It is hard to believe that Term One is well over halfway. Such is the rhythm of our school year.
On Friday 20 March, ACELQ is hosting an early career teacher breakfast at Allan Border Oval commencing at 7.00 am. Our theme is the beauty and joy of teaching. We hear so much about the attrition rate of our early career teachers we wanted to host a function in which we could celebrate and affirm our new colleagues within the context of ACEL’s collegial, cross-sectoral community.
As we all remember, the flight to professional maturity usually commences once a new teacher is placed in their first staffroom. It is here that professional practice begins to sharpen. I remember my first school in Mackay. It was a new school with an outstanding foundation principal. He was a superb leader who made many inspirational staffing appointments. That social science staffroom is still memorable having so many brilliantly diverse teachers. The lure of a new school enticed them to make Mackay home. Every conversation in that room was transformative. This introduction to teaching practice, pedagogical depth, discovery and sheer survival has been a much-appreciated professional gift throughout my career. I hope our early career teachers are experiencing this depth as part of their everyday practice.
When welcoming new colleagues, it is important to celebrate and recognise the intellectual vitality and vibrance of our profession. Teaching is one of the few careers that demands daily engagement with ideas — disciplinary knowledge, pedagogical wisdom, curriculum design as well as established and emerging research foregrounding how students learn. For those entering the profession, this presents a powerful opportunity: to be both practitioner and scholar. The contemporary classroom is far from static. It is a dynamic space of inquiry, knowledge, experimentation and reflection. Early career teachers are uniquely positioned to bring fresh thinking, contemporary formation and intellectual curiosity to their work, enriching not only their own practice but that of their colleagues.
Equally compelling is the relational depth of our profession. Few vocations offer such sustained and meaningful human connection. Hopefully early career teachers quickly discover that the classroom is not merely a site of content delivery, but a community built on trust, encouragement and shared endeavour. The privilege of witnessing student growth — academically, socially and personally — is profound. In time, many teachers come to understand that their influence extends well beyond measurable outcomes. To contribute to the formation of character, confidence and aspiration in young people remains such an engaging and fulfilling part of our professional lives.
Early career teachers do of course have a few tricky realities to traverse. At the core of this lies the outdated notion of what constitutes a realistic contemporary teaching load. What might have been normalised in the latter half of the 20th century is certainly not sustainable in the 21st. There is not much that can be done about this in isolation. A genuine dialogue needs to occur, alongside overdue policy creativity and budgetary commitment, to sow the seeds of change. Issues surrounding the arrival of AI as a disruptor, through to the increasing diagnosis of an array of complex learning needs, contribute significantly to the difficulties experienced by new entrants to our profession. Our aim, in hosting this breakfast, is to help build a sense of community and professional camaraderie around the joy of teaching, whilst acknowledging the challenges, as a means by which to support and nurture the future of our profession. The program promises to be interactive, enriching and professionally sustaining.
Tim Minchen’s (2024:45) great book You Don’t Have to Dream: Advice for the Incrementally Ambitious is a good place to end. He notes:
Please? Please be a teacher. Teachers are the most admirable and important people in the world. You don’t have to do it forever, but if you’re in doubt about what to do, be an amazing teacher. Share your ideas. Don’t take for granted your education. Rejoice in what you learn and spread it.
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Our ACELQ awards have opened for another year. These awards are peer-nominated and, as such, are unique in the Australian educational context. This year we have established a new category of award — the Dorothy Andrews and Joan Conway Award for Regional and Remote Leadership.
Professors Andrews and Conway were, for many years, esteemed academics at the University of Southern Queensland. Their scholarship and contribution have been recognised locally, nationally and internationally. Both brought intellectual rigour and deep professional generosity to their work, shaping generations of educational leaders across Queensland and beyond. Their research and teaching were never abstract exercises; it was deeply anchored in the lived realities of schools, particularly those serving regional and remote communities.
In addition to their university commitments, both are longstanding and active contributors to ACEL’s work on the Darling Downs. They mentored aspiring leaders, strengthened professional networks and consistently championed the distinctive strengths of regional education. Their careers reflect a steadfast belief that leadership excellence is not confined to metropolitan centres, and that innovation, resilience and moral purpose often flourish most powerfully in decentralised contexts.
Given Queensland’s marked decentralisation, recognising the importance and influence of regional and remote leadership is overdue. At our recent ACELQ strategy day, much attention was focused on ways in which to strengthen and deepen our relationship with regional and remote educational communities. It is therefore fitting that this award bears the names of two scholars and leaders whose professional lives continue to elevate leadership practice based on their long and distinguished careers.
Nominations close Wednesday 25 March 11.59pm (AEDT).
NOMINATE FOR NATIONAL AWARDS
NOMINATE FOR QLD BRANCH AWARDS
SUBMISSIONS FOR NEW VOICE SCHOLARSHIP