Bright Sparks

When I was a teacher, I spent time working with young people who had an intelligence that far out weighed their age. Unfortunately these young people and their parents are more often than not, stereotyped as egotistical and overbearing. In fact children that are gifted-(that is, have had tests to say that they are), are really not catered for in mainstream schooling-unless they are at a school that sees a need to cater for them. More often than not, these parents spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what is ‘wrong,’ with their child, when in fact there is nothing wrong with them, they just possess a higher intelligence.

In Australia, for some reason intelligence is looked down upon-(the Tall Poppy Syndrome anyone?), and these young people, are the least catered for in mainstream schooling.

All the stories I have read over the years, have only reinforced the ‘pushy parent,’ stereotype and citing giftedness as a myth almost. I wanted to write a story that broke down those stereotypes and to give the parents of these children a voice.

Interviewing was difficult in some respects because some of my talent had done media before only to be disappointed with the stereotypical outcomes. It took a long time to research, however it is the story I am most proud of.

The story “Bright Sparks,-Too Clever By Half,” was the cover story in the Educational Supplement from The Age Newspaper 16 June 2008.

This story was nominated for a Queensland Media Award in 2008, was highly commended at the 2008 Ossie Awards and it won the Best Feature Story at the QUT Journalism Awards, which was sponsored by the Queensland Country Press Association.

You can read this story here

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I taught for 11 years. In that time I worked in some pretty hard environments and when I tell stories of putting out a fires in classrooms, confiscating knives, breaking up fights between seven foot teenagers and dealing with the odd Ja’mie, eyes roll. I think Chris Lilley in his mockumentary, Summer Heights High, was pretty spot on. Although difficult, I wouldn’t trade those experiences. However, personally having my life revolve around marking 70 essays every weekend, just wasn’t doing it for me anymore, so I got out.

At the end of 2006, a lot of my teacher friends started to put down their red pens and move out of the classroom also. They had just had enough.In fact all around me teachers were marching out the door into other professions. They were making real life choices, not ones about money either. In fact all of the talent in this story were more than happy to take a pay cut and have less holidays, to achieve a life/work balance. I thought there is a story here. So I started to research, talk to teachers that no longer wanted anything to do with teaching and the story wrote itself. As you will read, I interviewed AEU President Mary Bluett, Victorian Minister Jacinta Allan, other politicians and academics. I also spoke with teachers who loved their profession and university students who were just about to enter it.

Statistics today show that the average age of teachers is about 47 and that graduates stay in the profession for about five years. Teacher retention continues to be  a major issue not only here but overseas and the article tries to discover why.

The feature “Classroom Burnout Triggers Teacher Opt-Out” was published in Melbourne’s The Age Newspaper in its Education Supplement on Monday February 26, 2007. It was released during a week when the issue of teacher retention was big news.

You may also download the pdf file of this article directly from my website.

The article has been used by the Doxa Youth Foundation in their submission to the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into Effective Strategies for Teacher Professional Learning.

It has also been used as a reference in the paper titled “Burnout Confirmed as a Viable Explanation for Beginning Teacher Attrition,” by the University of Southern Queensland.

Welcome

Welcome to belindahogan.com. I work as a journalist and also write freelance for magazines and newspapers. I can also be heard hosting the odd show on Brisbane’s 4ZZZ FM. I am trying to finish a Masters of Journalism at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) which I started over three years ago-yep its taking a long time. I write about all sorts of things but have a particular interest in education and youth issues. Having lived all over the place, I am currently living in Brisvegas-again! Please feel free to leave your comments.