qtu.asn.au Web: qtu.asn.au

NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION President Maurie Mulheron General secretary John Dixon 23-33 Mary Street Surry Hills 2010 Phone: 02 9217 2100 Email: mail@nswtf.org.au Web: nswtf.org.au

STATE SCHOOL TEACHERS UNION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA President Pat Byrne General secretary Mary Franklyn 1 West Street West Perth 6005 Phone: 08 9210 6000 Email: contact@sstuwa.org.au Web: sstuwa.org.au

SUM M E R 2 0 1 9 // 7

News

News in brief Worrying trend in Pacific education

• Young Dark Emu: A Truer History, Bruce Pascoe.

First published in 2014, Dark Emu uses evidence from the diaries of explorers to dispel the myths told about Aboriginal people. This new version is pitched at younger readers.

• Welcome to Country schools edition, Marcia Langton An education-focused edition of this guidebook to Indigenous Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, respected Elder and author Professor Langton offers insights into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customs.

• Winning for Women, Iola Mathews One of the founders of the Women’s Electoral Lobby, Mathews writes of her involvement with “second wave” feminism in Australia. The former journalist was a leading Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) advocate for women workers.

• On Education & Democracy: 25 Lessons from the Teaching Profession, Susan Hopgood and Fred van Leeuwen. Drawing on examples from around the world, the authors hope to inspire educators to consider how they can support democracy through public education.

Download the e-book: https://issuu. com/educationinternational/docs/ eiwc8_oneducationanddemocracy

8 // SU MME R 2 0 1 9

Asbestos risks for disaster victims Some emergency housing for victims of disasters overseas may be contaminated by asbestos, according to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA. The organisation says Australian overseas development and aid money is at risk of financing the asbestos industry in Asia through the Asian Development Bank, which provides tens of billions of dollars in loans and grants.

“Pacific education systems are narrowly focusing on student outcomes in literacy and numeracy through centrally prescribed curricular and a greater focus on testing. This comes at the expense of a broad and contextually relevant curriculum,” the declaration said.

“Strict test-based accountability mechanisms are used punitively to control teachers, though teachers often have not received adequate training to design and implement innovative pedagogies.”

Delegates called on Pacific governments to strengthen public education systems through increased funding; to recognise that free public education for all was a national priority that required attention to teachers’ conditions and training; and to end precarious employment contracts for teachers.

The funding is not properly regulated and fails to ensure asbestos products are not used in development and aid projects, APHEDA says.

It is calling for a ban on the mining, trade and manufacture of asbestos products around the world and asking union members to sign a petition titled “No Australian Money in Asbestos: Not Here. Not Anywhere”. Sign the petition calling for an end to development and aid money financing asbestos: megaphone.org.au/petitions/ no-australian-money-in-asbestos

ILLUSTRATION OSLO DAVIS

Summer reading

The insidious creep of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) has reached the Pacific.

GERM is an approach increasingly adopted by education systems in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and many developing countries.

It promotes five common features: the standardisation of education, leading to frequent testing; a focus on core subjects particularly literacy and numeracy at the expense of other subjects; low-risk ways to reach learning goals, ensuring teachers focus on content that prepares students for tests; corporate management models; and test-based accountability for schools.

The Council of Pacific Education (COPE) conference declared some GERM features were already evident in Pacific nations’ education systems. COPE comprises all education unions in the South Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand.

Survey winner Thank you to all members who completed the AEU’s post-election survey about the Fair Funding Now! campaign. We were overwhelmed with responses and the feedback is valuable for our review of the campaign.

The winner of an iPad for completing the survey is Vikki O’Neill, Kensington Secondary School, WA

Events 25 NOV 2019 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women marks the start of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

1 DEC 2019

Public ed features in US campaign

World AIDS Day

Public education is shaping up to take a role in the 2020 US Presidential campaign.

Democratic hopeful Elizabeth Warren, a former public school teacher, has been crossing the country spruiking her K-12 plan that promises billions of dollars in funding for public schools; a renewed fight against segregation and discrimination; and better pay, conditions and resources for teachers.

3 DEC 2019 International Day of People with Disability

8 MAR 2020 International Women’s Day

Her first job, she says, would be to sack the divisive education secretary Betty de Vos. Meanwhile, the teacher strikes demanding better pay and conditions that began in Virginia in 2018 have continued to sweep across the country. In the latest, Massachusetts teachers — fed up after years of trying to negotiate a new contract — have defied a law banning public workers from striking.

SUM M E R 2 0 1 9 // 9

PHYSICS

TECHN

OLOG

Y

CLASSROOM READY? NOT YET.

1 0 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

SCIENCE

ES

LOG BIO ISHY ENGL

AG U G N LA

A big jump in student numbers during the next decade calls for better planning, proper funding and many more teachers. But time is running out.

Workforce planning

MATHS

ART

P

ublic schools are starting to burst at the seams and governments are under pressure to provide enough teachers and classrooms for the tens of thousands of extra students each year.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows school enrolments increased by about 200,000 in the five years to 2018.

Public schools accounted for 76 per cent of the growth. A total of 3.9 million students were enrolled in 9477 schools – two-thirds in public schools.

And there is no sign of enrolment growth easing. A 2016 Grattan Institute report estimated an extra 650,000 students by 2026, which means that a significant increase in the teacher workforce is needed.

Teacher shortages in some specialist subjects such as maths, science, technology and the arts are being felt in some states, while the ongoing issue of attracting teachers to rural and remote schools is likely to become even tougher if there is a shortfall of teachers across the board.

The number of entrants to teaching degrees fell by 4000 between 2014 and 2017, says the Australian Curriculum,

IN SHORT // Student enrolment numbers across Australia are growing.

PHOTOGRAPHY ALAMY

// A significant increase in teacher workforce is needed to keep pace with student growth. // Proper national workforce planning is difficult, due to unreliable or patchy data around supply and demand.

Some countries – such as Finland – know how many teachers they need and link that directly with course intake.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). The number of accredited programs is also falling.

The critical question is about reliable workforce data and planning to accommodate the boom in student population but any work on the problem has been primarily left to the states and territories. National workforce data is patchy and difficult to obtain.

Better data collection could provide a more cohesive national approach and provide reliable supply and demand information to universities and governments, says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

“Some countries – such as Finland – know how many teachers they need and link that directly with course intake.”

DATA DIFFICULTIES Data is the fuel that drives effective workforce planning but there is a disconnect between the state and territory education systems that hold their own figures and the movement across state borders of teacher education students, school students and qualified teachers.

A national picture would help but corralling the competing interests can be difficult, says researcher Dr Paul Weldon.

“It needs a champion in Canberra to keep it going,” he says. Making the data collection a legislative requirement would also do the trick and should ensure funding.

“If, for example, registration bodies were required to collect some of this data every time a teacher re-registered, somebody would have to provide funding for that,” says Weldon whose 2015 Australian Council for Educational Research report on the teacher workforce first warned of the mismatch between enrolments and teachers in the coming decade.

School enrolment data should also be more readily available, he says. While the ABS holds national school enrolment data, it is more difficult for individual schools to obtain their local numbers.

Understanding the nuances of problem areas can help find solutions. A NSW Auditor-General report into the state education department strategy to increase numbers of teachers in STEM disciplines complained that incomplete data was “fundamentally limiting the effectiveness” of the strategy.

“The department does not collect sufficient information to monitor what disciplines teachers actually teach nor does it predict supply and demand for teachers by discipline and location. This restricts the department’s ability to track and forecast the supply and demand for secondary teachers in STEM-related disciplines,” the report said.

THE CAMPAIGN FOR MORE Attracting and retaining teachers has never been more important to help keep the numbers up. In some states, major programs are already underway to

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 11

DOMESTIC ENROLMENTS IN ALL TEACHER TRAINING, TOTAL TEACHER EDUCATION, AUSTRALIA (TIME SERIES) 120,000 108,570

107,720

101,686 97,044

100,000 89,283

80,000

105,391 104,310

91,894

84,647

60,000

40,000

20,000

0

2009

2010

convince school leavers and mature age candidates that teaching is a viable career path.

Teaching Queensland’s Future is a five-year strategy to improve the supply of teachers. It includes ambassadors travelling the state to promote teaching as a career and activities in schools with senior students and scholarships.

Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates is pleased the strategy is in place but is not convinced it can deliver the teachers needed.

Bates expects to start seeing the effects of the teacher shortage in Queensland schools within the next 12 months.

In Tasmania, the Education Workforce Roundtable – which includes the AEU, the education department and the University of Tasmania – has the job of attracting quality teachers to Tasmania following a pre-election promise for an extra 250 permanent positions in regional and isolated areas.

A Teach in Tasmania video,

1 2 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

2011

2012

2013

spruiking the charms of the Apple Isle, has already been a hit, says AEU Tasmania branch president Helen Richardson.

“It’s an exciting initiative that’s working towards solving the problem of attracting enough teachers in regional and remote schools where it’s been difficult to attract and retain teachers,” she says.

A $244.6 million program in Victoria includes cash incentives to attract teachers into hard-to-staff roles, says AEU Victoria branch president Meredith Peace.

“We know some schools have difficulties in attracting staff to fill vacancies, and with a rapidly increasing student population, this is likely to get worse. Investing in the workforce is a positive first step in finding solutions to this problem,” she says.

But she points out that excessive workloads also play a big part in staffing shortages and the difficulty in filling leadership roles.

The Victorian government is also working on ways to attract more

2014

2015

2016

2017

Some universities are taking in students that have not been academically successful at school.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

teachers to rural and remote schools.

State education minister James Merlino says incentives of up to $50,000 are available for teachers willing to relocate to rural and regional schools. They will also receive non-financial support to help with the move such as help to find housing.

Improving wages and conditions is an important part of any strategy to increase the teaching workforce.

Research shows that better pay and status helps in attraction and retention. The problem is teachers’ salaries compare poorly to other professionals over the long-term.

Workforce planning

LIFTING THE ENTRY LEVEL Haythorpe says fulfilling the workforce needs of the future cannot be achieved by lowering entry standards to the profession.

Low entry scores for teaching degrees is already a major concern, she says. Some universities are “conning the system” with low ATARs for teaching courses.

A confidential report leaked to the ABC found that some prospective teaching students offered places in teaching degrees had an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) that was “often as low as zero to 19”.

“It's a significant problem. Some universities are taking in students that have not been academically successful at school. This sets these students up for failure, they often

THE NUMBER OF ENTRANTS TO TEACHING DEGREES FELL BY

4000 between

2014 AND 2017

exhibit higher dropout rates from the ITE course and have to study remedial programs rather than developing their pedagogical understanding.

“The courses are essentially a cash cow because the universities get more funding as they increase the number of undergraduates,” she says.

PRACTICE AND MORE PRACTICE The AEU believes teachers should complete a five-year course – a degree plus a Master of Education – supported with a strong practice component.

New educators say that a good experience during a practicum and comprehensive induction programs make all the difference.

Chelle Heath at Grahamstown Primary School in NSW completed four-week practicums in the second and third years of her degrees and a 10-week internship in the fourth year, but would have liked even more.

She’s now been in the classroom for five years but says she remembers those first days on the job with a shudder.

“I don’t feel that I was prepared enough, and I didn’t have a proper

understanding of the education system. It was really difficult,” says Heath.

Heath says she also could have used more support with behaviour management techniques.

Hope Atkins, at Condell Park High School in NSW, says practicums and later casual teaching helped her find the best ways to approach behaviour management.

“In one of the schools I worked at, I didn’t go a day without a deputy popping into my room saying ‘Hey, are these kids alright, are you OK?’.

So, having that for my first couple of weeks made me feel more confident in my behaviour management once I got into my own classroom,” says Atkins who has now been teaching for five years.

Nonetheless, her first year in the classroom was challenging. Posted to a permanent role in English and drama at Griffith, a regional city west of Sydney, Atkins was the only staff member with drama training.

“That was ‘interesting’, having my first three HSC classes and being the only drama teacher at my school,” she says.

South Australian teacher Kirsten Kirsten Ifould was “absolutely terrified” on her first day in her own

SCIENCE

Grattan Institute researchers Jonathan Nolan and Julie Sonnemann found that the starting full-time salary for a classroom teacher in most Australian states – between $65,000 and $70,000 – is similar to other professionals. But a classroom teacher’s pay stops rising after about nine years, while the incomes of their university-educated peers in other professions continue to rise for the next two decades.

“Other countries reward teacher expertise with higher pay relative to other professionals. So, while Australia’s pay for young secondary teachers is in the top half of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, Australia’s pay for older secondary teachers is in the bottom half,” Nolan and Sonnemann found.

T

OGY L O N H EC

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 13

MATHS

BIOLOGY class, she says the time she spent as a relieving teacher helped to build her confidence. “Luckily, the school I was at that day, Seaford (in South Australia), had a really good package for relievers that you picked up from the office at the start of the day. It had all the information you could need and included quite detailed information about behaviour and medical issues. I‘ve since looked at that as best practice.”

Three years later and with a position at Aldinga Beach B-7 School,

Ifould says teacher training should include more about helping students with trauma-related issues.

She says that children suffering the effects of family violence and substance abuse have special needs but there is little funding or support “so you’re dealing with it pretty much by yourself”.

As a mature-age student, Ifould, 46, says she felt lucky that she had some life experience behind her to help. “I feel for a 22-year old. It must be devastating for some of them to

Action needed to increase Indigenous educators Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers remain significantly underrepresented in schools despite various programs by governments and universities.

The latest figures available show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers represent 1 per cent of the teaching workforce. Indigenous students comprise just over 5 per cent of the total school population.

However, reliable data is hard to come by. The More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI), a five-year project national project that ended in 2016, was hampered by the limited workforce data available from school jurisdictions and universities across Australia, says project director Professor Peter Buckskin.

Buckskin called on universities to work harder to engage and retain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in initial teacher education courses.

The “alarmingly low rates of completion” was a major factor in the supply of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers, Buckskin wrote in his final report.

“Many government policies during the last five decades have

1 4 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

New teachers, and in turn their students, would benefit from more support from more senior staff.

find out what really goes on in the world. It’s not what you’d expect.”

An AITSL survey found that induction programs were offered to just 59 per cent of new educators on permanent contracts and 17 per cent of early career casual relief teachers.

Sixty-five per cent of early career teachers who received a formal induction program strongly agreed that it improved their knowledge and teaching practice and 72 per cent said their experience made them feel a part of the profession.

committed to increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers to achieve improved student outcomes.

Yet progress remains slow due to low levels of implementation, monitoring and reporting; and lack of accountability on the part of responsible entities.”

Nothing much will change without a serious commitment to action, Buckskin said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers also need more support when they get into the classroom, says AEU South Australia branch president Howard Spreadbury.

“There are no structures and supports beyond induction. As a result, a significant number are leaving after about two years,” he says.

Spreadbury says the department is also not reaching its employment target for Aboriginal Community Education Officers and Aboriginal Education Workers, and many of those who are employed are not permanent.

In the Northern Territory, the Indigenous teaching workforce has “flatlined”, says AEU NT branch president Jarvis Ryan.

“There’s a lack of interest and strategic focus by both the department and the government,” he says.

“It’s a major problem: we’re not seeing new teachers coming through and we’re not seeing training programs for assistant teachers,” Ryan says.

Workforce planning

On the frontlines While the states and territories are responsible for their own workforce planning, AEU South Australia branch president Howard Spreadbury is yet to see evidence that it is working in his state.

PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Enrolments in South Australian public schools are increasing by about 2 per cent but that is not the only issue causing workforce planning challenges, says Spreadbury.

A state government plan to move Year 7 from primary schools to secondary schools is also causing some issues.

Meanwhile, the union has been fighting to help teachers and support staff convert from contracts to permanent positions.

In the Northern Territory, enrolments are not increasing but AEU NT branch president Jarvis Ryan says the large number of teachers on contracts is leading to higher turnover and recruitment difficulties.

There’s a tendency to just keep rolling contracts over.

Jarvis Ryan AEU NT branch president

“There's a tendency to just keep rolling contracts over. A teacher might be working consecutively at a school for two, three or four years but they're being rolled over from one contract to the next,” says Ryan.

Western Australia is expecting severe shortages of graduates between 2020 and 2023, particularly in the secondary sector, says State School Teachers’ Union of WA president Pat Byrne. The number of people

enrolling in teaching degrees dropped 24 per cent this year compared to last year, she says.

A predicted 15,000 students will enrol in Australian Capital Territory schools over the next decade, says AEU ACT branch secretary Glenn Fowler.

“That’s a huge increase considering we’ve currently got 49,000 students in public schools,” he says.

While the ACT government is anxious to start recruiting from elsewhere, the union is adamant that temporary teachers are offered the jobs first.

“We made it clear that we don’t think they should be going out to market until they ‘love the ones they’re with’. We’ve got plenty of temporary teachers and many have been in schools for a long time, so the priority should be to make them permanent’. And they’re doing it, so we’re having a massive win for teacher permanency,” says Fowler.

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 15

Capital works crisis Hundreds of new public schools are needed, yet the federal government is funnelling capital works funding to wealthy private schools.

S

1 6 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

Public schools

Private schools

Private schools benefit from a special federal funding deal while government schools struggle to afford even basic maintenance.

1800 schools combined. Many elite private schools have, in recent years, reallocated substantial amounts of recurrent funding to capital works projects and are using income from fees to pay running costs, which allows them to divert recurrent income from government to fund extravagant building projects.

Nationally, more than $1 billion in recurrent income was reallocated to capital works by Catholic and independent schools in 2017.

Added to this, the Morrison government has widened the gap between rich and poor schools by

creating yet another “slush fund” for private schools, says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

“Elite private schools, some of which charge $70,000 a year for board and tuition, have unrestricted access to the new $1.2 billion Choice and Affordability Fund while public schools are prevented from accessing it. The federal government has also recently announced a $10 million drought relief package for private schools but nothing for the public schools in drought-affected areas.

This preferential treatment for

ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

tate and territory governments are rolling out building programs over the next decade, but an infrastructure crisis is looming and they cannot do it alone. The federal government must step up – and provide critical financial support.

Last year the Morrison government provided a $1.9 billion capital works special deal for private schools without providing a dollar for public schools. Capital works funding – for new school buildings and school maintenance – has not been provided to public schools by the federal government since 2017, leaving state and territory governments to pick up the slack.

This is despite the original 2011 Gonski review stating that “all levels of government need to provide greater attention to addressing issues in these schools to ensure that the existing capital is at the very least adequate for delivering 21st century education.”

The massive discrepancy in capital works funding between the public and private schools is clear. Catholic schools spent 2.2 times more per student on capital works than public schools in 2017. Independent schools spent four times more per student.

While public schools educate 66 per cent of school students, their infrastructure funding was just 38 per cent of the total provided to all schools. In fact, My School data shows that Australia’s four richest private schools spent more on new facilities and renovations than

Future

It’s not helping that the federal government is channelling funds into private schools that already have diving pools, orchestra pits and ski lodges at Thredbo.

Maurie Mulheron NSW Teachers Federation president

the private sector is continuing even though public schools are increasing their share of overall enrolments at the expense of non-government schools. The Grattan Institute has estimated that as many as 750 new schools will be needed by 2026 for an extra 650,000 students, and that number is growing. Most are likely to be public schools and costs could reach $11 billion.

School enrolments rose by about 200,000 in the five years to 2018 and public schools accounted for 76 per cent of the increase, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

NSW Teachers Federation president Maurie Mulheron says the state government needs a “massive” injection of federal government funds for capital works programs to meet the needs of its public schools. “It’s not helping that the federal government is channelling funds

into private schools that already have diving pools, orchestra pits and ski lodges at Thredbo.

“We’ve heard predictions of an extra 300 schools, 1700 classrooms and 250,000 more students in the next 10 to 15 years (just in NSW). And that’s a nanosecond in planning terms when you’ve got to find the sites, buy the land and build the schools,” he says.

Meanwhile, existing schools need attention, says Mulheron. “Many need to be rebuilt. They’ve had virtually no maintenance for decades and they are beyond their use-by date.”

It’s a similar story in Western Australia where most of the capital works budget has been eaten up in new school construction in recent years rather than maintenance, says State School Teacher’s Union of WA president Pat Byrne. However, the WA government has

recently announced a boost in funds of $200 million over the next two years for maintenance to address some of the more serious and dangerous jobs.

Despite the focus on new school building, Byrne says there is a lack of proper planning. “Some of the new schools are full to capacity in a very short time, earlier than the department anticipated.”

Haythorpe says the federal government must step in to rectify the shortfalls in capital works funding for public schools across the states.

“The Morrison government has completely and utterly abandoned the concept of needs-based school funding in Australia,” Haythorpe says.

“All governments have a responsibility to ensure that every child has access to a quality education and the federal government must play its part in funding the public sector properly.”

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 17

Demand to improve climate education Educators joined students, union members and fellow protestors in September to demand action to fight the climate crisis.

M

ore than seven million people took to streets around the world during climate action week in September. It was a stark reminder to United Nations (UN) member states of their commitment to improve climate change education.

During the UN General Assembly meeting to discuss progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, educators — represented

by Education International — declared a climate crisis and indicated their support for the global student movement.

Education International general secretary David Edwards says UN member states’ commitment to climate change education is critical.

“There is consensus that all students must gain the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary to take action on climate change … climate change education must be mainstreamed in every nation’s education policies, curricula,

IN SHORT

// 300,000 Australians joined protests on 20 September 2019. // The movement aims to raise awareness and political action around climate change.

1 8 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

PHOTOGRAPHY SHERPA

// School Strike 4 Climate is led by school students around the world.

Climate strike

Resources Find out more about the protests across Australia notbusinessasusual.co Read an article by Education International’s president Susan Hopgood on climate change tinyurl.com/r6cnn4n

teacher training and assessments.

All governments have agreed to this,” says Edwards.

But the reality is that our education systems are unfit to provide quality education on what Edwards calls “the most important issue facing humanity today”.

Teachers say they don’t receive adequate support to teach climate change education.

“Few receive initial teacher training or professional development that includes climate change. Some are even denied the permission to teach climate science as a result of climate change denial among decision- and policymakers in their jurisdiction,” Edwards says.

CHANGING THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION At opposite ends of the eastern coast of Australia, high school students Sara McKoy and Romy O’Donoghue played pivotal roles in the success of one of the nation’s largest protest events. On 20 September, School Strike 4 Climate — the global movement inspired by Greta Thunberg’s solo protest outside the Swedish parliament in 2018 — attracted about 300,000 Australians to rallies in capital cities and 104 other centres.

McKoy, 17, from Kenmore State High School in Brisbane, was one of the state’s lead organisers and had planned the event for months. On the day, she multi-tasked as both master of ceremonies and logistics manager. Despite optimism that interest in the cause was growing, McKoy says organisers were

surprised by the size of the turnout.

“We got 10,000 last time so we were aiming for that, or higher. Our dream was to get 20,000 ... but we ended up getting over 30,000. That was amazing. We were so excited.

When we found out on the day, all of us were completely in shock, we were running around like we were on an adrenaline high.”

O’Donoghue, 16, from Melbourne Girls College, marched in the city protest, unaware of the historymaking numbers in attendance until she saw the aerial photos later. The Year 10 student facilitated partnerships with businesses in the lead-up, and she says that protestor numbers of 150,000 have the potential to transform the national conversation about climate change.

“I think that, because it was the largest climate strike in Australia, it changed the view people had of [School Strike 4 Climate]. It wasn’t just students marching, it was everybody. We had a huge amount of support, including at least 2000 businesses who signed up to Not Business As Usual.

“Politicians disregard student voices a lot, but I think with adults standing in solidarity with us they will start listening and changing. It was encouraging for us that so many people turned up. [Previously] it felt a bit like us against adults and the politicians who aren’t doing anything,” says O’Donoghue.

Both McKoy and O’Donoghue say they intend to increase their commitment to climate activism after the success of September’s

It wasn't just students marching, it was everybody. We had a huge amount of support.

Romy O'Donoghue High school student and protest organiser

Young people continue to lead the charge on the issue of climate change.

strike, but they predict changes to the movement’s format.

“We are cautious of having events that are just the same because, as amazing and inspiring as it is, we don’t want people to lose interest, and they lose interest pretty fast,” says McKoy. “It might be that we have to have more constant, little actions, so we can get more people involved and attending,” says O’Donoghue.

“We want politicians to recognise that we can’t solve this problem with the same things that got us into this situation in the first place, like the ongoing colonisation of land. There has to be an overhaul of how we live, but if people aren’t on board, we can’t get there.

“So we need a transition that’s not just about actions, but justice.

Not everyone will be affected equally by the climate crisis, so we need to ensure that people who are going to be affected the worst, or currently are, have a voice – that they’re able to speak up and have a place to do that.”

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 19

u i e

r t

o

p

d School Strike 4 Change 2019

f

Protestors rallied around the world in September to highlight their concerns about the climate crisis. e Sydney, Australia Photo: Getty Images r Melbourne, Australia Photo: AEU tu Melbourne, Australia Photo: Getty Images i New York City, United States Photo: Alamy o Sydney, Australia Photo: Alamy p Melbourne, Australia Photo: AEU a Sydney, Australia Photo: Getty Images

a s

s Barcelona, Spain Photo: Getty Images d Netherlands Photo: Getty Images f New York City, United States Photo: Getty Images g Sydney, Australia Photo: Getty Images

g

Support makes a difference Signing a petition or writing a letter of protest on behalf of an educator in another part of the world is the least we can do.

France Castro is a teachers-union activist in the Philippines who has spoken out on violence against educators.

W

hen France Castro — a teachers-union activist and member of parliament in the Philippines — rose to address Education International's World Congress in July, she put aside her prepared notes. Instead she shared with delegates the news she’d just received: a principal and education department official had been shot dead overnight.

“Killings are now normal in the Philippines under this government,” she said. “They’ve killed farmers, lawyers and church people this year and now educators.”

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) says the Philippines is among the 10 worst countries in the

2 2 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

world for workers and trade unionists.

In the latest violence against educators, two teachers were shot at by four masked gunmen while at school.

Zhaydee Cabañelez was hit by six bullets but survived; her husband Ramil escaped unhurt.

The ITUC says a new wave of police repression is targeting union activists. In October, almost 60 members of labour and civil society organisations were arrested.

“Under the cover of being tough on crime, this government is targeting human and trade union rights defenders as part of a deliberate political strategy that relies on the suppression of people’s rights and freedoms,” says ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow.

Members and leaders of the Philippines teachers’ union, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), report constant harassment and threats.

General secretary Raymond Basilio no longer lives at home or goes to the office because of the death threats he has received.

“I cannot sleep in my own bed anymore.

I cannot see my family nor go to the union office where I am probably awaited by public forces. I have to change my email and contacts every two weeks,” he says.

Castro herself has been shot at, arrested and imprisoned while helping the Indigenous Lumad people on the island of Southern Mindanao, where the government is closing schools.

She received two prizes recognising her

World View

Killings are now normal in the Philippines under this government. They’ve killed farmers, lawyers and church people this year and now educators.

France Castro Teachers-union activist

bravery and activism this year: the Febe Velasquez Trade Union Rights Award and the Arthur Svensson International Prize for Trade Union Rights (see right).

For David Edwards, general secretary of Education International, the worldwide federation of education unions, Castro’s courage and dedication is inspiring.

“Maths teacher, education union activist, human and trade union rights defender — she has dedicated her life to helping her colleagues, her community and her country. She deserves all the recognition and our full solidarity. We are proud to stand beside her,” says Edwards.

Castro says the awards help to highlight the work of Filipino teachers and unionists and prove that “what we are doing as a union is right”.

“The awards raise our profile, help us gain support in parliament and beyond, and give me and my union a measure of protection against government abuse.”

The support of educators and unionists around the world is helping to sustain the fight for rights and public education, says Castro.

Edwards has visited the Philippines twice this year with union colleagues to offer support to local union members. They met with members of Congress and the Senate, lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Council and urged the Minister for Labour to accept an International Labour Organisation decision calling for a factfinding mission to enter the country.

In December, union members will protest at Philippines embassies around the world to let President Duterte know that there is strong global support for Filipino unionists.

“Duterte said if you criticise me openly, you will get a ‘knock-knock’ on your door, which means they’re coming for you,” Edwards says.

“What we want to say quite firmly back is, ‘If you do that, Mr Duterte, the global trade union movement will be coming to every Filipino embassy door and will knock-knock to let you know that we have the backs of our brothers and sisters in the Philippines’,” says Edwards.

SOLIDARITY COUNTS While the violence in the Philippines is occupying much of Education International’s attention, the federation is actively supporting member unions in many other hotspots around the globe.

“Sometimes it feels like so much is catching fire it’s difficult to prioritise the international solidarity fire brigade,” says Edwards.

But, he says, support from unions for those in countries where lives are threatened and human rights are abused makes a difference.

“Some people may wonder whether signing a petition, sending a letter or taking part in a campaign really matters.

But we’ve seen that it really does and it’s the least we can do. It’s a first step, because what you build off that is an awareness, and then that builds caring for the wellbeing of our brothers and sisters in the movement, and an understanding of what it is they’re going through,” says Edwards.

That kind of international support paid off for Raymond Basilio, who last year was detained at a military base. Education International organised letters to be sent from around the world and Basilio was told by the police he needed to stop creating an international incident. “But they let him go,” says Edwards.

“We’ve seen it time and time again: that action results in people being released from prison, putting a shield of solidarity

Awards that recognise union activists The Febe Velasquez Trade Union Rights Award is named after Salvadoran union leader Febe Elizabeth Velásquez (1962—1989), who was murdered for her trade union activity.

The prize, awarded every two years, recognises an individual’s extraordinary contribution to defending and protecting trade union rights in countries where human and workers’ rights are lacking.

The annual Arthur Svensson prize, established by the Norwegian trade union Industri Energi, is awarded to a person or an organisation that has worked predominantly to promote trade union rights and/or to strengthen trade union organising around the world.

around targeted individuals who are being brave. When we appeal for urgent action it’s because it’s absolutely urgent.

“History has told us that those moments when people just stood by and let it happen, the atrocities and the level of ambition for the right-wing, anti-union, anti-democratic forces increases.

“We need to keep up the pressure,” he says.

Show your solidarity for Education International’s support for the ACT Philippines: labourstart.org/go/act

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 23

First languages lessons grow The International Year of Indigenous Languages might prove to be a watershed year for Australian languages education.

BY LEANNE TO LR A

A

dvocacy body First Languages Australia (FLA) says a federal government commitment to funding research for the training of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language teachers has put a spotlight on career paths for teachers of first language studies in the International Year of Indigenous Languages.

FLA manager Faith Baisden says the growth of Indigenous language studies from Kindergarten to Year 12 could also offer Australian students pathways to new careers in justice, health, tourism, community, science and education over the next decade.

2 4 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

“Through the next year, we hope to be working with the federal Department of Education to identify national career paths and training strategies for language teachers and workers,” Baisden says.

FLA released its Nintiringanyi: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teaching and Employment Strategy last year. The strategy reflects the collective knowledge of educators in each state and territory.

“The teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages in schools will see all Australians open their eyes to the true richness of the linguistic history and culture of Australia.

“It has been simply a blinkered oversight that everyone has not been taught the true story of this land. This will change as language helps people share the real connection with a place they have so far been tip-toeing over as visitors.”

Baisden says community language teachers have done the hard work for many years, “with completely inadequate pay and conditions for their contribution”.

“But they’ve done this because of their passion and commitment to their languages and to the wellbeing of their communities for whom languages are core to identity, history and strength.”

Indigenous languages Students at Buxton Primary School (right) in Victoria learn about Aboriginal culture via language classes.

Ti Tree School (below right) has experienced numerous positive results since introducing Indigenous language teachers 15 years ago.

OLD BECOMES NEW All Australians should know “some” Aboriginal words, says students at Buxton Primary School in Victoria.

Chikita, a Year 6 student, says she knows about 12 words so far. While “it’s really hard to remember the words because some are very long and sound similar”, Chikita thinks Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages should be taught in more schools.

“The best thing about studying an Indigenous language is we get to learn the culture of the traditional owners of the land,” says Year 6 student, Jack.

Ollie, a Year 5 student, says: “The most interesting thing I have learnt about Aboriginal culture is that for newer words they use the same sound as English words.”

Principal Andrew Bagnall says the school, 100 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, saw the opportunity to teach its students about Aboriginal language and culture through the skills of local Taungurung woman and linguist Aunty Lee Healy in 2018. The students had been learning Indonesian.

“We have a Land for Wildlife area and outdoor classrooms, and the children are experiencing Indigenous species, the seasons, bushfoods that are growing naturally and plants that can be used for diet, medicine, weaponry (spears) and basket weaving,” says Bagnall.

The school does not have any students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. But Bagnall says they are learning that Taungurung is a revived language and constantly growing.

“They are creating new words based on what they have learned and, in this way, they are helping to

keep the Taungurung language alive and respectfully finding new ways to modernise the language.

“Their respect for Indigenous culture has grown and they have developed a strong understanding of social justice, fairness and human rights, and the importance of protecting and preserving the culture of our First Peoples.”

A SOCIAL BOND Ti Tree School in the centre of the Northern Territory began supporting two Indigenous languages teachers 15 years ago. April Campbell and Seraphina Presley-Haines teach students Anmatyerr and Warlpiri, the two local languages.

It has created a space for leadership for local teachers and they have become role models.

Dr Margaret Carew NT Department of Education Indigenous languages and culture consultant

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 25

Interactive map

First Languages Australia has developed an interactive map (gambay.com.au) to promote the diversity of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Teachers’ notes have been developed to help teach about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages across key subjects, including English, maths, science, history, geography and civics. The notes are linked to the national curriculum and cover each year level from foundation to Year 10.

NT Department of Education Indigenous languages and culture consultant, Dr Margaret Carew, says the program includes students’ first languages and has had a positive effect on the school community.

“It has created a space for leadership for local teachers (qualified and assistant teachers) and they have become role models and represent an important liaison point between external partners and school staff,” Carew says.

“It also raises the profile of local perspectives that are relevant to mainstream learning areas such as the astronomical knowledge held by family groups, knowledge of creation stories and totemic associations, links to family groups and knowledge of seasonal change marked by the passage of heavenly bodies.

“By linking this area of Western science to local knowledge, the new learning was made more accessible to students.”

Of the school’s 86 students, 84 have Indigenous backgrounds.

A DEEPER CONNECTION Eidsvold School in south-eastern Queensland has been running a Wakka Wakka language reclamation program for almost three years.

Acting Principal Preston Parter says all 89 students from P-12 participate in the health and wellbeing program, called Yumbin, which means “all of us” or “everyone”.

“There were no fluent speakers of Wakka Wakka in the region, but we wanted to teach the language of this land, so we hired a linguistics

2 6 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

Video

FAQs

specialist and, as the program gained momentum, we employed some local Wakka Wakka people as teacher’s aides.

“We had to research the language using recordings and archives from the State Library and a linguistic survey by Nils M Holmer. We began to group words together, and consequently sentences started to form as we better understood how the language connects,” Parter says.

Half of the school’s students are from Aboriginal and Torres Strait backgrounds.

Students at Eidsvold School in Queensland learn Wakka Wakka.

The song Heads, shoulders, knees and toes has been translated into local languages, and is a resource from First Languages Australia, available on marringamu.com.au/videos

STUDENTS STAND TALL Mossman State School in Far North Queensland began consulting with

Patyegarang is an Indigenous Australian languages education website (indigoz. com.au) that answers teachers’ frequently asked questions, with a particular focus on language revival.

Patyegarang offers original material and links to other resources.

the local Indigenous Elders from the five nations of the Kuku Yalanji peoples more than three years ago.

Principal Randal Smith says the school has developed strong cultural connections that have improved attendance, behaviour, achievement and enrolments.

About 60 per cent of the school’s 240 students are from Aboriginal and Torres Strait backgrounds. Students from P-Year 4 have been learning Kuku Yalanji for 12 months “The kids that speak the language fluently are the ones who now walk the tallest and stand the proudest in our playground,” Smith says.

Indigenous languages

A national picture Beyond 2019, the number of Australian students learning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages is set to rise.

NEW SOUTH WALES Five Aboriginal Language and Culture Nests in regional areas, and a sixth satellite nest, support the teaching of Aboriginal languages in 74 schools.

Another 12 schools outside the nests operate first language programs from K-12, supported by the NSW Education Standards Authority.

In 2018, about 10,630 students in NSW were learning an Aboriginal language.

The Nests initiative will receive $1.7 million in funding for 2019/2020 and the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group has developed an Aboriginal languages app featuring a dictionary and games that can be used with six different Aboriginal languages.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA Eight Aboriginal languages are taught to about 4000 students across 49 government schools from K-12.

The $11.9 million South Australian Aboriginal Education Strategy 2019–2029 will create opportunities for the teaching and delivery of Aboriginal cultural knowledge and languages.

VICTORIA Fourteen state primary and secondary schools recorded 1867 students studying first languages in 2018. Indigenous Languages of Victoria has been a VCE subject since 2004. Eighteen kindergartens are delivering an Aboriginal

language program and $17.9 million has been allocated to an Early Childhood Language Program.

The Victorian government is supporting Koorie community members to become Aboriginal language instructors through the delivery of Certificate III in Learning an Endangered Aboriginal Language by the Victorian School of Languages. Certificate IV in Teaching an Endangered Aboriginal Language, planned for 2020.

NORTHERN TERRITORY An Indigenous Languages and Culture curriculum is followed by 3175 students at 43 schools. The program has operated, with varying degrees of support from governments, for almost 20 years and teaches up to 30 different languages.

The program supports the development and enrichment of students’ first language or, in bilingual schools, uses students’ first languages to deliver learning areas within the national curriculum.

QUEENSLAND About 1500 students in 70 state schools can learn one of 27 different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA Aboriginal languages have been taught in public schools since 1992. Sixty public schools taught an Aboriginal language to 4979 primary and 632 secondary students this year. The schools include primary,

secondary, remote community and district high schools, and the language taught in each is chosen in consultation with its community.

The WA Department of Education provides funding to train Aboriginal employees to become Aboriginal languages teachers.

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY The Board of Senior Secondary Studies has accredited an Indigenous Culture and Languages course from 2020. This course makes provision for students to engage with Ngunnawal culture and language in their own community.

ACT public school educators have access to courses taught by experts from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies based in Canberra.

Leanne Tolra is a journalist and editor.

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 27

School banking doesn’t add up The corporate regulator says banks are cashing in on programs in schools.

BY C Y ND I T E B B E L

C

ash or credit? Good investment or not? The answers can be found in quality teaching and learning programs. The problem is that schools have been outsourcing financial education to the banks.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says school banking programs increase the chances of students remaining loyal to the bank after they finish school.

Under the programs, a bank offers deposit products to students, who are encouraged to establish accounts and make ongoing deposits into them at the school.

But the programs are not effective at improving financial literacy, says ASIC. Its preliminary report, after a 12-month review, found “limited evidence among past students that school banking programs have a lasting impact on their saving behaviour”.

The Review of school banking programs is part of a national strategy, led by ASIC, that aims to improve Australians’ financial capability to manage money, make informed money decisions and plan for the future.

// School banking programs are widespread in Australia. // School banking programs are effective ways for banks to attract young customers. // There's limited evidence that the programs improve financial literacy, according to ASIC.

2 8 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

IN SHORT

Financial literacy

Financial literacy should be taught by fully qualified and trained teachers, not used by banks to infiltrate and develop their client base.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

SELLING CREDIT TO CHILDREN Scott Pape, a financial educator and author, says that banks teaching children about finance is like putting a fast food company in charge of nutrition education. “Financial literacy is something children will be tested on for the rest of their lives,” he says. “It’s far too important to leave up to any financial institution.”

Pape says the Commonwealth Bank’s Dollarmites school banking program — used in around two-thirds of Australian schools — is just “a marketing opportunity to sell products like credit cards to students”. And the money that schools are offered to take part in the program, with bonuses paid for the number of students they can sign up for savings accounts, represents “kickbacks they use to their competitive advantage”.

“The bank wants to sign up kids because it knows at least half of them become customers for life,” says Pape.

Consumer group Choice isn’t a fan either.

It awarded the bank’s school program a Shonky Award in 2018 and called on schools to “ditch the Dollarmites”.

A Fairfax Media investigation earlier this year labelled Dollarmites “a scam”, revealing that Commonwealth Bank staff in some branches had fraudulently topped up thousands of Youthsaver accounts to meet sales targets and qualify for bonuses.

BANKS SHOULD NOT BE IN SCHOOLS The AEU has called on the federal government to ban banks from working with schools.

“Financial literacy should be taught by fully qualified and trained teachers, not used by banks to infiltrate and develop

their client base,” says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

Both ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have concerns about improving levels of financial literacy and agree that schools are the ideal environment to provide ongoing education.

The financial regulator has developed a financial education program for schools called MoneySmart, the RBA also provides education resources on its website and the Australian Taxation Office has recently launched school programs on taxation and superannuation (see right).

QUALITY PROGRAMS HELP OTHERS TOO Scott Pape’s interest in financial education led to him establish a notfor-profit program for schools. It aims to protect vulnerable young people from falling victim to predatory and payday lenders “because a lot of them can’t see past the idea of fast, easy money”.

“But when I get them to work out the interest on those loans, they’re horrified,” he says. “The lenders aren’t very happy about what I’m doing either. But that’s what independent financial education is all about.”

Pape travelled to Brazil at the end of last year and met representatives of the World Bank to learn about “the largest school money program study in history”.

“What they’ve found is that when kids are engaged they engage their parents and really lift everybody up. That’s what I’m doing, too,” Pape says.

Tools and resources MoneySmart teaching program MoneySmart is the Australian Government's financial literacy education program for primary and secondary students and teachers.

It covers five financial principles: planning, spending, saving, donating and investing, with units aligned to the Australian Curriculum for Primary and Secondary. Resources include online tools, such as calculators and apps, digital resources and professional development for teachers. moneysmart.gov.au/teaching

Tax, super and you The Australian Taxation Office is rolling out educational programs on taxation and superannuation to schools across Australia, with the aim of core tax and super information taught in 50 per cent of schools by 2024. Resources will cover primary and secondary levels. taxsuperandyou.gov.au

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank's public education program has developed resources for educators and students with education specialists and professionals to support different learning experiences. rba.gov.au/education/resources

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 29

Steps to success Teachers reflect on a year of self-discovery as they hone their skills and encourage their students to grow.

BY M ARG ARE T PAT O N

LAUREN WELLS Giralang Primary School, ACT

3 0 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

CULTURALLY SAFE “We’re analysing our data to help us work out what we’re doing well to make the school a culturally safe place, and seeing what else we need to implement,” Wells says.

They’ve written a whole-of-school Indigenous story, decorated a tree trunk to celebrate National Reconciliation Week and sourced cushions with “beautiful Aboriginal prints” for classrooms.

Wells has included an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective in geography, literacy and art inquiry lessons.

Students in her Year 3/4 class have worked in groups to research and create a slide show about a different Australian state or territory.

“We inquired into a range of Aboriginal art pieces and styles, which led us to discussions about the various symbols used in their culture. I encouraged the students to create symbols that were personally meaningful as they were decorating a map of Australia with paint.

“I also asked each student to tell me what they created, why and what it meant to them. It was a powerful way to have them reflect on Aboriginal paintings and their effect. That exercise and the research presentations were quite rich tasks.”

PHOTOGRAPHY GEOFF COMFORT

New educator Lauren Wells says her mind “boggled” when she heard some Year 6 students say they thought Aboriginal culture was “finished”.

She realised there was much work to be done to provide information to students and integrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture throughout the school.

Wells and three colleagues at Giralang Primary school in ACT are on the case — working on ways to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into teaching practices, as part of a University of Canberra research project.

New educators

We followed new teachers throughout this year and featured their challenges and achievements in each issue of Australian Educator.

Lauren Wells balances teaching with training – she’s a 2020 Olympics hopeful.

It’s a fine line to walk between being a professional athlete and a teacher.

Lauren Wells Giralang Primary School, ACT

SO MUCH MORE TO TEACHING With the school year coming to a close, Wells has learned there is much more to teaching than just being in front of a class. She cites professional learning, reporting on and analysing student data, fundraising, communicating with families, research projects, sports clinics and events such as Book Week as some examples.

“At university, they don’t specifically tell you this, but those activities are still to do with teaching. You just have to integrate them and minimise the disruption to student learning,” she says.

Wells keeps her evenings free of schoolwork and saves Sunday afternoons for lesson planning and prep.

She is an elite hurdler and is on the Australian athletics team for the World Championships; she is also in with a chance for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

“It’s a fine line to walk between being a professional athlete and a teacher. I try to keep it real with the kids, but a lot of them think it’s pretty cool that I’ve been on TV and I may compete at another Olympics.

The rest of them just want to race me at the end of the year.”

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 31

New educators

CLAUDIA SIGALLA Settlers Farm Campus, SA

Managing low-level disruptive student behaviour keeps new educator Claudia Sigalla on her toes.

Through her in-school professional development, Sigalla is learning how to prevent behaviour, such as calling out, from escalating into something more serious.

She is supporting her students by using co-regulation rather than self-regulation.

“This has worked well for one of my students who now identifies strategies to get her back to the ‘ready-to-learn’ mindset. We’ve discussed what she can do when she’s in the blue zone feeling sad or tired, for example, or in the red zone and is feeling angry.

“It’s all pre-negotiated. She’s able to choose a strategy, but it still has to be appropriate. She might have a five-minute time out on the bean bag to relax, a walk outside, or sit a soft toy on her desk to help her work.”

3 2 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

I’m still working nights and weekends but there are teachers who’ve been teaching for 40 years who are still working into the night.

Claudia Sigalla Settlers Farm Campus, SA

FINDING A BALANCE Sigalla says she feels “a bit more purposeful” thanks to improvements in her students’ behaviour and is finding more time and space for professional and personal pursuits.

Inspired by the work of literacy expert Dr Deslea Konza, she is including more oral language in class through gamebased activities such as inviting children to touch, describe and guess a mystery object in a box.

She is also improving her assessment data to support lesson planning and how she groups students.

In her free time, Sigalla is continuing to learn the sign language Auslan, and as a union representative she’s been helping with the ongoing campaign around her state’s enterprise bargaining agreement.

“I’m still working nights and weekends but there are teachers who’ve been teaching for 40 years who are still working into the night. I just feel it’s part of the profession, but there has to be a cut-off time,” says Sigalla.

PHOTOGRAPHY PETER FISHER

Mindful of the risk that others will be distracted, Sigalla says: “I tell them that if they’re smiling, engaging in conversation, I can see they’re in a ‘ready-to-learn’ mindset so they don’t need the toy.”

Changes in classroom design have also helped behaviour, says Sigalla.

“Most group tables have a maximum of four students, which helps reduce the chattiness but still allows collaboration, and I’ve removed some of my trolleys to free up space for learning.”

And by opening the door into the neighbouring classroom, Sigalla’s had opportunities to learn behaviour management techniques by observing the work of other teachers.

NEW AND ESSENTIAL TITLES FOR TERM 4 100-DAY LEADERS: Turning Short-Term Wins Into Long-Term Success in Schools A succinct and powerful guide on how to build and implement a highleverage system of leadership using a sixstage plan in just 100 days.

THE CAFE BOOK: Expanded Second Edition

180 DAYS OF SELFCARE FOR BUSY EDUCATORS

In this updated and expanded edition of a well-loved classic, Gail Boushey and Allison Behne draw on a decade of research on the most effective reading instruction for students.

Participate in 180 days of self care with this guide to low-cost and no-cost research-based practices to support health and wellbeing inside the classroom and out.

SOT9969 • $39.95

SHP9983 • $44.95

Douglas Reeves and Robert Eaker

Gail Boushey and Allison Behne

THE LEARNING LANDSCAPE: How to Increase Learner Agency and Become a Lifelong Learner

Pre-Order: Available from Dec

SOT9952 • $39.95 Tina Boogren

THE NEW ART AND SCIENCE OF TEACHING ART AND MUSIC: Revised Edition

USING AND ANALYSING DATA IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS: Why, How and What

Discover art- and musicspecific instructional strategies built on the foundation of Dr Robert J. Marzano’s New Art and Science of Teaching

Bring data to life with this practical guide to creating a classroom culture that will transform and inspire students.

Discover a powerful metaphor for visualising learning that will help create more engaged and inspired learners — from the pits of challenging learning to the peaks of expertise.

framework.

HB6128 • $39.95

SOT6258 • $42.95

HB6739 • $45.95

James Anderson

Mark Onuscheck, Robert Marzano & Jonathan Grice

Selena Fisk

ATTEND A 2020 PROFESSIONAL LEARNING EVENT

AT WORK™ Workshop

AT WORK® Workshop

SUMMIT

2–3 Mar 2020 | HOBART 24–25 Feb 2020 | MELBOURNE

4 Mar 2020 | ADELAIDE

27–28 Feb 2020 | BRISBANE

5 May 2020 | BRISBANE

26–27 Mar 2020 | BRISBANE

6 May 2020 | MELBOURNE Built upon the PLC at Work® process, explore how Response to Intervention can ensure all students learn at high levels.

Discover how your school can implement the most powerful strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement.

The essential event that translates 50 years of Marzano research into practical strategies attendees can use to advance student achievement.

ORDER NOW OR BOOK YOUR PLACE AT HBE.COM.AU +61 3 8558 2444

+61 3 8558 2400

www.hbe.com.au

orders@hbe.com.au

Be You benefits your whole learning community The most effective approach to supporting and promoting positive mental health is one that involves everyone in the learning community: children, young people, educators and families.

Be You supports and promotes the development of mentally healthy learning communities.

Growing mentally healthy minds works best when everyone gets together.

Our Be You team will work with you to setup a whole learning community approach.

We can help you make it happen.

Register today at beyou.edu.au

With delivery partners

Funded by

New educators

The students and I made class rules to recognise good learning and disruptive learning and consequences for the latter.

CHRISTOPHER HARVEY Dripstone Middle School, NT

Christopher Harvey Dripstone Middle School, NT

PHOTOGRAPHY DAVID HANCOCK

Cross-curricula teaching and learning approaches are working well for Chris Harvey and his students at Dripstone Middle School in Darwin.

Students in his Year 7 and 8 geography classes studied floods and droughts and wrote essays, created PowerPoint documents, recorded a video news report, wrote and illustrated a children’s book and produced podcasts. Harvey marked their content and the media teacher marked the technology.

A Shark Tank-style start-up concept is occupying Harvey’s Year 9 economics and geography students who are working on business proposals that incorporate fair trade and a sustainable global economy.

He says the project is allowing students to connect their learning to real-life problem solving. “I love being able to combine those into a really relatable subject.”

ACQUIRING SKILLS Harvey, who will soon cap off his first year of high school teaching, says chatting to an education luminary was a recent highlight.

He met academic and author Professor John Hattie, who is also Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership chair, at an event for early career educators organised by the AEU and the NT Education Department.

With a long-term goal of a postgraduate research degree, Harvey is focussing on his proficiency. His human society and its environment (HSIE) faculty peers work closely together to share programming and plan resources so Harvey is no longer writing his units from scratch. He continues to observe senior teachers’ classes for tips on student behaviour management and his mentor has sat in on his classes.

“The school is happy with what I’m doing. The kids are now just so responsive.

They want to learn. They come to my class early and ask, ‘What are we learning today?’ It feels awesome,” says Harvey.

FINE-TUNING BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT Nonetheless Harvey is sometimes overwhelmed with the challenge of managing student behaviour and says it can seem as though each student needs a separate management plan.

“Some of my strategies weren’t working in the way I wanted, so I introduced more routines and consistency. The students and I made class rules to recognise good learning and disruptive learning and consequences for the latter. We all agreed to them and I follow through.”

His students now know the outcome of their poor choices and are quicker to get back to work, says Harvey. He is supporting the strategy with visual prompts and by modelling positive behaviours such as saying: “I need a brain break. I’m going to have a drink from my water bottle.”

Harvey says it helps that the school has breakout areas outside classrooms to give the students space for group work.

“I get a lot out of teaching. I’m now confident with my content and knowing the students, and I think they can tell that as well.”

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and casual K-12 teacher.

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 35

Recess

Educators are turning to ‘design thinking’ to deal with changing times and student needs.

High honours Rooty Hill High School’s Yasodai Selvakumaran is one of the top 10 teachers in the world.

BY C Y ND I T E B B E L

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Resources

The Teachers Guild (considered a trailblazer in design thinking in education) teachersguild.org

3 6 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

A

rmand Doucet began his teaching career believing his job was to transfer his knowledge to his students.

But, eight years later, he has come to a different view. “The teacher is there to serve the student with empathy.

I am there to meet students where they are and help them develop,” he writes in his latest book Teaching Life: Our Calling, Our Choices, Our Challenges (Routledge, 2019).

The book offers teachers’ perspectives on some of the challenges and changes affecting education, based on Doucet’s discussions with teachers around the world.

The problem, says Doucet, is that there is no research and development department for education “even though everyone wants teachers to be innovative”.

He believes new teaching methods and practices ought to be trialled in classrooms rather than handed down from legislators or departmental chiefs.

“When the system uses a top-down method to deliver a new learning strategy, there is a higher risk of affecting a whole cohort of students if it fails … and the end result is that educational change stagnates,” he writes.

Doucet says ‘design thinking’ may help make sense of the challenges that educators face. It is used by businesses, taught in universities and has been explored by educators for several years.

“The design-thinking process gives you the ability to plan and practise in a holistic way, which benefits individual students, all your classes and your own professional development,” says Doucet.

After all, teachers know their own classrooms best, says Doucet. “To be successful, we, the teachers will need to take ownership of these experiments

Toolkit

by applying design-thinking concepts in our classrooms.”

Doucet says design thinking could be used to plan a year, a semester, or just a lesson. “The design-thinking process gives you the ability to plan and practice in a holistic way that benefits individual students, all your classes and your own professional development,” he says.

The process is based on five elements: empathy (with your students); define (the problem you are trying to solve); ideate (brainstorming possible solutions); prototype (creating solutions) and feedback (is the solution effective).

Starting with empathy is the path to “true personalisation”, says Doucet.

“This means putting ourselves in our students’ shoes, getting to know them, understanding where they are coming from, understanding their strengths and weaknesses and understanding where their zone of proximal development is for competencies, social-emotional learning and content.”

It is a way of balancing the pressures of getting through a jam-packed curriculum and the demands to “teach to the test” that makes teachers feel as though they have no autonomy, says Doucet.

“Each class has its own culture, with its strengths and weaknesses. We must understand our class and school culture from the students’ perspectives because they are the learners of our designs.”

Moving through the other steps in the design-thinking process helps to define the most pressing problems and then come up with possible solutions. Brainstorming is a valuable tool and worth working out how to do well. “We want to generate as many ideas as possible before pruning to the one we will use,” he says.

Doucet recommends the engineers’

The design-thinking process gives you the ability to plan and practice in a holistic way.

Armand Doucet Teacher and author

approach to prototypes, which aims for a minimally viable product or MVP. “What is the minimal amount that can be done to create a viable first solution? This helps to balance the need to implement something that is imperfect and incomplete, with being ill-prepared and unprofessional.”

He says feedback is the important final step in the process. “Teachers need to be researchers who are constantly growing in their design journey. We need to be always thinking, how this is working?

“While it is important to look at the feedback at the end of a design, it is also critical to use feedback in mid-stride. If teachers are learners as well, admitting flaws and failures to our plans will make the learning genuine for students.”

Doucet acknowledges the challenge faced by teachers in some education systems to design student-centred learning experiences.

“In an attempt at thoroughness, detail and accountability, they have created prescriptive, day-by-day curriculum documents that are expected to be followed. They have created data collection systems full of check boxes, with test results as another layer of accountability.”

But education is “the single most important social program for the long-term future success of any society”, Doucet says..

Armand Doucet Armand Doucet had already lived a couple of lifetimes before arriving in the classroom. He was a sporting coach for 25 years and worked in sales and marketing for PepsiCo. He decided on a career change after finding it difficult to reconcile his coaching background — teaching about health and fitness — with his role in selling unhealthy foods to children. “I wanted to have a better impact,” he says.

Doucet quickly made his mark as a teacher, has earned national and international awards, and published two books. He is working on a third.

He teaches modern history and world issues at Riverview High School in New Brunswick in Canada.

Teaching Life is based on interviews with teachers in 100 education systems in 35 countries. The many international trips were managed during school holidays and with some special leave from his school. He acknowledges the strength of his support network, from colleagues at school and around the world to his biggest supporter, his wife.

SUM M E R 20 1 9 // 37

Recess

High honours Rooty Hill High School’s Yasodai Selvakumaran is one of the top 10 teachers in the world.

Why do you teach?

We’d love to hear your best tips for engaging young minds. Email us at educator@hardiegrant.com if you have something to share. You can provide a written piece or we’d be happy to interview you.

BY C Y ND I T E B B E L

The recognition has led to new opportunities. One of the most exciting for Selvakumaran was an invitation from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education to present a session on ‘The role of continual professional development’.

The forum, about Attracting and Retaining Young Teachers, coincided with World Teachers Day 2019 in October in Bangkok.

“I feel a responsibility to use that profile to have wider impact, and take opportunities when they come up,” she says.

She encourages her mentees to do the same: “Think bigger than you generally would and don’t put anything out of reach.”

A

wards can be life changing.

For humanities teacher, Yasodai Selvakumaran, this year’s formal recognition of her work at western Sydney’s Rooty Hill High School has raised her profile in Australia and internationally.

Selvakumaran was named as a top 10 finalist in the 2019 Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize.

Yet, even while fielding requests for media interviews and speaking engagements, Selvakumaran stays focused on why she became an educator and the people who have supported her along the way.

She remembers her teachers in country NSW as significant actors, building her confidence and character, and pushing her further than she thought possible.

That guidance has been sustained during her nine years at Rooty Hill High, where principal Christine Cawsey encourages a culture of developing professional practice.

It’s a rich milieu and Selvakumaran finds joy teaching in the classroom and working closely with the school’s mentor team and

3 8 // SUMME R 2 0 1 9

Think bigger than you generally would and don’t put anything out of reach.

Yasodai Selvakumaran Rooty Hill High School, Sydney

senior executives to design professional learning and induct beginner teachers.

“There’s something about the culture here that has inspired me since I was at the school for my second practicum as a university student and my internship,” says Selvakumaran. “I knew it was the place I wanted to start teaching.”

Selvakumaran was the only Australian teacher to place in the finals of the Global Teacher Prize this year and has won several other awards over the past few years.

GLOBAL REACH Selvakumaran also received a teaching fellowship to Singapore two years ago and this gave her an insight into an education system with “an outstanding reputation for developing teachers, with a strong focus on professional learning”.

Teachers, she says, need more time to collaborate. “That’s how you need to approach change and respond to issues in the curriculum and the day-to-day process of teaching.”

Selvakumaran believes education is the key to empowerment “wherever you are, in whatever situation you might be in”. And it’s the role of teachers “to break down barriers to education”.

“As a history and humanities teacher, I think it’s crucial for people to understand each other and to have empathy – that’s the basis of all human connections – and being able to live harmoniously and make a difference in the world.”

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

Masterclass 1 June 2020 Conference & Expo 2 - 3 June 2020

POWERING WORKPLACE L&D

International Convention Centre, Sydney

n o i t a c u d e f o e l o h w e h t r o f l a v i t s e f t n a i g One 300+

10,000+

Speakers

Attendees

300+

Exhibitors

1

3

Co-located Events

BIG Event

Maggie MacDonnell

Richard Gerver

Global Teacher Prize Winner 2017 The million dollar teacher (Canada)

World renowned speaker and author Coach to the worlds elite (United Kingdom)

Marc Prensky

Tamsyn Rosenberg

Founder and Executive Director, The Global Future Education Foundation and Institute (United States)

Founder & CEO Alive Project

Charles Fadel Pioneer of 21st Century Skills (United States)

REGISTER ONLINE TODAY! Use Code: AUSED Secure your seat at EduTECH conferences and masterclasses.

www.edutech.net.au

Attendance of EduTECH conferences counts towards PD activities

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting?

Contact education@terrapinn.com or call (02) 8908 8555

Looking after members’ retirement savings since 1912.

Welcome to super without surprises Product issued by the QSuper Board (ABN 32 125 059 006, AFSL 489650) as trustee for QSuper (ABN 60 905 115 063). Consider the PDS on our website to see whether QSuper is right for you. © QSuper Board 2019.