Today is UNESCO’s World Teachers’ Day!
This is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the impact of teachers on the lives of their students.
UNESCO’s joint World Teachers’ Day message reads, "We call upon countries to ensure that teaching is transformed everywhere into a more attractive and valorised profession where teachers are valued, trusted, and adequately supported to meet the needs of every learner. Bold actions must be taken, if we are to reverse the current decline and successfully increase teacher numbers."
Today is a great day for all teachers to reflect on their profession, take stock, and pay attention to what makes teaching so powerful.
My teaching career has been packed with amazing teachers who have been influential.
When I think about the reasons why I chose to teach and ultimately lead as a school principal, I think of four significant teaching role models who sparked a passion and appreciation for teaching.
Teaching role models
Starting young, I was privileged to have two teachers, Geoff Wooles in Standard 2 (Year 4) and the other, Sally Fortescue in Form 2 (Year 8). Geoff taught me at Rata Street School in Naenae. I was a keen athlete, and he encouraged my running. In 1976, when John Walker won the Olympic gold medal, he stuck a picture of Walker next to my desk, with running targets for me. He had great creativity.
Later at Naenae Intermediate, I had Sally Fortescue. She was the first teacher who recognised I was a deeply sensitive young fellow, which I'd been covering up. I mustered up the courage to give her a peck on the cheek at the end of the year so bereft was I that the year was over. Both Geoff and Sally encouraged creativity and risk-taking in me and I achieved things I had not thought possible.
The third teacher of significance was the esteemed Ralph McAllister, senior lecturer English and Drama at Wellington College of Education. Ralph inspired the growth of a philosophy of student-centredness with his prodigious talent in drama and art practices. Ralph taught me to trust the process where answers and clear outcomes were absent. This investment in my teaching capability to deal with unforeseen situations has grown to be a major feature of my teaching capability and educational philosophy. Over the years the quality of Ralph’s professional influence has grown into a personal friendship, and I am proud to call him one of my closest mates.
Finally, after a period of teaching, I was fortunate to be appointed to the role of Deputy Principal at Tawa School and worked there with the Principal, Doug Hales. Doug was a visionary leader who held strong values and a deep belief in young people and the learning processes involving them in their own learning. He was a softly-spoken man and an intellectual often sharing his thinking and the evidence that informed his philosophy and subsequent leadership actions and decisions. He often swam against convention but could always justify his reasons for doing so—an innovator ahead of his time.
What an incredible inspiration these teachers were for me!
The richness of the profession lies in its diversity
Teaching is a wonderful profession. We must do everything we can to maintain teachers in their judgment of what is best for their students and their influence over pedagogy. Teachers must be able to be themselves, uniquely different from each other. The richness of the profession lies in its diversity, not its sameness. It has never been more important than now to ensure teachers are, ‘valued, trusted, and adequately supported to meet the needs of every learner’.
Happy World Teachers’ Day! Thank you for choosing every day to commit to building powerful and positive futures for young people.
Kia ihi, kia maru. Be strong, be steadfast.
