That was the year that was - 2006

As a graduate teacher, 2006 (or the second half of it anyway) was my first year of teaching. A lot has happened since I first stepped through the doors of my school back in mid-July, and I'm happy to report that there have been more positives than negatives.

Without divulging too much about my identity or where I teach, I will say that I am at a senior high school in the Swan District. The school is about 40km from where I live but I see that as a short distance considering it's not remote. Yet apart from the geographic positioning of the school and physical distance, the mental and learning distance that I've travelled in the past six months has been phenomonal....and I'm not alone.

Plenty of Education students will approach their ATP the same way that an inexperience rock climber will approach Mount Everest. However that is nothing compared to what is in store for them at any school they are placed at. Sure some may have it harder than others, but that is all objective, and when you get right down to it, no matter where we are, we're going to have our struggles.

Yet we have the struggles, the minor skirmishes or run-ins with more experienced staff and painful students, and yes we may even be called in to the principals office at some time to bring back those school day memories. However we also have the opportunity to lean on someone, the person that can provide a graduate teacher with the safety net that they so definitely need these days. Every school has that mentor character, the one that can let you vent out your frustrations, be there when you're testing new waters, and keep you steady when you finally think it's time to take the training wheels off.

I was speaking to one of the heads of department at my school on Friday and she said it in simple but very true words; "Our graduate teachers need to be nurtured."

Now I bet your sitting there thinking, "hmmmm nature VS nuture, who always wins?" Despite what some people may say, teaching is a difficult profession and if you don't have people to support you then you're not going to make it, no matter how tough, versatile or resilient you are. The best way for someone to learn is to do, I am a huge advocate of hands-on education, however if graduate teachers are constantly thrown in the deep end by people who have the attitude that 'learning is doing and when I mean do I mean EVERYTHING', then the system fails.

Support is needed, and so is the security of your job. Too many first year or non-permanent teachers are shifted around after spending three months in limbo or not having a clue what's going to happen to them at the beginning of the year. And believe me, it's not fun when in late January, you receive a letter saying that you need to be in Dongara in a few days time.

Graduate teachers need the support, not just of the staff and administration at their school, but of the department of education as well. The system needs to be re-built so that superb new energetic and enthusiastic graduates are not used and abused to the point where they rethink their entire careers. We can't afford to lose anymore quality teachers, and we can't afford to lose them in the schools that need them the most.

So let's move away from those negatives now and look at the positives. (Let's stray from politics and look purely at teaching.)

We are in a profession where the future is indirectly influened by all of us. Each teacher interacts with everyone of their students (and if they don't they shouldn't be teaching). Like it or not, they are an influence on their lives. Some may become role models, some may become idolised, some (heaven forbid) become father or mother figures. And yes there are some that become disliked, resented and even hated by their students. Either way, we are playing an influence in their lives and what we say or do in the classroom will echo on through that childs life. It may be something as simple as a little piece of advice that they may find helpful when their older. It may even be a long lecture of advising comments that steers the student to become a massive success in their life. No matter how great or how small, we are all, in one way or another, indirectly influencing the future.

And that, I believe, is the greatest thing about our profession. We are able to mould minds, shape opinions, and groom some of the leaders of tomorrow. We are able to place emphasis on values and morals, on the difference between right and wrong, honesty and dishonesty, loyalty and treachoury.

The next best thing about our profession is the people that we meet. The other teachers at our schools. They will be our backbone as long as we're at that school. They will provide the support and assistance. And most importantly, they are the ones that will be there for us to bitch and moan to at the end of the day or on Fridays after a few beers in the staff room.

There are far more positives than this, yet every teacher experiences their time differently, and over the year you were bound to have some interesting times as well as the boring ones, suffice it to say that every year is a year of ups and downs.

Hopefully the years from now on can bring us a few more ups.