Teacher: One woman’s struggle to keep the heart in teaching (#ieureading)


Teacher: One woman’s struggle to keep the heart in teaching (#ieureading)

Gabbie touches on the core touchstones of Australian Education, Initial Teacher Education as problematic and overly theoretical, learning by trial-by-fire, and apprenticeship of observation. At points she moves beyond her own experience to draw out the broader difficulties within our system, AITSL standards, NAPLAN and an increased focus on standardisation and the “Professionalisation” of teachers without allowing sufficient time for this to occur. Her comment on ‘teacher tiredness’ that leaves teachers curled up in the foetal position with their chosen vice struck home violently.

She touches on the complex balancing act of caring and letting go, typified by her dual revelations of:

“I teach Kindergarten”

Versus

“I do the most important work in the world”

Whilst also drawing out the views of teaching as an Art versus teaching as a science and participating in the community of your school versus the view of students as clients. These two dichotomies were drawn heavily and clearly between the teachers (art) and the leaders (science). Also touching on the political football that education consistently represents, which is displayed as a pendulum that typically goes too far in either direction.

She manages to show not only the complexity and challenge of teaching, but also explains the things that often hold teachers back, valuing a day of students learning over her own professional development, constant criticisms of leadership as a separate group to teachers and a lack of recognition of the role of policy.

She hints at solutions, being those that run directly counter to the standardisation agenda and the metaphor of the pendulum suggests that this clearly needs to be pushed in the opposite direction through activism. Likewise, her focus on accountability and endless documentation as drawing focus from the most complex element of teaching, engaging with the complexities of our students and preparing lessons and content to support each student’s learning progression.
Her growing confidence shown throughout the book, shows a solution that can be served to the often misled and misdirected education agenda in Australia. Teacher voice and activism is clearly the way forward, but this may require teachers to think differently about the nature of their own professionalism and challenging those habits, behaviours and attitudes that may make such steps impossible.

Teachers entering bravely into the policy and political space, with the support and training from their unions, to push back the pendulum that has gone too far from equity at the expense of many teachers health and wellbeing.

Originally Published: https://www.theieuzone.org.au/index.php/categories-list/39-discussions-about-practice/51-teacher-one-woman-s-struggle-to-keep-the-heart-in-teaching-ieureading
Running Word Count: 18,310

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