Society suffers if teachers and teaching is not afforded the respect that is deserved or the existence of schools and what they offer is simply taken for granted. Societies which respect their teachers benefit from this. Of course, this won’t happen if teachers are required to present a negative anti-social curriculum, but I’m excluding this situation in this presentation. Sadly, the presentation of education as a negative pursuit does exist in parts of the world today which is nothing short of devastating.

In celebrating teachers and teaching it is of value to think how extensive it is, how diverse it can be, but how far reaching it is and indeed its effect. Of course the largest population of teachers are parents who start the process on the day their child enters the world.

As humans we are all individuals: no-one is a clone of another. That is a wonderful aspect of our world and as a result the world’s population makes an intensely coloured cloth, sporting millions of colours all different even if some present as similar. When I think of this it reminds me of a beautiful blanket I bought in the mountains of Guatemala covered with colours some of which were so intense they made you blink. I used to drape it over my office chair to remind me of the huge diversity for which I, as Principal, was ultimately responsible. Strangely, one day a visitor came into my office and looking at my brightly coloured cloth, exclaimed excitedly “you have been to Guatemala.” Well that is food for thought.

Nevertheless, our society is keen to push people into being a statistic. But we know, as teachers, we must be dealing with people as individuals. It is concerning to shift students simply into norms: “I’ve got 3 of that, 10 of this, 7 of X and I don’t know about the others.” This “norming “can be dangerous, detracting from a person who is an individual.

I like to think that schools throughout Australia and indeed throughout much of the World, vary in how education is presented, what is taught and how it is taught. What is key is that most schools provide important well thought out opportunities for young people to learn.

Sorry! I need to digress from the exclusivity of the word “young people.” If people are to be life-long learners there need to be places of learning aside from self - teaching, learning at work etc. In fact, there are many places for adults to learn: obviously Universities, TAFE’s, University of the Third Age and many others.

I have mentioned before that I started teaching at Wangaratta Technical School, years 7-10. Fortunately, in this country town of 17,000 people, there was a Learning Centre dedicated to adult learning. In my first year of teaching I was recruited to teach Year 12 Australian History one night a week. Bar one student I was by far the youngest person in the room. These adult students had chosen to do this for a variety of reasons. Sure, initially the class didn’t know how to treat me - but we developed a good relationship and had an interesting year. One of my students was a local senior sergeant of police and was probably 30 years older than me and was not the oldest in the class. He informed the class at some stage that he was a direct descendent of Aaron Sherritt who was associated with the Kelly Gang and in the end shot by one of their number, Joe Byrne. Nothing like being close to history.

Some years later when I was teaching year 12 Australian History in Maryborough Victoria a parent of one of my students was keen to take up the subject and come to my classes. She was welcomed and so a 50 year old Mum joined the class and proved to be a conscientious student. She behaved very well!

Teachers usually meet and are associated with a large number of people, both adults and children. But there are situations where this is not the case. Jill, my wife, started teaching in a two teacher school and in those days there were still many one teacher schools in Victoria. Of course the NT has many small isolated schools and members of AISNT have their fair share.

During my first decade of teaching, numbers of these small schools began to be shut down with students being bussed to larger centres.

One of my favourite Bush Poets, as I have previously mentioned, is Father Patrick Hartigan, who wrote under the name of John O’Brien. He was a country priest and an observer of bush life particularly in Narrandera where he was the local priest for years. He also spent time, even after ordination, being inspector of schools in the diocese of Goulburn in 1910. His poem the “Old Bush School” is written in another age but I suspect some aspects of this education still exist today. However it is also very much part of our Australian Education Heritage. What is notable, that despite the lack of many education niceties we have today, children in fact did learn.

Here are some memorable extracts.

Verse 1.

‘Tis a queer, old battered landmark that belongs to other years; With the dog-leg fence around it, and its hat about its ears’ And the cow-bell in the gum-tree, and the bucket on the stool, There’s a motley host of memories round the old bush school.

Verse 2.

With its seedy desks and benches, where at least I left a name Carved in agricultural letters - ‘twas my only bid for fame; And the spider-haunted ceilings, and the rafters, firmly set, Lined with darts of nibs and paper (doubtless sticking in them yet). (This is particularly familiar to me with my time at the local Primary School) And the greasy slates and Blackboards, where I oft was proved a fool And a blur upon the scutcheon of the old bush school.

Verse 6.

Early rising in the half - light, when the morn came, bleak and chill; For the little mother roused us ere the sun had topped the hill’ “Up, you children, late ‘tis gettin’.” Shook the house beneath her knock, And she wasn’t always truthful, and she tampered with the clock.

Verse 7.

Keen she was about “the learnin’,” and she told us o’re and o’re Of our luck to have “the schoolin’,” right against our very door.

Through the World there are schools with basic facilities like this. I’ve seen students taught in Africa and Indonesia in really basic structures - no glass in the windows, not much in the teaching space. In Africa , one little fellow whom I helped paint a rubbish bin in bright colours, whose school was one very simple, undecorated room, explained to me he wanted to be a lawyer. He was keen enough for perhaps luck to come his way and this to take place.

I know in the Territory, there are a real variety of learning places using whatever is available, what’s affordable but not compromising on the goal which is teaching Kids. Essential is the teachers’ ability to put into practice “Telationship”- that is teaching is about establishing a positive productive relationship. Teachers are indeed a wonderful army of talented people dedicated to creating a situation where learning can take place - creative energetic, smart and essentially adaptable.

Throughout the World people value schools, however humble they are, and want their children to grow up learning and they mostly respect their teachers. I always have imprinted on my mind the marriage certificate for my great, great(etc) grandmother who signed her wedding certificate with a squiggle whilst her brand new husband clearly wrote his name. He had been to school, she hadn’t.

In this day and age I am sad for the communities where girls are restricted in their education. I find it extremely unacceptable. I also have a sharp pain in my stomach when I see in Australia some children not attending school when they clearly have the opportunity to take advantage of what is available.

Learn, learn, learn - there is so much to learn and one life sadly can’t capture it all. Learning is enhanced by the willing spirit of teachers prepared to learn their craft and then go out and help “make it happen” for kids.

Schools of course aren’t all in the one place and teachers as a community have to be mobile and adaptable if schools are to be effectively staffed. Trainee teachers who were at University in Victoria on Studentships which provided them with financial support, had to give 1 or 3 years work in the Education Department, depending on the studentship they had. This meant they could be sent anywhere in Victoria to teach. A friend of mine contacted the Department requesting that he work in the difficult underprivileged area of Melbourne where he had been undertaking youth work with challenging young people. The Education Department in their wisdom ignored this and sent him to a small settlement of 300 called Balmoral, in the Grampians. Being a dutiful citizen he packed up his Morris 1100 and headed west on the 6 hour, 384 km journey to his new school.

As it turned out he had a great time at Balmoral High School, met new friends, played local cricket and discovered how much better his leg break turned on the country matting surface.

There are many teachers in the NT who have pulled up stumps and taken the move to a school somewhere in the Territory even though it may be 1500 to 3500k back to family and friends. As Principals many of us have employed heaps of new grads from interstate, who have decided to make the big trip to the NT to start their teaching career. There are those in Alice who saw the Todd flow three times and consequently stayed for life or a long time.

An American teacher in the NT, whom I know, headed out to remote Africa to teach for two years with the Peace Corps in a challenging French speaking country. Teaching and adventure do go together.

A former student of mine was prepared to go to South Africa on a Gap Year, to a school whose curriculum focussed on native animals. Conveniently the school was situated on the border of the famous Kruger National Park. He had a great year. He eventually moved to Zimbabwe where he became head of Music at one of their noted boarding schools.

I had an interesting experience at an education conference I attended in Wuhan in China on the Yangtze River. We broke into “buzz” groups and listened to each other’s stories about why we became teachers and why we ended up where we did. The two charming Chinese teachers in the group said that the marks they received in their final exam meant they were automatically channeled into Teacher Training. This was to be expected and they accepted this. After graduating they were sent to where the state wanted them to go. For one it was a great distance from their home.

However they didn’t complain - to them it was “id est Quod id est.”

Teachers, yes - brave, bold and adventurous, but dedicated to making a difference to young lives no matter where they are throughout the World. I’m proud to be part of that global team as I’m sure you all are.

Written by Chris Tudor