annual report 2018 - educators sa

21
1 Annual Report 2018 Associaons – Helping you become the best educator you can be! Level 1, Educaon Development Centre, 4 Milner Street, Hindmarsh SA 5007 T: 08 8463 5875 | E: [email protected] | W: www.ceasa.asn.au

Upload: others

Post on 20-Nov-2021

1 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

1

Annual Report 2018

Associations –

Helping you become the best educator you can be!

Level 1, Education Development Centre, 4 Milner Street, Hindmarsh SA 5007

T: 08 8463 5875 | E: [email protected] | W: www.ceasa.asn.au

Page 2: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

3

The Educators SA’s Community ……………………………………………………………………………… 4

A message from the Minister for Education …………………………………………………………… 5

Our Patron …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6

President’s Report …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7

Highlights from 2018 ……………………………………………………………………………………………... 8

Serving our Members and the education community …………………………………………….. 12

Growing as Professionals – professional learning for 2018 …………………………………….. 13

Educators SA Initiatives ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15

The Voice of the Profession ……………………………………………………………………………………. 16

Strengthening our Community ………………………………………………………………………………. 17

Association Members …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18

Educators SA Directors and Staff ……………………………………………………………………………. 20

Educators matter! An extract from the President’s Speech …………………………………….. 21

Page 3: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

4

The Educators SA’s Community

Educators SA (CEASA) is an independent peak organisation representing 59 educator professional associations in South Australia. These associations vary widely in focus but are united in that they work on behalf of educators at all levels by providing professional learning, support, mentoring, resources and much more. Their board and management committee members collectively contribute well over 3500 days of volunteer time each year to continue to build the professionalism of their members.

From music to environmental education, from languages to school leadership, from early childhood to ethnic schools, from science to visual arts, from wellbeing to literacy, every aspect of 21st century learning is covered by our members.

This is why we are the professional voice of educators in South Australia!

As well as our professional activities, 2018 has seen us change our name and develop our brand. Proudly known as the Council for Education Associations of SA (CEASA) since our establishment in 1995, we have added and promoted our new name of Educators SA. Our Board and Council chose to do this to more clearly communicate to new educators and the broader community that our focus is on all educators. So from now on we operate as Educators SA while maintaining CEASA as our legal entity.

Page 4: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

5

A message from the Minister for Education

The Hon John Gardner MP

Education is a very important factor in a child’s development. It is what allows them to grow, make friends and realise their career ambitions once they leave school.

Every child has a right to an education that develops their talents and abilities to their full potential and our educators have a crucial role to play in helping students to learn and flourish. Together we share the bold ambition of providing the best education in Australia.

The 59 professional associations that make up the community of Educators SA, are very important and highly valued. The professional learning and mentoring provided by each association is greatly appreciated by the members of the association and the communities that they serve. They are actively building the professional capacity of our educators.

Educators SA provides valuable leadership for the Presidents and committees of the Associations and works hard at supporting our educators by providing essential programs, such as Responding to Abuse and Neglect training.

On behalf of the government and the community, I thank you all for the work that you are doing.

Page 5: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

6

Our Patron

His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC , Governor of South Australia

His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC, Governor of South Australia, was born in Central Vietnam in 1954, where he attended school before studying Economics at the Dalat University in the Highlands.

His Excellency, and his wife, Lan, arrived in Australia in 1977 and settled in Adelaide, starting with three months at the Pennington Migrant Hostel.

As his Tertiary study in Vietnam was not recognised in Australia, the Governor returned to study at the University of Adelaide, where he earned a degree in Economics and Accounting within a short number of years. In 2001, his further study earned him a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the same university.

His Excellency has served on many community boards and committees, particularly those relating to cultural and linguistic diversity, the arts and education. In August 2007, His Excellency was sworn in as the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia. Over the next seven years in this role, he served as the Patron or Honorary member of many organisations.

On 1 September 2014, His Excellency was sworn in as Governor of South Australia. It is understood that he is the first Vietnamese-born person who has ever been appointed to a Vice-Regal position in the world.

Educators SA has had vice-regal patronage since 2012. It has been particularly valuable to have the biannual Vice Regal event for Educators SA and its members. We would like to thank His Excellency for his continued patronage.

Page 6: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

7

President’s Report

Wow - what a year! The last twelve months have seen mammoth change for our organisation as we have sought to transform and grow to better serve the educators within our community.

I encourage you to explore the many achievements in the coming pages and to celebrate with us the growing profile of Educators SA in the education community as this is helping to ensure that your professional voice as an educator can be heard and acted upon.

As you read through this Annual Report what also becomes clear is the unwavering dedication of our Member Associations to ensuring that the children and young people of South Australia have access to the very best of educational experiences. We congratulate them for all they are achieving and look forward to assisting them to innovate and improve even more in the coming twelve months.

Within our own organisation we owe a great debt of thanks to our Board for their ongoing leadership, bravery and foresight as they craft a vision for our future that will lift the status of educators professionally and ensure that their thoughts and ideas are key drivers for action. To Malcolm, Graham, Liz, Yvonne, Larry, Luke, Paul, David and Julian - I thank you for all you have done and helped us to achieve.

I would also like to thank our Executive Director, Rod Nancarrow, for his excellent leadership through this period of transition. His wisdom and skill in navigating complex situations, as well as his innovative approaches to leadership and education have been real assets to Educators SA in the previous twelve months. He has led our highly skilled Staff team of Sonja, Janelle and Kerryn to provide a strong culture of service for and with our Member Associations. We are very privileged to have such a talented, committed and collaborative group of people as part of our organisation.

Partnerships have been key to our development in 2018 and I would like to publicly thank SASPA, SAPPA, CESA, AISSA and the Department officers who have all acknowledged the power of collaborative action and sought to work with us in new and powerful ways. We look forward to this growing and developing even more in 2019.

Educators SA has much to celebrate. Let's use the energy this success generates to achieve even more in 2019. We look forward to creating our new future with you in the coming twelve months.

Kind regards

Lisa-Jane O'Connor

Page 7: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

8

Highlights from 2018

The last year has been an enormously exciting and productive one. Educators SA has grown by two more member associations with The Preschool Directors Association of SA and Nature Play SA joining our professional community.

Along with new members is a new name. After extensive discussion at Board and Council we have chosen a new co-brand continuing to legally be CEASA but operating as Educators SA.

Being a state election year we took the opportunity to organise an Education Policy Forum in February where the four major parties shared their policies and responded to questions. This was a great success with 200 educators attending.

With the change in government we also organised a post election workshop where our members had the opportunity to analyse the new government’s policies and consider the implications for the profession and their associations.

We were pleased to have the opportunity to meet with the Minister the Hon John Gardner soon after his appointment to discuss issues important to all professional associations.

Our professional learning program has also continued to grow. We provided seventeen PL1 work-shops for members to support them organising and managing their associations. Our PL4 program provided world class professional learning and saw 200 educators working with renowned Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg and a further 500 attending the Literacy and Numeracy Forum in August.

For the second year in a row we honoured association volunteers during Volunteers Week. Collectively this year’s volunteers had contributed well over 500 years of volunteer service to their profession.

Our World Teacher’s Day Awards Ceremony was held on October 26 at the Convention Centre. Over 60 awards were presented to outstanding educators and contributors to their associations.

Our PL2 grants for innovation saw $47 398 awarded to eleven associations whose submission were assessed and approved by an expert panel.

New partnerships developed with the Department for Education this year include winning the tender for the new MoneySmart program and an Arts Inspire program focussing on gifted and talented students in the Arts.

As part of improving our member services, we commissioned the development of a new member management system called EdSA Gateway. The first of many associations who have expressed an interest in using the Gateway will be online by the end of the year.

These highlights are just a sample of what has been a very productive and successful year.

Page 8: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

9

Highlights from 2018

World Teachers’ Day

On 26th October 250 education leaders from all sectors and organisation gathered at the Convention Centre to congratulate the best and finest in the education profession at the Educators SA World Teachers’ Day Celebration. 40 Awards were presented to outstanding educators who had been nominated by their peers as leaders in their profession.

Page 9: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

10

Highlights from 2018

Literacy and Numerary Forum

“Edupreneurs are people who aren’t afraid of identifying problems and building game changing solutions to address them.” (Aaron Tait and Dave Faulkner)

This year’s Literacy and Numeracy Forum beat the records: 60 diverse, innovative, creative, quality workshop choices for 500 participants! The two day learning event received outstanding feedback and was an amazing vehicle for creating opportunities to learn with and from each other and the visiting provocateurs. The theme for the Forum was “Edupreneurs and Game Changers in Literacy and Numeracy” and the Minister kicked off the day by warmly welcoming all educators to the event and speaking about his government’s commitment to this area of learning. It definitely had some impact on the future learning of thousands of children and young people. Next year we are working to make sure it is even bigger!

Page 10: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

11

Highlights from 2018

Pasi Sahlberg

About 150 educators used the opportunity to join the Finnish educator and author Pasi Sahlberg at the Education Development Centre on 18th of August. In two sessions he encouraged the attendees to reflect on how they can continue to make a positive difference to the children and young people under their influence. The buzz in the room was high, even at the end of the day – and testament to the learning success of the day.

Volunteers Ceremony - 1000 years of volunteering

On Thursday 24th May we celebrated our “Volunteers Ceremony”. The event held at the Thebarton Community Centre recognised educators for their continuous volunteer service on the management committees of their teacher or educator professional association. Seven outstanding first year volunteers, 14 volunteers with more than five years services, 18 who have volunteered for more than ten years, five with twenty plus years of service and even two people with more than 30 years received a certificate of recognition. To acknowledge the 1000 plus years of volunteering that its members have contributed, Educators SA (CEASA) donated a cheque to Kickstart for Kids of $1000, a not for profit organisation that helps school children achieve positive educational and self-esteem outcomes through breakfast, lunch and mentoring programs.

Page 11: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

12

Serving our Members and the education community

Service to members is our primary role and the team that delivers our services is critical to meeting the needs of members. Since our last annual report, we have completely revamped our staff team. With retirement and job changes for our previous team, the Board took the opportunity to undertake an HR review and design a team model for the next five years. The Executive Director position continues with Rod Nancarrow ongoing in that role. The administration team now has three roles with Janelle Scrivener as Office Coordinator, Kerryn Colmer in the Membership

and Administration role, and Sonja Bruns working as Marketing and Events Manager.

Membership management continues to be provided for seven associations, but many others have expressed a need for high quality, online membership management support. As a result, the Board commissioned a developer to design a purpose-built system to meet our members’ needs. Called EdSA Gateway, this is in its final development stages and will be available to members by mid-November. EdSA Gateway will provide a one-stop membership shop for the members of associations to join, renew, pay fees and update their details online at any time. For our member associations, this will lessen the administrative load of membership management and will provide access to real time membership data as well as a suite of reports including demographic analyses.

Supporting member associations in organising their events is another key service we provide ranging from simply advertising the events through to full management of events.

For both event and membership manage-ment, we have implemented processes where we collect revenue for member associations and transfer this monthly with full reporting to assist members with their accounting systems.

As always, these services are tailored to meet the specific need of members.

Other member services provided this year include governance and constitution advice, and strategic and communications planning. We are intending to expand these services in 2019.

Page 12: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

13

Growing as Professionals – professional learning for 2018

Educators SA has four professional learning streams for members and other educators. These are:

Professional Learning Level 1:

PL1 supports Associations in being strategic in terms of building capacity and effective organisation.

In 2018 we provided seventeen PL1 sessions for members. At a policy/political level these included our Education Policy Forum, the Post-Election workshop, Connecting with Sectors (2) and The Gonski Report workshop. To directly support those with executive roles on member committees and boards, we conducted sessions for presidents, new presidents, secretaries and treasurers. To support and improve governance across Educators SA we conducted sessions on legal issues, privacy policies, and renewing your constitution. To better promote to and connect with members, we ran sessions on Energising your Online Image, a half day Membership Forum and the EdSA Gate-way workshop.

Professional Learning Level 2:

The aim of the PL2 funding is to support associations to implement innovative programs for their members. Members submit an application outlining the intent of the innovation, how it will be developed, and the costs involved. A panel assessed all application against set criteria including alignment with Educators SA priorities and successful applicants are notified. This year eleven associations were awarded a total of $47398. Funded projects focussed on:

• Better connecting country members

• Developing resource portals

• Establishing middle school learning communities

• Effective leadership programs

• Specific programs for early career teachers

• Multi association conferences

Professional Learning Level 3:

PL3 supports Associations collaborating in professional learning which has included several ‘putting it into practice’ conferences where Associations have worked together to deliver professional learning.

In 2018 we did the pre-organisation for two "Putting it into Practice" conferences but these were not advertised due to a small number of Member Associations offering to run workshops. As a result no PL3 programs were run in 2018 and these will be a focus for 2019 as we look to explore other ways to support associations to get involved.

Page 13: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

14

Serving our Members and the education community

Professional Learning Level 4:

PL4 promotes Educators SA’s profile as a leader in the provision of professional learning.

Our PL4 program is a significant investment of time and resources but the dividends are great. Open to all educators they give us the opportunity to connect with world renowned educators, engage the education community in professional learning and promote our member associations.

Our first major PL4 event this year comprised two workshops with Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg who reinforced the importance of the work of educators in improving systems and outcomes. The session on Small Data for Big Change highlighted the importance of the data that we collect at a local level in making decisions for each learner. His afternoon workshop focussed on the importance of engaging teachers and students to take a lead of their own teaching and learning. These reinforced what we have been advocating for, that all change in education must engage with and encourage educators to lead it.

Our next major PL4 event was the annual Literacy and Numeracy Forum over two days in August. Attracting 500 participants, each day started with an extraordinary keynote speaker firstly Eddie Woo and then Misty Adoniou. Each day comprised a series of workshops run by educators for educators. The feedback has been superb and there are already plans to transform the Forum into a Literacy and Numeracy Festival next year.

A further PL4 event with Dr Jason Ohler planned for September had to be cancelled due to Dr Ohler’s ill health.

Educators SA Initiatives

Educators SA’s strategic goals define a commitment to innovation, productive and strategic relationships, quality performance, and sustainability. In 2018 the Educators SA Board, after much consultation with Council, released our Early Career and Young Educators Strategy. Its purpose is to focus us all on attracting and retaining young and early career educators to associating professionally through professional associations. The targets set out in the strategy are collective ones, that is ones that we achieve across 59 associations rather than a target for each association. Already a number of associations, including the Educators SA Board, have deliberately recruited early career educators to their boards or management committees. Many have instigated changes to their membership offerings and have revamped their online presence to appeal to young and new educators.

As part of this Strategy, we have entered a partnership with Credit Union SA to form an Early Career Digital Hub which will be launched at the start of 2019. A team of nominated or volunteer early career educators developed a number of exciting prototypes to include in the Hub. These include a Q&A spot filled with questions that preservice and early career educators need answered as well as online sessions where curriculum and pedagogy can be discussed, and strategies shared.

Educators SA has been successful in signing a new Moneysmart contract with the Minister for Education. Spanned over four years, the new MoneySmart differs considerably from the previous one as it is all online and not through face to face workshops. We are currently exploring ways in which all associations can benefit from MoneySmart.

Page 14: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

15

Educators SA Initiatives

In 2018 we have expanded our Responding to Abuse and Neglect (RAN) Training to meet increased demand.

As a result, this expanded program will continue in 2019. A new program for 2019 will be our Arts Inspire initiative. With a focus on gifts and talents in the Arts, this initiative is a collaboration between our member associations and the Department for Education. During 2019 some funding will be provided to relevant associations to run workshops and develop resources for educators on identifying and fostering gifts and talents in the Arts. While funding is coming from the Department, participation will be across all three sectors.

Our Minister’s Arts Awards continued this year and we are currently in negotiation with the Department to conduct a similar award for language teachers. This is part of us broadening the opportunity to recognise the work of excellent educators across our state.

Page 15: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

16

The Voice of the Profession

The collective voice of educators in education policy, programs, curriculum and improvement is a driving force for Educators SA. It is the reason why we openly claim to be “The Professional Voice of Educators”. For too long, Educators have been ignored in major decisions with consultation mainly occurring after something has already been decided and with little chance of influencing actions.

Educators SA is clear that this is not acceptable and the voice of the professions - our associations and members – needs to be heard early and incorporated in all major initiatives and programs that affect educators and their learners.

This is one of the reasons we organised the Education Policy Forum, the post-election and Gonski workshops. We have also increased the level of direct advocacy this year. We took up the concerns of members with the Department for Education about their preferred Literacy and Numeracy provider list. As a result of meetings with senior officers, the Department is now clear that this list is intended for commercial providers only and has given a guarantee that association activities will not be affected.

Similarly, the president has taken members concerns regarding the Department’s new improvement process directly to the Minister, the Chief Executive and relevant senior officers. In particular the lack of consultation at a teacher level has been a concern as they are the ones who will ultimately impact on any improvement. We also expressed concerns about the ‘grading’ of public schools based on one measure, NAPLAN, with all of the issues associated with that testing program. While discussion to date have been positive, this will be an ongoing issue throughout 2019.

The concerns around the improvement process are being expressed by many other education organisations and we seek to work together with principal associations to ensure that our voice is heard, and the program engages with educators at all levels.

With a focus to improve on the current situation, we have entered ongoing discussion with the Department on changing their consultation process to one of early and genuine engagement. We will be seeking members’ views and ideas as the new consultation process develops.

Other ways in which we have advocated for educators have included:

• Meeting with the Minister and his senior staff and keeping them informed of our initiatives and concerns.

• A formal response to the review of the Department’s Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting policy

• Meetings regarding the roll-out of the STEM strategy

• Highlighting the need for a program for gifts and talents in The Arts

• Meeting monthly with senior Department officers

• Connecting with AISSA and Catholic Education officers and initiatives

• Meeting with the Chief Executive of the SACE Board around changes to the SACE and the impact of educators.

• A formal response to the SACE review.

For 2019 we will continue to promote the voice of educators and raise the profile of areas not covered in current government of sector polices including early childhood education, including the Arts and social sciences.

We will also encourage the development by the government of a comprehensive ‘graduate’ statement that clearly outlines what we want all learners to gain from education.

Page 16: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

17

Strengthening our Community

This year we welcomed two new associations to the Educators SA community being Nature Play SA and The Preschool Directors Association of SA (PDA). We also welcomed a new major sponsor in Andersons Solicitors. All three strengthen our community and are most welcome.

We have sought to strengthen our partnership with other education organisations including The Primary and Secondary Principals Associations. Examples of this collab-oration include a learning intervention workshop for leaders co-conducted with SAPPA in May and collaborating around the Pasi Sahlberg visit.

We have also been actively involved with our national body the Australian Professional Teachers Association (APTA) on re-energising that organi-sation and lobbying on a federal basis. Rick Baldock has led our participation as one of our delegates and he also took on the role of secretary of APTA.

We have sought to broaden our national network through connecting with Adolescent Success. This organisation was strongly involved in the transfer of Year 7’s to high school in both Queensland and the Northern Territory and may be a useful connection for us as this rolls out in SA.

Our membership of the Associations Forum (an associations of associations) has seen them provide governance training as well as director support to some of our member associations. In July also trav-elled to the National Association Conference as a group of Board members and Staff and this provided a unique opportunity to network with other associations and consider a broad range of issues that affect the governance and healthiness of organisations such as ours.

Page 17: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

18

Association Members

Acronym Association

AAEE Australian Association for Environmental Education (SA Branch)

AASE Australian Association of Special Education (SA Chapter)

AATD Australian Association of Teachers of the Deaf (SA Branch)

ABODA Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association of SA

ACE Australian College of Educators

ACEL Australian Council for Educational Leaders (SA)

ACHPER (SA) Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation

ALEA Australian Literacy Educators Association

ALPAA Accelerated Literacy Practitioners’ Association Australia

ANCA Australian National Choral Association (SA Chapter)

APACS (SA) Australian Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools (SA)

ASME (SA) Australian Society for Music Education (SA) Chapter

ATASA Agriculture Teachers Association of South Australia

BETA (SA) Business & Enterprise Teachers Association of SA

CASTT Council of Australian Secondary Tourism Teachers (SA)

CLTASA Chinese Language Teachers Association SA

DATTA Design and Technology Teachers Association of SA

DSA Drama South Australia

ECA Early Childhood Australia

EChO Early Childhood Organisation

EdTechSA EdTechSA

EESSA Early Education for Sustainability South Australia

ESASA The Ethnic Schools Association of South Australia Inc.

ETSSA Economics Teachers Society of South Australia

GTASA Geography Teachers Association of South Australia Inc

GTCA (SA) Gifted and Talented Children’s Association of South Australia

HASS (SA) Humanities and Social Sciences SA

HEIA (SA) Home Economics Institute of Australia Inc (SA)

Page 18: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

19

Association Members

Acronym Association

HTASA History Teachers Association of South Australia Inc

INTAN Indonesian Teachers Association of South Australia

JLTASA Japanese Language Teachers Association of South Australia

KMEIA Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia (SA)

KOLTASA Korean Language Teachers Association of SA Inc.

LETASA Legal Education Teachers Association of South Australia

LMASA Laboratory Managers Association of South Australia

LTASA Lead Teachers Association of South Australia

MASA Mathematical Association of South Australia

MLTASA Modern Language Teachers Association of South Australia

MTASA Music Teachers Association of South Australia

NPSA Nature Play SA

OEASA Outdoor Education Association of South Australia

OSASA Orff Schulwerk Association of South Australia

PDASA Preschool Directors Association of SA

PMA Primary Maths Association of South Australia

SAAME South Australian Association for Media Education Inc.

SAATI South Australian Association of Teachers of Italian

SACAL South Australian Council for Adult Literacy

SAETA South Australian English Teachers Association

SAETL South Australian Exchange Teachers League

SAFTA South Australian French Teachers Association

SAGTA South Australian German Teachers Association

SAPEA South Australian Philosophy in Education Association

SASEPLA SA Special Education Principal and Leaders Association

SASTA South Australian Science Teachers Association

SATESOL South Australian Association for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

SAWLIS South Australian Wellbeing Leaders in Schools

SLASA School Library Association of South Australia

STASA Spanish Teachers Association of South Australia

VAESA Visual Arts Educators of South Australia

Page 19: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

20

Educators SA Board Members and Staff

President

Lisa-Jane O’Connor, Primary Mathematics Association of South Australia (PMA)

Vice President

Malcolm McInerney, Humanities and Social Sciences SA (HASS SA)

Treasurer

Graham Cox, Drama South Australia (DSA)

Secretary

Paul Clapton-Caputo, EdTechSA

Director

Larry Spry, Design and Technology Teachers Association of SA (DATTA)

Director

Liz Sandercock, Early Childhood Organisation (EChO)

Director

Yvonne Zeegers, South Australian Science Teachers Association (SASTA)

Director

David Andrew, The Mathematical Association of South Australia (MASA)

Director

Julian Cousins

Geography Teachers’ Association of South Australia (GTASA)

Director

Luke Gray, Australian Society for Music Education (SA Chapter) Inc. (ASME)

Educators SA Board Members and Staff

Executive Director

Rod Nancarrow

Office Coordinator

Janelle Scrivener

Marketing and Events Manager

Sonja Bruns

Membership and Administration

Kerryn Colmer

Page 20: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

21

Educators matter!

An extract from the President’s Speech, World Teachers’ Day 26th October 2018

Tonight, Educators SA and its member associations join with our broad range of partners from within the education sector, to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of an outstanding group of educators.

Educators matter and this is what tonight is all about! Educators are game changers, you are inspirers and you are leaders. You shape the lives of the children and young people of South Australia and it is you are helping to create the future of this State.

For our State to be successful in the coming years, we need ethical, global citizens who can create and invent our way forward and we know from reading all education stories that this is what you are committed to achieving in your learning spaces and sites.

Our society is a complicated jigsaw puzzle of individuals who bring a whole range of strengths to the table. In your learning space do you have SA’s next leading artist or philosopher? Or perhaps you are nurturing the next top selling children’s author or record setting athlete? Are you helping create the next hot Australian fashion designer or chef or the person who will create a successful treatment for our greatest medical challenges? Just as importantly are you guiding and stretching those young people who will become the leaders within their communities and families , volunteering hundreds of hours just as you do to change your community for the better.

This is one of the strengths of Educators SA – we are passionate and committed advocates for the education of the whole child, for we believe it is the “whole child” who will lead, change and inspire our world into the future. We have belief and confidence that our young people already are being and becoming world class learners and tonight Educators SA hopes to publicly demonstrate our belief that the educators of SA are driving this improvement and innovation all day, every day.

As educators we are advocates for each and every child when they have no voice. We are also advocates for each other and the best interests of this field of education that we love. We must be brave and courageous, to see beyond the evidence of the past, to create and invent what will become the new research base of the future. Our associations are strong because they draw together the wisdom of new eyes alongside the wisdom of experience to continually strive to improve, innovate and transform the learning opportunities for ALL learners in South Australia.

Page 21: Annual Report 2018 - Educators SA

22

Educators SA were lucky enough to host Pasi Sahlberg in August of this year, and one of the challenges he set for our organisation’s educators was to flip the paradigm and stop asking “how good was our school” but instead to ask “what is our school good at”. Not to reflect on “how good I am as an educator” but to ask as an educator what am I good at, what difference am I making? This is truly a powerful way to inspire innovation and improvement for all. So as you listen to the achievements of our awardees tonight please keep this in mind – what are they good at? How are they making a difference to their learners, their colleagues and their communities. Educators are driven by people who inspire and lead us through their actions and vision and tonight we know that your educational soul will be truly nourished.

In 20 years from now the children and young people in our educational sites today will not remember their data or their daily activities but they will definitely remember their most powerful educators. As they look back, they will ask… Did they nourish their learning passion, did they help them build the set of knowledge and skills that has made them powerful navigators of their own life? Did they equip them to be healthy and to have strong relationships? Did they help them to be resilient, resourceful, innovative and ethical as they have dealt with the challenges along the road of life? This is truly how we measure the success of an educational journey and the role that you as an educator play in it.

Educators SA thanks each of you for all you are doing for the young people of South Australia and tonight we look forward to honouring the very best from our field as they receive the highest acclamation of all…the respect and acknowledgement of their peers.