From being introduced as having her pilot’s licence to helping students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, ECU teaching alumna Margaret Parker-Jago has heard and seen it all. In this article she reflects on her time as a teacher and how the profession has changed throughout her teaching career.
After graduating from Churchlands Teacher’s College in 1976, I was teaching at Warriapendi Primary School, when just four years out of college myself, I was approached and recommended for a secondment from the Department of Education, to work at Mt Lawley Teacher’s College for two years. To be offered a placement was a privilege, as it was recognition and acknowledgement of your outstanding teaching skills. The area in which I worked was called the Department of Practical Teaching, located in a demountable building at the edge of a limestone car-park at the back of the college, (not good for wearing fashionable high heels.) When it rained, it flooded and we nicknamed the car-park ‘Lake Mt Lawley’. The humble facilities always surprised me, as in actual fact, we were the vibrant hub of the college and dealt with every student on campus. My position was to lecture first year students on best practice of ‘how to deliver a good lesson’ and to supervise second and third year students on Practice. My favourite and very practical course was called T-Lab 100. We would lecture in small groups during the week and then once a week, the students had the enviable experience of visiting a school, to gain valuable hands-on experience and knowledge of the workings of a school and a classroom, prior to going on Practice for two weeks. This gave the students the edgy advantage over other colleges and universities and Mt Lawley gained a renowned reputation for its excellent teaching course.
I had a wonderful boss named Alan Jones, Head of Department, full of good humour, character and mischief. He introduced me in the Staff Room, on my first day, and told my colleagues that I had my pilot’s licence and my underwater diving certificate, which was not true but made me sound interesting enough for everyone to want to talk to me and find out more. Some of my other colleagues were Lew Eborall, John Love and the Secretary Yvette Auckett. Sadly, they have all passed away but they were great mentors. I also worked with an exceptional colleague Debra (Rakich) Bull and we became life-long friends. I can honestly say that working at Mt Lawley Teacher’s College (MLTC), renamed the Western Australian College of Advanced Education (WACAE) in 1981, before Edith Cowan University (ECU) in 1991, were the best years of my teaching career. It was fun to go to work, share laughs, knowledge, go on camps, put on plays for the students and be responsible for supervising hundreds of students in schools around the metropolitan and country areas, on their Practice. We travelled to up to three schools in a day, so my navigational skills and driving improved. What a joy it was to glean from fellow practitioners! In those days, I only held an automatic driver’s licence and the fleet of college cars were all manual, so I was entrusted with Bob Peter’s, the Chancellor’s car, to use as my own. You should have seen the looks from people, with ‘who does she think she is?’, when I arrived at work and parked in the reserved bay at the front of the Administrative Office. From Mt Lawley, I worked within the Faculty of Education at Churchlands ECU doing sessional lecturing for third year students, marking papers for Bachelor of Education students, supervising student practices and managing to have three children of my own.
Over forty years of educating, I am currently still teaching at the grass roots level at Nedlands Primary School in Intervention, teaching English as an Additional Language/ Dialect (EAL/D) to newly arrived students from a variety of overseas countries. Nedlands has a very high percentage of EAL/D students and I thoroughly enjoy the diversity and multiculturalism of the school, where there is so much to learn from other cultures and languages, that makes the school an exciting environment in which to teach. During COVID-19 we were not greatly impacted and remained open with fewer numbers attending. It was a time of Zoom and Webex meetings, sending packages of work home and face to face contact made available. Some creative ideas were implemented for the students to do some practical activities at home without a device or worksheet. All bases were covered. Students were very good at social distancing, hand washing and sanitising. Parents kept their distance, extra cleaners were employed, life at school continued with limitations but generally uninterrupted. I am in awe of how professionally the pandemic was handled at school. COVID -19 taught us not to be complacent, stay connected and check in on people’s welfare and mental health.
Anyone enrolling in a teaching degree today needs to be prepared for flexibility, constant up-skilling with professional development, adaption to change, long hours (despite the general public thinking we get lots of holidays), sharing of ideas and collaboration, making appropriate modifications and adjustments for individuals, be resilient, highly organised, tolerant, reliable, persistent, be personable and communicative, engage in quality teaching and finally actually enjoy working with students. All these qualities are essential. Graduating students need to embrace the school in which they have been fortunate enough to gain a position, immerse themselves in the teaching culture, keep abreast of best practice and research in their chosen field and take every opportunity afforded them.
During the past decades, I have seen many changes from blackboards and chalk to interactive smart-boards, photocopiers replaced gestetners, iPads instead of pen and paper, laptops replaced workbooks and Integris replaced an attendance roll. I used to teach folk dancing, Health Hustles, sewing, photography and all the specialist areas of Physical Education, Sport, Music, Religion, Art and Craft, as well as all general subject areas of Mathematics, Reading, Writing, Science, Social Studies (now HaSS). I organised endless incursions and relied on the ABC television programs like ‘Behind the News’ and ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’. Mini- skirts were worn and smoking was allowed in the staff room. Can you imagine? Curriculum text books have changed, along with rights and responsibilities of the teacher, school administrations, promotions (we used to have a yearly Staff ‘stud’ Book with a number next to your name, to climb the ranks), teacher selection, school uniforms, reporting on-line, assemblies through Connect and meetings via Zoom. Schools now have an awareness of Aboriginal culture, Acknowledgement of Country and invite local Elders to school for Welcome to Country and smoking ceremonies. I have become more interested and connected to our Indigenous history, language, culture and stories and am excited to learn and share the Noongar language.
I am fortunate to be working at a school where students, parents and staff value education, students are self regulated and learning opportunities are enjoyable, varied and diverse. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly children adapt to their environment, the development of their language acquisition and how savvy they are with their use and knowledge of Technology. The care, respect and thoughtfulness they have for one another, truly restores my faith in teaching.
This article was written by Margaret Parker-Jago and compiled by Tim Flicker.
