Next Friday, Australia will celebrate World Teachers Day under the theme, “Young Teachers: The future of the Profession.”
The day provides the occasion to celebrate the teaching profession worldwide, to take stock of achievements, and to address some of the issues central for attracting and keeping the brightest minds and young talents in the profession.
One talented teacher, Bethany Catholic Primary School teacher Yvonne Terweeme, was recently recognised for her work to develop her knowledge and skills to better serve Indigenous students and her school’s wider community.
The NGS Scholarship Awards, which give out six scholarships to the value of $5,000, recognise educators who are actively working on their career development, while also contributing to their direct communities and the wider education sector.
The accolade allows the winners to undertake a professional development initiative of their choice – and in Terweeme’s case, this will be a Stronger Smarter Leadership course to equip her with valuable tools that she can pass on to her students, colleagues and the wider community.
‘An authentic inclusion of Indigenous culture’
Speaking to The Educator after winning the Judge’s Choice Award, Terweeme said her goal is to ensure that Indigenous students within her school and the Parramatta Diocese are given every opportunity available to benefit from resources and programs available.
“I would also welcome the opportunity to work alongside teachers/staff in the diocese and local members of our community to explore how the Cross-Curriculum Priorities can be honoured in our programs, to highlight the importance of Indigenous culture to all Australians,” Terweeme told The Educator.
Terweeme also wants to see Indigenous language “truly embedded” into the school’s programs and for it to become part of the culture at her school.
“This will also ensure that the Cross-Curriculum Priorities are not simply implemented in a tokenistic way, and assist in the authentic inclusion of Indigenous culture,” she said.
Terweeme has also initiated contact with the CEDP indigenous unit Jarara to plan and implement ways that her community can support a remote indigenous school in Wilcannia.
“Teaching away from my family and living in the outback certainly opened my eyes to a lot of challenges people face,” she said.
“Schools in remote areas often have composite classes, with staff filling multiple roles. When staff need replacing, acquiring casuals is always difficult.”
Terweeme said that if remote schools are better supported with staffing, this would help to reduce teacher workload and ultimately increase staff well-being.
“This would help develop consistent strong schools, providing a strong foundation for the communities and their young people,” she said.
“Donating things that the school needed like football boots and jumpers in winter was an exciting way that we could make a difference! The children actually saw their donations being used by the students at Wilcannia.”
Terweeme said these children were visibly excited to receive such gifts from strangers.
“They now had the basics, which allowed them to focus on learning. Setting up a maintenance team using our local high school students to go and help out at Wilcannia was another issue I wanted to address,” she said.
“Often things that needed doing left incomplete because it was another job to add to the staff list. Washing windows, paving, building play areas and putting in bush gardens were only a few ideas I wanted to address.”
Terweeme said making a great school even better with help from others benefitted not only the school community but the wider community.
“We were all proud of our school,” she said.
“Additionally, it had an important place in educating the ‘Strong, Smart and Deadly’ children of Wilcannia.”
Connecting students as people, not just learners
Vicky Jones, a teacher at Kings Baptist Grammar School in South Australia, was another educator to be awarded with an NGS Scholarship Award.
Jones told The Educator she will use her scholarship to create new resources for the successful Oasis program that has seen real improvements in student wellbeing.
“The new educational resources will address identity and self-worth, not just by telling students what they should believe, but helping them understand why they believe negative thoughts and feelings and equipping them to change their internal reality,” Jones explained.
“The resource for Senior students will aim to create a lifestyle of self-reflection and acceptance and be confident in who they are as they lean into their future.”
Jones said the resource for Primary students will facilitate “a space for self-acceptance and begin a path to explore their inner world”.
“At the beginning of Oasis, self-reflection was a new concept to many of the students; however, as the sessions progressed, the students really began to see the benefits of internal reflection,” Jones explained.
“They started by being very closed off to one another regarding their real struggles and true feelings, however, became more comfortable sharing real personal struggles and strengths and weaknesses with each another as they realised they were not alone in the negative thoughts and feelings they had.”
Jones said there was “an understanding that they were in this together”.
“It was compelling to watch students who were shut down, closed off and not wanting to participate in self-reflection at all in the beginning, embrace themselves, accept who they are and feel understood by their peers at the end of Oasis,” she said.
“It was inspiring to hear students express that what they had previously seen as a weakness could be a hidden strength.”