School

I have been at my new job now for just five weeks .. yet I feel like an old timer.  Maybe because I was a Teacher-on-Call in the Kootenays for.. ever.  Or maybe because I have lived in the outback for almost four years now. Or just maybe.. it's because I am a bit of an 'ol timer and, I'm on a month's holiday.

Each school I go to is quite different from the one before.

Yulara, where I live, is the tourist town just 20 minutes from Ayers Rock (Uluru).  It has hotels, museums, a coffee shop, restaurants, a beauty parlour, grocery store and post office.  It also has a medical centre, a fire station, a police station and a school, Yulara School, where I have my 'office' set up in the library.

Yulara only has about fifty kids, the sons and daughters of the middle class town it services.   It is similar to Mataranka in a lot of ways, also offering to be host to 'school of the air' for the older kids.  But there  are only a couple of Indigenous children,  as most attend school in their own community.

Mutujulu is located closer to the rock.

I go out to Mutijulu every couple of weeks to provide release time to the husband and wife teaching team there.  The community itself is about the same size as most.  The school has about thirty kids, from transition through year six.  After they 'graduate' they are bussed to the college, closer to Yulara, where they have the opportunity to complete their schooling.

It just takes a half hour or so for me to get from my residence in Yulara to the school in Mutijulu. I have to go into the Park, (Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park), stopping at the gate, and then I make the drive around to the other side of great Ayers Rock.  It is a different drive every time I go.. the 'rock' changes colour.. as does the sky.  Tourists, in their campers, vans and four wheel drive vehicles, glide slowly along, as they have no need to hurry.  It is relaxed and enjoyable..

It is a little more challenging to travel to Docker River.  Again I go into the park, but I turn west right before the huge sandstone monolith, and head toward the wavy conglomerate of Kata Tjulu.  Right before the tourist area, I head off the pavement and on to 200 kilometres of dirt.

Docker is about the same size as Mutijulu. The school too is about the same size, with the same number of kids, maybe a few more.  It has been difficult to get teachers to stay at Docker, mainly because it is so remote.  There are incentives, but life can be very isolating so far from anywhere, and so the children are a bit more unsettled.

I also work in Imanpa, which is just off the highway about 200 kilometres from Alice Springs and 200 from Yulara.  It's right in the middle.  Imanpa too is of similar size and the school also has a great playground and all the things a school needs to function.  All the children are Indigenous, and the work can be challenging.

And finally, Kings Canyon.  This is also an Indigenous school.  The building is smaller, but so are the number of kids.  It is very close to the paved highway and all the amenities of the resort: which are few, but it is organised and non-Indignous.

I like my job.  I get to go to these different places and really assist the teachers that work so hard to provide an education to an often reluctant lot.  Education is so important to these kids.. to everyone, and yet it seems that often those that need it the most are the least happy to go.

Schools in these out-back places, provide socialisation, entertainment, meals, and a connection to health care providers.  Teachers often work with nurses and doctors, social workers and even the police.  Schools improve the quality of life and even provide a life line for some.   Schools connect Indigenous Australians with the culture and norms of the society in which they are to function.

Sadly however, I don't think the schools in out-back Australia receive the support they need.  Teachers have an enormous and very complicated job.  A one or two teacher school has the same requirements as a larger urban school, and yet they are not provided with the funding necessary to fulfil these requirements.  They seem to be set up to fail.

A small school needs well paid generalists.. they often require a bus driver, a community liaison, a cook.. they need a cleaner and a grounds keeper.  Schools need a secretary, or administration officer... They need qualified, interested teaching aids.

And yet.. all they really get, is a teacher.

Teaching is a great job.. but it would be good to get a little more support.. and God bless the holidays!