Media release – Nigel Jones, TASSO President, Sunday,26 April 2020
Courage, Patience & Respect – Together We Can Inspire Students to Continue with Learning
Term 2 is about to begin in Tasmania, albeit with a new method of delivery. Many students will be learning at home and for those students who cannot be supervised at home, due to family circumstances, will attend their school for education with a drastically reduced number of classmates sitting nearby. The exception to this, will be those students in the North-West where all will remain at home for the time being.
Nigel Jones, President of the Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations (TASSO) said, “teachers, Principals, other school staff, and the Department of Education worked tirelessly during the last few weeks of Term 1 and many during the end of Term break, so that students can continue with their education, whether that be online, a paper format or a combination of both. Many teachers, principals and school staff spent the last week of Term 1 contacting families by phone, and had a conversation about what is expected, what they will be doing and asking how they can best support students and families.
TASSO Committee members and staff have heard from many families, teachers, principals, and school staff, about how those conversations were positive and helped allay fears of all concerned.”
Everyone needs to show courage, discuss concerns with the relevant person, whether that be the parent/carer, classroom or subject teacher, year coordinator, assistant principal, or principal. We are all in this together, our circumstances may vary, but we need to be courageous and overcome barriers to genuine communication. We need to be patient and respectful, we all have varying communication styles, past experiences and needs. Above all, we need to inspire young Tasmanians to continue with their school learning in these testing times.
“No issue will be that large that it cannot be overcome by talking and exploring solutions. There will be positives to come out of the current situation when it is over. One positive is that we will all have learnt something. Those students who struggle with the dynamic of a classroom may thrive. Parents/carers may learn new ways of doing things. Students may see the benefit of sharing what they learn with their family.
Teachers may gain a greater understanding of what drives individual students,” said Nigel Jones. This experience has the potential to establish genuine relationships between families, children, youth and schools, leading to greater engagement for everyone which will have a positive impact on student learning
