A Teacher's Life

 A Teacher's Life

How times have changed... thank goodness.

My life as a teacher has been quite varied. I suppose I am lucky to have been able to teach almost everything to all year levels, here in Australia and in Papua New Guinea.

Teaching has changed quite considerably since I graduated in 1977. There were no computers.therefore no internet to help with research. All ideas were developed through reading books, talking to people and practising skills.

Assignments, essays were hand written, lesson plans too.Some may have been typed but there was no easy option of cut and paste and delete mistakes.All school reports were hand written, no tick boxes but many inflammatory and honest comments were made.

Curriculum was more flexible and each school developed their own, and each teacher was able to pursue their strengths and passions more.Years 11 and 12 were the only years to have a pre determined syllabus.

Primary School was much more free lance adapting to the childrens' interests and capabilities.

Graduation 1977

I began my teaching career at Maffra High School, in the days when you were sent to the country after your government funded training. Three years in the country was mandatory unless you were married then it was only 1 year at a School within  25 kms of your home. 

I enjoyed my time at Maffra, I taught Home Ec, introducing boys to needlework, sewing machines and girls to woodwork. I also had some input in the development of the year 12 syllabus Human Development and Society.

However after 3 years I decided to become an International volunteer in a third world country. I went to Papua New Guinea with the Volunteers' Abroad Scheme. It was an eye opener for me and probably quite dangerous too. I married a local and stayed in PNG  for 15 years teaching in International Schools both Secondary and all levels of Primary School. Initially I taught English,Science and Nutrition in a local High School , living on Campus. Later when we moved to Pt. Moresby I worked in the International High School and between having children took up contracts in International Primary Schools at what ever level was available. I did enjoy the early years and even taught and ran a local Kindergarten for a while with my 3 boys under 4 in tow. Hazel was born while I was working as the Kindergarten teacher /Manager. 

When we moved to Cairns, as I was the the breadwinner, I went back to teaching, mainly Secondary contracts and later relief teaching in Primary schools. As I was trained in Victoria, I had to prove to the Queensland Education Department that I was a capable teacher and understood their ideology, which was a lot of paperwork and later interviews.I still don't understand why Australia can't have a universal Education System, just like medical practioners. They don't have to sit exams and prove their competence when moving from state to state.

Since moving back to Melbourne I decide not to pursue teaching as I would have to up grade my teaching qualifications . However now I am doing a bit of support work which involves some of my teaching skills and life experiences, I feel my knowledge and experience is being put to good use. It is nice to put them in practise once more.