Principal
There is something immensely tragic in the violent death of Samuel Paty. Mr Paty was the French teacher who was murdered in recent weeks in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, some 30km north-west of Paris. The reasons behind this tragedy and the response to it has received significant analysis in the media.
Mr Paty's killing stunned France and has led to an outpouring of support at memorial ceremonies and marches around the country. Last Wednesday evening, President Emmanuel Macron hailed Mr Paty as "a quiet hero" and "the face of the Republic" at an event in Paris. He then presented Mr Paty’s family with the nation's highest honour, the Légion d'honneur.
So who was Samuel Paty? He was a humble middle school teacher of history, geography and civics. He was married, and the father of a five-year-old boy. My brief research hasn’t revealed much more about the man he was. Subsequent to his murder, the hashtags #JeSuisProf and #JeSuisEnseignant, both meaning ‘I am a teacher’, were launched in support of the victim and in support of freedom of expression
If Samuel Paty was typical of the teachers I have come to know over the years he would have been passionate about the students in his class. He would have been passionate about his subject areas. He would have been passionate about the power of learning to transform the lives of young people. He may have been, like many Australian teachers, in that he may have sensed that his profession as a teacher was not as valued in society as it could be.
I share these thoughts as a way of highlighting that this Friday in Queensland we celebrate World Teachers’ Day (WTD).
We are blessed at Nudgee College to have a team of teachers who are committed to their students. This commitment is to their learning but also to the pastoral needs of the students in their care. Teachers need to know subject content but also how to deliver that content in a way that engages students. But more than that, teachers also need to know students and build relationships with a range of students from a range of backgrounds. There is a complex challenge in effectively managing a classroom of 10 year olds, 15 year olds or 17 year olds. My years in schools tell me that this complexity has only increased each year. Fortunately, this challenge is balanced by an intrinsic reward that teachers receive in doing their job well.
This reward can sometimes occur in a subtle moment when a student finally ‘gets it’ – a learning moment. It can sometimes come when a student, or a group of students, express their gratitude for what you have given to them over the course of a lesson, a day, a week, a term or even a year. Sometimes that reward comes years later when you bump into a former student and they want to claim you as their old teacher and relive a moment that you may have long since forgotten, but they remember vividly.
The truth of teachers’ observation about how they are perceived by others has come into question with Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) ‘Spotlight’ highlighting that teachers are more valued by society than they think they are.
WTD enables the wider community to publicly recognise teachers. So to all our teachers, and in fact, to all our staff who work at Nudgee College, we say thank you.
Further to this, as a way of highlighting the important work of teachers around the state on WTD, the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) selects nominated teachers for the TeachX Awards in a variety of categories. The College nominated Dean of Learning and Teaching Mr Jason Sepetauc for the Innovation in Teaching Award. This was based on his outstanding leadership of our online learning program NC@home earlier this year. Jason was selected as a shortlisted nominee from the hundreds of nominations. Much to our disappointment, he ultimately did not reach the Finalists for the awards that are presented later this week. We do however congratulate Jason on this success. Details of his nomination can be found here.
Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal
