THOSE WHO CAN’T, TEACH

Teachers are in the news again today. The good, the bad and the ugly. The CEO of the Victorian Institute of Teacher, Andrew Ius, has indulged in a classic case of ‘shoot the messenger’.  In an article he wrote for the Herald Sun he says that ‘ media reports on misconduct in the Victorian teaching profession have cast a shadow over the 104,000 registed  teachers in this state’.

Well, we haven’t cast the shadow. That stain has been spread by teachers who should not be teachers. Teachers who have molested students. Teachers who have had inappropriate relationships with their students and taken advantage of their positions power. Especially over impressionable young girls.

Mr. Ius also has this to say:’ We ask that  media commentators who dedicate so much attention to bad teachers occasionally give positive coverage to the many thousands of teachers whose skill, professionalism and compassion are shaping the next generation’.

Worthy words but get off the grass. News, Mr. Ius is by definition something bad or something somebody doesn’t want published. I guess I have been remiss.

I haven’t done stories about the good parish priest who has diligently gone about his pastoral duties for thirty years and never sexually assaulted a choir boy. Or the thousands of people who drive to work every day without a skerrick of alcohol in their blood. Or the teachers who  do what they are paid to do – teach kids.

And one of the ironies here. Whenever I have questioned a ruling by a VIT panel we have asked Mr. Ius as CEO to come on the program. He has always declined. Will never make a spokesman available.

So, why not come on the program and discuss the skill and professionalism of the teacher at the Bruthen Primary School who in a nine-line test for students made thirteen errors.

It was a questionnaire for older students about the signs of puberty. And talked about the fact that some time after turning nine or 10 and up to about 16 all boys and girls will notice some changes taking places in their bodies. Actually it says’ the’ bodies. The start of a litany of errors.  Try ‘hormone’ spelt “hormoane’. “Periods’ spelt ‘periiods’.‘Oestrogen’ spelt ‘oestorgen’.  Messenger spelt with a ‘t’. Boys spelt with a ‘u’. and ‘which’ spelt  ‘wheish’.

A concerned parent phoned the school principal and quote conveyed my feeling and got the usual protective attitude towards the teachers’.

Over to you, Mr. Ius.

Friday, November 2, 2007

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2007