By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
DANDENONG North-based principal Christine Ash is grateful for her Queen’s Birthday award honour but considers teaching children a daily “honour and privilege”.
“You do it because you love it, not for status,” she said. “You get a buzz just seeing a child in prep doing something they couldn’t do. Or it might be a child who is a reluctant person at school and now loves coming to school.”
Ms Ash, of St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary School in Dandenong North, has today been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her service to education.
It was in particular recognition of her stint at the helm of the Victorian Association of Catholic Primary School Principals.
She formed the 230-strong collegiate association so principals could share their experience and support each another. It has proved a lobbying tool that has helped increase state funding for Catholic schools.
Ms Ash supports the need for higher pay behind state teachers’ strike action last Thursday. “We have to make it attractive for the best people at universities to go into teaching and it’s not happening.”
An educator for 40 years, Ms Ash sees technology as essential to keep schools contemporary – opening “once unimaginable” possibilities of connecting students worldwide on webcam.
“We can’t have the situation where the school offers less facilities for learning than a child’s home. Children want to move forwards not backwards. How can we imagine a classroom in 10 years time? The pace is frantic.”
She says teachers have had to adapt to the change in children, who tend to have shorter attention spans.
Students tend to “graze” on information rather than “wait for someone to deliver it to them”.
“We can’t change the way children are – they’re a product of the society they’re living in. They think if you’ve got a phone, you can just look it up,” Ms Ash said.
“They are connected and can find their own information. The teacher guides them on how to use the information.”
Honour for former Dandenong man
Australian of the Year and former Dandenong resident Simon McKeon was today made a Companion in the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours list.
The award came for services to business and commerce and for being a “supporter of national and international charitable, educational and sporting organisations”.
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