Big school visit
I had the luck to have a look around a large public high school in Perth last week. Unfortunately I was hung over with the flu, so I probably didn’t get as much out of it as I could have. A few things seem worth mentioning however.
The first was just the shock of the size of the place. With roughly the same number of staff as my school has students there was a little culture shock to get over. With this scale comes the necessary regimentation. In my school the staffroom whiteboard is a communication medium anyone can use – excursions, staff birthdays, important visitors and even significant AFL games all get added at various times by anyone walking past. With over a hundred staff, such a casual approach can not work, and staff members are strictly forbidden from adding events as they please.
It did feel weird to wander through groups of students without them calling out greetings to me and I straightaway started to build a stereotypical view in my head of a much less personal atmosphere. The evidence did not support this however. A closer look revealed plenty of genuinely warm interactions between staff and students. Students smiled and made way in the crowded corridors for the country bumkin teachers on tour. I was surprised that there was no bells signalling the period changes, but then why would they have any greater need of them than we do?
In conversations with the principal and the teachers I met I was amazed at their enthusiasm and dedication to their craft, as well as their willingness to share it with us. This really is one of the great things about being a teacher – other teachers have such an interest in education they are happy to share what they are doing with you, to listen to your challenges and contribute ideas to help you.
