Yesterday I spent all day at a workshop run by the local
education district.
It was funded by the MSSWD* programme, set up by the last federal
government, but terminating because the funds have dried up under the current
administration. The last of the Regional funds were used up by the conference.
Obviously, when it comes to priorities, bombing Syria is much
more important than supporting kids with disabilities.
But I digress.....
The conference was focused on Inclusive Practice, and featured
Dr Adam Fraser, of "Third Space" fame.
His presentations were interesting and relevant, but didn't
really tell me anything I haven't learnt (the hard way) in forty-four years in
special education. He just presented it in an engaging way, and used lots of millennial
jargon.
It did seem to impress the young women in the gathering,
however. Which is OK, because they (young women) made up the by far the largest
part of the audience. The proportion of men in the business is now so low, that
we're almost a curiosity.
The Third Space concept is this bloke's trade mark, and he
does talk a lot of sense about organisational culture. I could have done with
some of this thirty years ago, when I was first a principal. It would have helped
me avoid lots of angst.
But back to the audience. There were literally hundreds of
them, some from as far away as Charleville and Cunnamulla. Given that
Cunnamulla is about a ten hour drive west, and it was Saturday, that's commitment.
At one stage Dr Fraser asked us what had changed most since
we had started in the field. Given that I was the oldest person in attendance, and
I reckon my perspective was probably different from most, I piped up -
"These days, everyone's a hustler".
This seemed to confuse him a bit, and he reshaped it to say
we are a bit self-absorbed. This was not what I meant. These days, innovative
leadership is seen as a commodity to be bought and sold, rather than a talent
to be freely shared, and I find that a bit disappointing.
It was, however, inspiring to be part of a group who were
obviously fair dinkum about what they were doing, and keen to learn and share. I also picked up some new knowledge (about sensory learning) and some new skills (using embedded features in Microsoft and IOS).
Teachers are a special breed. They have to be to remain in
the profession these days.
This is the unchanging bit.
*More Support for Students with Disabilities
