Motions

World Teachers' Day

Debate resumed.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (12:14): I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Fisher. The United Nations World Teachers' Day celebrates the role teachers play in providing quality education at all levels. This enables children and adults of all ages to learn to take part in and contribute to their local community and global society. Today, I want to speak of a great teacher and friend who, throughout her life, gave so much of herself as a teacher to her students and also to the profession.

'Teachers don’t save lives: they change lives.' These were the inspirational words instilled by Dr Clare McCarty in her teaching students at Flinders University, where she was a senior lecturer and the Director of First Year Studies in the school of education. Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Clare attended the local primary school and later, as a promising student, the Kettering girls' high. Britain’s free university education meant that Clare was able to go to King's College, University of London, where she received a BA Honours (English), followed by a Post Graduate Certificate of Education from the Institute of Education.

After three years of teaching in England, Clare headed to Uganda in East Africa where she taught English and drama at Kampala Secondary School and also acted at the National Theatre. Following Idi Amin's seizing power, Clare headed to England where she was offered a teaching position and continued with her acting, performing in a theatre production at The Questors Theatre in London. It was there at a rehearsal that she met Douglas McCarty, an Australian engineer, the man she would marry. In London, Clare became active in the National Union of Teachers, spurred on by her sense of social justice, belief in educational equality of opportunity and intolerance of racism.

She completed her master’s degree at the Institute of Education in London where, with Douglas, she led the student union in protesting against teacher training cuts. Arriving in Australia late in 1976, she was appointed by the late Garth Boomer to the soon to be Parks Community Education Centre as a school and community drama teacher, became a visiting tutor at Sturt Teachers' College and joined the South Australian Institute of Teachers (SAIT). Her activism saw her elected as SAIT president, president of the South Australian United Trades and Labor Council, deputy president of the Australian Education Union, ACTU executive and congress delegate, branch member of the National Tertiary Education Union and one of two academic staff members on the Flinders University Council.

She maintained her passion for education, teaching at Thebarton, Glenunga International, Norwood Morialta, Unley and Oakbank Area schools after her term as SAIT president was completed. At the age of 65, when many retire, Clare began her university teaching career as a teacher in the Bachelor of Education courses at Flinders University and the University of South Australia. In 2011, she was awarded her PhD in education on creativity, neuroscience and teaching practice by the University of Technology Sydney.

Her daughter, Rosa, also a university lecturer and musical theatre performer, who sat side-by-side with her mother while they each wrote their PhD theses, said that if Clare were to choose two words that epitomised her experience in teaching over five decades they would be creativity and empathy. Stories continue to surface on the impact Clare had on her students and how she changed their lives. The cornerstone of her work was encouraging and empowering others. Until only a few weeks before she died last year, Clare was lecturing at Flinders University and in the process of writing a book on educational creativity encapsulating her 50 years of teaching experience.

Flinders University's Executive Dean of Education, Humanities and Law, Professor Richard Maltby, said that the university had lost a highly valued and esteemed educator whose 'unquenchable dedication to her students inspired us all'. To borrow from the words of Greek philosopher and writer, Nikos Kazantzakis:

True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own.

For many, Clare McCarty was that bridge. I speak these words today in recognition of World Teachers' Day on 5 October because the impact of the dedication and commitment great teachers give to their students continues with us even when they are no longer with us. These are the teachers who really do make a difference. I dedicate World Teachers' Day to the memory of Dr Clare McCarty and to the many great teachers I have had the good fortune to be taught by and to work with side-by-side throughout my teaching career.

Ms SANDERSON (Adelaide) (12:19): It is a great pleasure to speak in favour of this motion to celebrate and recognise World Teachers' Day on 5 October. I think everybody has wonderful stories that they can tell about teachers and the effect they have had on their lives. For many young children, particularly in primary school, who have the same teacher day in day out, they would spend more time with that teacher than with their own parents, so teachers are quite pivotal in the formative years of your life when you are growing.

They make a huge difference. If you have just one teacher or one adult who inspires you, believes in you or pushes you to work harder or to achieve more, it can make a big difference in your life. As the member for Mitchell said, it is those seeds that are planted that, unfortunately, many teachers do not get the see the results of, but they are there. The importance of how much an impact teachers have in our lives can never be overestimated. Several years ago, I remember talking to an anaesthetist around the time that they were looking at strike actions. I could not understand why they would be striking for more money.

The person I was speaking to said, 'We have people's lives in our hands.' I said, 'Teachers have our children's minds in their hands.' If you are looking at equating money, to me, the value of a teacher is huge to our community and to our society because they are really shaping our future. Teachers are very, very important, and it is a great motion to bring to parliament for us to all recognise. Thank you to the member for Fisher, although the electorate may be called a different name now; I am not up with all the changes.

When I first embarked on becoming a member of parliament, I started doorknocking and one of the first issues that was raised, particularly in Prospect, was the need to access a city high school, in particular Adelaide High School. Many of the local primary schools for several years had been campaigning for access to Adelaide High School. They had engaged a lot of research and put in a lot of effort and time getting all of the different primary schools together to lobby the government in order to have access to Adelaide High School or an equivalent city high school that they could get easy access to.

So I was absolutely thrilled that, even as a candidate, the Liberal Party supported a brand-new high school to be built for the people of Prospect and having access to other areas as well. Unfortunately, we did not win in 2010. However, a week before the election Labor announced an expansion of Adelaide High of 250, which did allow Prospect residents access, which I welcomed. That was a fantastic bandaid approach that helped temporarily.

At the 2014 election, the Liberal Party again recommitted to a second high school in the city. Ours was to be a second campus of Adelaide High School, because many of the residents, in Prospect particularly, liked the heritage and the ethos of Adelaide High and the history that went along with it. Alas, we did not win in 2014, again. However, it was strongly enough put that the Labor government is building a second high school in the city, Botanic High School, which I welcome. That is certainly very welcomed by the residents in Prospect, Walkerville, North Adelaide and the city, because it will be, I believe, a shared zone—thank goodness. It took a while, but we got there and there will be a second high school.

The importance of education can never be underestimated. An example of that is the desire for parents to have their children at what they deem to be 'a good school', which seem to be mostly inner suburban schools because they are on the way to work. It is very convenient for many people to access schools like Walkerville Primary School, North Adelaide Primary School and Prospect Primary School because they are on the way into the city. If you are a working parent, it is far more convenient to have them on the way to where you are going and on the way home.

We have a situation where all the schools in my electorate are at capacity—bar one, which is almost at capacity. At many of the schools, people's postcodes indicate that only 50 per cent are still in the zone. Many people do move into zones specifically to educate their children in what they believe to be a superior school, and I certainly would not blame anyone for doing that. I know that my own mother would have done the same thing, because to her education was the most important thing that she could ever give me, and she went out of her way and went without a lot of things in order to make sure that I was always at what in her mind was the best school, whether that be a state primary school or a private school later on in life.

I have heard stories of families even having fake separations so that the wife will have a home in North Adelaide, just to get access to Adelaide High—it is that important. The reason it is so important is that it is the teachers who make the school, as well as the principal, who directs the whole school. It really is important to recognise our teachers, and we can see that through the achievements of schools and the fact that people will relocate just to access different schools.

I ran a training school and employed many teachers (or lecturers or trainers or whatever you refer to them as). You can see a big difference between someone with a lot of knowledge who is not necessarily good at imparting it and someone who is a good teacher—someone who can share their information well and relate to a five year old, a 10 year old, a 15 year old or whatever age group it is. It is a real skill. It is not just about being super smart; it is about being able to speak to the audience you are dealing with.

I taught briefly at the WEA. They had some training that was for teachers or lecturers (whatever the term is, people use different names), and they said something that resonated very well with me: rather than thinking of yourself as a teacher or a trainer, think of yourself as someone merely on the same path of life, of whom someone else has asked the way. So you are really just imparting your knowledge on the same journey of life as the people you come across. It is about having that ability to share your knowledge. Teachers have the ability to share their knowledge every day with children on that path of life where they need the teacher's guidance and wisdom.

I have spent a lot of time in schools. I have visited lots of country schools, and you really can pick up the vibe of a school just from being there. It is the teachers that make a difference: teachers who are engaged, who are part of the children's lives and who really see the future and push the children to be their best are really very important.

Being a member of parliament, it has also been a highlight that there are a lot of schools in my electorate. I really enjoy taking tours through Parliament House. I have had five year olds from the North Adelaide reception class, and this week I had the year 12 legal studies class from Pulteney. You have a range of ages. I had international students from Adelaide University in last week as well. I have a lot of migrant groups from my electorate come through for whom English is a second language.

I absolutely love bringing people through Parliament House and teaching them about the history of Parliament House and our democracy. I thank all their teachers for having the idea and bringing the children in. I know it is hard: they have to get volunteer parents to come with them, and there is a lot of coordination to have a school excursion. I thank all of the teachers who go out of their way to make that happen so that the children of our state can come in and see what we do here and hopefully be inspired to be all that they can be. I believe that in South Australia and in Australia, in particular, you really can be anything you want to be: you just have to put your mind to it and put the effort in. I believe that there is every opportunity for all to achieve. I commend the motion to the house.

Mr HUGHES (Giles) (12:29): I will just say a few words about this. Indeed, some of the teachers who taught me might find it a little bit strange that I am getting up to praise teachers. I do have a claim to fame when it comes to my journey through the education system. I was exposed to the tender mercies of the Christian Brothers. I was incredibly well acquainted with their particular form of the strap. Indeed, the first protest that I organised, the first bit of collective action that I organised, was in high school at St John's.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

Mr HUGHES: Yes, from a very early age. As a result of that little protest action—I did involve the whole of the class—I was expelled from that school. I hold absolutely no animosity towards the vast of majority of the Christian Brothers. Most of them were very decent blokes who tried to do the best they could in the circumstances they faced, although there were one or two of them who clearly had problems.

After leaving St John's, I became a part of the public education system, and I would like to acknowledge a bloke by the name of Peter Francis, who worked at Eyre High as a teacher. He is now down Victor Harbor way, but I think he is retired. I will always acknowledge Peter. When we talk about teachers who make a difference to your life, Peter made a difference to my life in what was referred to then as fourth year. A few weeks before the public exam, he got me to pull my finger out, and I did and I had some success. I will always remember that, because ten or so years down the track, when I decided, 'I've had enough of labouring. I am going to go to uni,' it was because of Peter that 10 years or so beforehand.

I have to point out, though, that even in the public education system, in year 12 they decided to expel me as well, for being a ratbag. That school actually invited me back to give the graduation speech just after I was elected. I had a great deal of pleasure in starting the speech with, 'I was expelled from St John's for being a rebel and I was expelled from Eyre High for being a ratbag.' I could not have been too bad; they did invite me back the next year, but I went and worked in the shipyard instead.

I have been exposed to teachers in a number of ways over my life. I had a relationship lasting 10 years with a teacher, and I know firsthand just how hard they work and how conscientious they are. I think that goes for most of the teachers in our state. I had the honour of three children going through the public education system. I would have to say that they gave me far less grief than I gave my parents. All three of them did incredibly well. You get exposed to a whole range of teachers, and I think almost universally the teachers I came across wanted to do the best for the students under their care.

I could mention all the schools in my electorate. Counting preschools, I have 53; I have 53 sites in my electorate, plus three private schools, so I am not going to go through and list them all, except to say that there is huge diversity right across the range. Teachers, whether they are up in the APY lands, whether they are in the schools in Roxby Downs, Quorn or Hawker, or whether they are in the bigger centres like Whyalla, all do a fantastic job. We need to support them as a community.

I know that one incredibly important thing is that the value we put on education comes from our families and that community context. We sometimes expect teachers to address a whole range of issues that are out there in the wider community. It is impossible; they need strong family support and strong community support. With those few words exposing my history, I will take my chair.

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (12:34): I rise to support the motion put by the member for Fisher in this house, that we celebrate World Teachers' Day, held annually on 5 October, and acknowledge the vital and inspirational role teachers play in providing quality education in a range of settings and to a diverse range of community members.

Having been a teacher myself—and, who knows, after March I may be going somewhat back into the profession, depending on situations that are slightly outside my control at the moment—it will come as no surprise to members that many of my close personal friends and family friends are teachers, and I echo the sentiments that have been put before this place in terms of the impact teachers have on a young person's life. It truly is one of those points in time when we have a collective of the next generation in one place—obviously multiple places, but collectively in one place—and teachers do have a significant impact.

I have come across many, many inspirational teachers in my time, far better teachers than I ever professed to be, including people like Garry Costello, who was one of the best English teachers probably in Australia, if not wider than that. He was so inspirational that many, many years after he left the classroom people still talk about how he inspired them to go on and fulfil their full potential. Toni Vorenos was another English teacher who still cares for young people, even though she has left the teaching fraternity. She owns a medium-sized business and employs young people who perhaps do not fit society's expectation of what a young person should look or sound like. The output she gets from those people is just phenomenal, and her business in Mount Gambier is thriving.

Jason Yates, a great mate of mine and one of the best maths teachers I have ever seen, could take kids who absolutely hated maths, hated anything to do with numbers, and, in a very short period of time, would have them looking forward to his class; in fact, some people who have been shown the door from school want to come back just to be in his maths class. It is truly phenomenal. There is also Scott Cramm, the junior school senior leader, who has an ability to maintain the ethos of the school, the discipline of the school, and work with parents and young people so that expectations are upheld and enforced but in a way that is fair and measured, and in some pretty difficult circumstances.

I would like to congratulate all teachers because tomorrow is the second happiest day on their calendar. The reason it is their second happiest day is that the school holidays start tomorrow and that leads into a fortnight of holidays. Of course the happiest day is the Friday just before the Christmas break because that is six weeks of leave.

I will give a little tip to the Labor candidate, and any other candidate who wants to run in Mount Gambier. We do not know who you are and the teachers will not know who you are, so tomorrow get down to the Gambier Hotel at about 3 o'clock. If you put $200 of your own money over the bar, like I will be doing, you will have most of the teachers voting for you forever. So tomorrow at 3 o'clock get down to the Gambier Hotel. That is where all the teachers come together. It is a tradition in the South-East, and it is one you should be part of. I am happy to make sure they have $400 or $600, if there are Independents running as well put your $200 on the bar and you are certain to be in the mix going forward.

In terms of the number of holidays, it is strange when you talk to people who are not teachers about the stress of teaching. I remember in my early days, particularly on a Sunday night, not getting a wink of sleep, having cold sweats, because your mind would go into a whole range of places: 'What happens if the class gets out of control? What happens if I'm challenged on something I'm presenting?' It is a very stressful time, particularly in those formative years of being a teacher, and that is something in the process that I do not think we recognise.

In fact, you come out of university and you are pretty much thrown into a classroom, the door is shut, and it is sink or swim and let's see how you go. I think we can do better on how we transition teachers into the profession, and certainly hopefully slow down the number who leave within the first couple of years. With regard to the mental stress, at the end of week 10 of any term, if you go into a school now you will see teachers who are physically and mentally exhausted because the pressure is constant.

Even when you are sick, it is easier to rock up to school and teach your classes, or class if you are in a primary school, because setting reliefs, dealing with the student behaviour management that often follows afterwards, plus all the marking and everything, is difficult. There are very few professions that have that level of stress and expectation that you will perform day in, day out regardless of your health.

In terms of universities and going forward, I would like to see some changes. I think the 10-week teaching block should be in the first 10 weeks of your university degree, because in the first 10 weeks you will work out whether or not this is a profession you would like to pursue. Having it at the end of a four-year degree, most people say, 'Well, I've come this far. Even if I don't like it, I need to earn some money to pay off my HECS debt,' and they continue into a profession that they may not have otherwise gone into, had it been right at the start. I would like to see an aptitude test where you devise something to see whether potential teachers actually like kids; 99 per cent do and go on to be very good teachers, but there is a percentage who perhaps would choose a different area if they realised that they actually did not like children.

We also need to look at how we attract teachers to country areas. When I went through, there was what was called a four-year guarantee. It was a great initiative of, I believe, a Labor government, but I stand to be corrected on that, where, if you went to the country for four years, you were guaranteed a permanent position back in the city after those four years. I went to the country, up to Port Augusta, on that four-year guarantee, and I have stayed in country areas, and many teachers have stayed, but they would not have gone out into country areas had that guarantee not been there.

Of course, I would like to see how we encourage more male primary school teachers. I think we will come to a point where, particularly for some students who do not have strong male role models in their lives, male primary school teachers can provide that level of assistance. I congratulate all primary school teachers, but I particularly note male primary school teachers. Unfortunately, we have a system where good, if not great, teachers are promoted out of the classroom. They take up leadership roles, which means that the time they spend in classrooms is decreased.

In finishing up, if we could do one thing to support teachers going forward—and not just words in this place—it is actively looking at how you reduce the bureaucratic paper load that teachers are expected to comply with these days, particularly principals and leaders, who I think should be focused on curriculum and focused on young people but who are seemingly spending an inordinate number of hours filling out paper for paperwork's sake.

I have one concern about NAPLAN. I agree we need some form of testing, but schools that start teaching to a test miss a whole range of teachable moments and opportunities that lie out there. We will start seeing a point where students are actively discouraged from coming to a test because it might lower the school's result, and that would be a shame going forward. In saying that, congratulations to all teachers, well done, and tomorrow down at the Gambier Hotel should be a good time.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (12:44): Sounds like we all should be there, member for Mount Gambier. I rise today to support the motion that has come to this house:

That this house—

(a) celebrates World Teachers' Day held annually on 5 October; and

(b) acknowledges the vital and inspirational role that teachers play in providing quality education in a range of settings and to a diverse range of community members.

Those members who have contributed today have talked about the diversity in schools within their electorates. The member for Giles talked about the vast landscape that schools fit into across his electorate and others have as well. I think I tallied up 22 schools in the electorate of Flinders, more than most but not as many as some. Most are area schools. There is just one high school in Port Lincoln, and it is the largest school in our area, and there are two or three primary schools as well. There is also Lake Wangary and Penong, extending all the way out to Yalata, so an incredibly diverse range of demands but also of students.

I think it is important to acknowledge the importance of teachers as role models. They understand, I am sure, and we need to acknowledge the incredible influence they have not just on the fundamentals of language, science and thought, but the role they play in moulding the adults of tomorrow. It is an extraordinary responsibility. It is not one I would relish. We have in this place some former teachers and it is interesting to hear their insights on the teaching profession and the challenges that that puts up.

I believe that a solid education is a wonderful foundation for life. We all remember our own time at school. Many of us now are parents of school children or have been parents of school children so we are all exposed to the education system in some way or another right through life. Our parents saw us off to school, we saw our children off to school, and sometimes if we are fortunate, we get to see our grandchildren off to school.

Education has changed, the world has changed, but fundamentally it is about teaching children and preparing them for the life ahead. I started school way back in the 1960s. Cummins Area School was a brand-new school in those days. I was in the first lot of grade 1 to begin at the new school. It was the 1960s and it was the height of the baby boomers coming through. Not that I am necessarily in that category, but certainly there was a need for bigger schools all over the state, and Cummins Area School had constructed a new building, which I think for a time housed well over 600 students, much beyond what it is today.

My first teacher was Mrs Parker. She seemed incredibly old. She would have been in her 40s, I am sure. I remember much detail about my time at Cummins. One day in particular was the day the men landed on the moon in 1969, and of course our school had no televisions in those days. That is the only reason that I can think why all of us bus kids were sent home with town kids to watch the moon landing, and I went along with a friend of mine to the only two-storey house in town. The reception was not great and it was often a bit fuzzy in our part of the world, so we finished up outside having a few dobs.

I went on and completed my schooling in Cummins as a grade 7 under Mrs Trigg and, as often happens in a small country town, she happened to be my great aunty. I rolled up at school on the first day not knowing whether to call her Aunty Mary or Mrs Trigg, and she made it quite clear that I should call her Mrs Trigg. Now she was old being my great aunty but she taught an entire generation of year 7s in the Cummins district and many of us will remember that. As a year 8, my parents packed me off to boarding school and I finished up here in Adelaide at Prince Alfred College. I can honestly say, and I shared this with my mother the other day, I enjoyed every single moment of it, and she was pleased to hear that. I appreciated the opportunity that my parents gave me and that that school gave me also.

That leads me to a really important part of this speech. I want to take the time to talk about one particular teacher, and I am going to thank The Advertiser newspaper because I am going to borrow heavily from their obituary of a few weeks ago. One of the teachers at PAC during that time was an older gentleman, to my mind, and I finished up in his year 12, modern European history class. His name was Cecil David Mattingley, commonly known as David or 'Dink', and I would just like to talk a little bit about him. He died recently, on 2 June 2017, here in Adelaide, just a few days short of his 95^th birthday. I knew him as a schoolteacher, but there was much at that time we did not know about David that has since come to light through reading about him.

His heroism in World War II earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross on the spot, but for generations of schoolboys in Adelaide it was his soft-spoken command of the English language, history and literature that was most important. Dink was a tall gentleman of impeccable manners, who would only occasionally rise to the taunts of the schoolboys at Prince Alfred College. In the classroom and on the Torrens—where he quietly resuscitated PAC's rowing prowess, because it was in the doldrums for a while—he would politely shut down any questions about his wartime experiences.

He was born in Launceston, Tasmania, but was eager to learn to fly, and he enlisted in the RAAF in 1941. After completing his early training in Australia, he went to England to pilot heavy aircraft. In late 1943, David was posted to the new RAF 625 Squadron in Kelstern, Lincolnshire. They flew the four-engine Avro Lancaster bombers, mostly on night raids over Germany. The odds of survival were poor. Nearly half of Bomber Command's total air crew were killed. Less than half survived a full tour of duty.

David flew his 23^rd operation on 29 November 1944. He piloted his Lancaster D-Dog and crew of seven on a daytime raid to Dortmund as part of a force of 300 aircraft. After their bombing run, they turned back for England and ran into very heavy flak. Six of the 294 Lancasters in the raid were shot down. David's plane was hit hard by flak. It blew out all the perspex windows of the cockpit, blew up some of the instruments and holed a fuel tank. He was briefly knocked out. He had been hit in the head by shrapnel, which penetrated his helmet and fractured his skull. Another piece severed his tendons on his right hand. When he came to, he continued to pilot the plane. More flak caught them, and he was wounded in the right knee.

Later, he was hit in the right shoulder, so he could not use his right arm at all. His flight engineer, Cyril Bailey, was also wounded. After flying three hours back to England, David put out the call for a priority landing, fire engines and an ambulance, not mentioning that the ambulance was for him. He devised a plan to land, with Cyril Bailey helping to operate the throttles. They made a perfect landing. David received an immediate award of the DFC, while Cyril won the DFM. David's wounds brought an end to his flying career. He would be in and out of hospital for years, scarred both physically and emotionally.

After the war, David earned an honours degree in history, worked as an archivist and wrote a book on Matthew Flinders and George Bass—a small world. He taught at Geelong Grammar and Marlborough College in the UK before coming to teach at PAC for 32 years. In 2016, David was made a Chevalier of France's Legion of Honour.

I would have ordinarily given that obituary in a grievance debate, but I felt this was an opportunity, given that we are discussing teachers, to talk about a gentleman whom I knew and admired at school but knew very little of. That is to take nothing away, of course, from all the other teachers who taught me. Every other member of this house, particularly the member for Giles, from what I heard of his contribution, remembers their schooldays with fondness I am sure. In acknowledging all the teachers, I wish the year 12s all the best in their upcoming exams only a few weeks away.

The last thing I need to talk about is the need for equity in education, particularly across regional areas. Government has a responsibility to provide adequate and supportive education to students right across this vast state, and I believe a big part of that these days is providing not just teachers and teacher support but also adequate internet access for those schools that need to use open access to provide senior education to country students.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:54): I rise to support this motion supporting our school teachers and acknowledge the work that they do. Speaking after a contribution like that, which was amazing, and noting the time, I will have to try to keep it pretty concise.

My education certainly was not as colourful as that of the member for Giles—that was quite an interesting contribution. Most of my education was at Coomandook Area School for the first 10 years. I note one teacher, the late Alan Head. He was so convinced that we needed to know old-style dancing that he taught us old-style dancing in years 6 and 7. We would get out with the foxtrot, the military two and the military three. I still struggle a bit. I was trying to get my wife to dance with me at my son's debutante ball at Coomandook the other night, but—

Mr Treloar: Do they still have the deb balls?

Mr PEDERICK: Yes, they still have the deb balls and what a great night it was. It was magnificent and it was great to see the concentration on the young ones. Certainly, my dance moves did not match the training that the young ones had. That is one of the more interesting memories I have from school.

I also remember Bob Chapman with fondness. He was a deputy at Coomandook for a long time. We were on a houseboat trip in the Riverland and the motor conked out on the boat. We were being pushed downstream towards a bridge by the flow. It was going to be chaos, whatever happened. Bob smoked a bit, but I reckon he was lighting each one from the one he had in his mouth at the time because Bob was in charge and he was panicking a bit. I must say that the crew of that boat did a great job. They lined up the bridge, lined up a pylon and parked the boat so that it would just pull up sideways. I was probably the last student, if not one of the last, to get off the boat. Certainly, those teachers at Coomandook did their best.

I then came to Urrbrae. It was initially for two years, but I did not like the city much so I did one year in year 11. I acknowledge the people who tried to mould me there, even though I did not like being in the city. I went home the next year.

I want to acknowledge the fantastic teachers right across my electorate and right across the state and the work they do because it is not just about education anymore. It is almost also about childminding with some of the behavioural issues they need to deal with, so I salute our school teachers and the pressures that they are under every day of the week. It is not easy, and with so many scrutinising their performance, I really commend the work that they do.

There is certainly one teacher I really want to acknowledge in Murray Bridge and that is Christine Roberts-Yates at Murray Bridge High School. She has put in an application, which I have supported, for a global teacher award. She has just been informed today that she has made the final 400 out of the 20,000 applicants, so that is an achievement in itself.

This is in acknowledgment of her work with the disability unit at Murray Bridge, which does great work for students of various abilities in using robots and teaching cooking and educational skills. I know they have a big Finnish or Flemish rabbit there—one of those will be right. Christine does a fantastic job. In winding up, I would like to acknowledge Christine, wish her all the best in that international award and congratulate all the teachers of the state.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Fisher to finish off, I would just like to add my approval and thanks for her motion. I come from a family of teachers myself and appreciate and acknowledge all that they do, particularly the importance of them in shaping the young people of our area and those, of course, who have moved along the continuum of lifelong learning because, as we know, learning never stops.

I would like to particularly mention teachers of special schools and teachers of the instrumental music branch and primary school choirs. I know that music is a very important part of education, and I know the teachers of the IMS are striving to continue to deliver good education to their students.

Ms COOK (Fisher) (12:59): I would like to thank all members who have contributed today to this very important motion supporting the great work of teachers in our community. I particularly acknowledge the colourful contribution from the member for Giles, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and also the contributions from the members for Chaffey, Adelaide, Torrens, Flinders and Hammond.

The member for Mitchell talked about Reynella Primary School. The principal there now is Michele Russell, who he may not have met, but she is a very good principal. Thank you to the member for Mount Gambier for his kind offer to shout the bar to all teachers tomorrow at the Gambier hotel. I am sure that is an open invitation around the area. I thank everyone for their support and wish all teachers and students happy holidays and good luck with the rest of the year.

Motion carried.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.