I had been pondering about 'community' when suddenly ... a light bulb moment! ... 'school communities'! The bottom line is, I've always loved going to school!
From the red brick pioneering years Clayton North Primary School, to the 'baby boomer' needed grey cement blocked 'Brown's Road' Clayton Primary School in Grade 3, a transition had to be made, thankfully to the warm welcome and happy classroom of Mrs Farr. At the end of Grade 6, another transition to Malvern Girls Secondary School.
The class sizes during my childhood were enormous, often up to 50 children, however somehow I remember the schools as happy communities, remember my parents attending 'parent teacher nights' and taking a great interest in my education.
A final year at Oakleigh High School preceded four years at Monash University, my Economics/Politics degree and Diploma of Education all geared towards becoming a high school teacher, with the 'teaching studentship' funding my studies requiring a three year commitment to the state's high school system.
The year at Oakleigh High linked me back to students I'd been at Clayton North with so many years before. I fitted quite comfortably into the 'Year 12 Community', which included Pauline Bailey, our German for Beginners convenor, and Ivan Durrant, the artist who formerly farmed, lived and brought up his family in the Benalla areay'. It was wonderful to connect up with them again when I arrived in Benalla.
University is usually an example of a 'community or communities of interest', but for me it was also within my geographic community. My sister was a secretary there, I could walk to lectures, my babysitting jobs were often for University lecturers living in the area. The University 'pub', the Nott (Nottinghill Pub), was our local pub. My initial communities of interest were the other students in my lectures and tutorials, which again included Ivan Durrant from Oakleigh High, and other students, often from rural communities, on teaching studentships.
Monash was a very active political community while I was there, with activists such as Albert Langer and the student newspaper, Lot's Wife, featuring Michael Leunig and other creative radicals, challenging our ideas. Maharishi Yogi, who influenced the Beatles, visited our campus at the time. Participation in an overnight 'sit in' at the university library to protest against funding cuts to the library, was the first of many examples in my life of involvement with communities of interest concerned about education. Two other 'communities of interest' at University were 'Modern Dance' and 'Social Involvement', reflecting many years studying ballet and my long term concern about social justice.
Then came twenty years or so of teaching in the state school system. I became immersed in school communities in a number of city and country schools. Two school communities which made a particular effort to help new teachers make a transition to their communities were Heywood, where we were taken on an excursion which included a visit to a sheep station, complete with peacock roaming homestead garden, during shearing; and Flemington, where we were taken to a flat in one of the top floors of a public housing high rise estate.
After a decade's break to study and work as a social worker, I returned to teaching at GOTAFE and again became immersed in an educational community. Concerned about teaching conditions, which to me represent increased learning conditions for students, I again became an active union member - another 'community of interest'. I have always been interested in curriculum development, attracted to communities of likeminded people who enjoy sharing ideas about education, preparing newsletters, setting up workshops and conference sessions and more.
It seems as if there's a lot to write about! This story is getting far too long, and I still haven't spoken about the 'expat' educational communities of Madrid in Spain and Kamloops in British Columbia; my years at GOTAFE, or the educational community of U3A Benalla which continues to immerse me. Perhaps another time!
Bev Lee
May 2022
From the red brick pioneering years Clayton North Primary School, to the 'baby boomer' needed grey cement blocked 'Brown's Road' Clayton Primary School in Grade 3, a transition had to be made, thankfully to the warm welcome and happy classroom of Mrs Farr. At the end of Grade 6, another transition to Malvern Girls Secondary School.
The class sizes during my childhood were enormous, often up to 50 children, however somehow I remember the schools as happy communities, remember my parents attending 'parent teacher nights' and taking a great interest in my education.
A final year at Oakleigh High School preceded four years at Monash University, my Economics/Politics degree and Diploma of Education all geared towards becoming a high school teacher, with the 'teaching studentship' funding my studies requiring a three year commitment to the state's high school system.
The year at Oakleigh High linked me back to students I'd been at Clayton North with so many years before. I fitted quite comfortably into the 'Year 12 Community', which included Pauline Bailey, our German for Beginners convenor, and Ivan Durrant, the artist who formerly farmed, lived and brought up his family in the Benalla areay'. It was wonderful to connect up with them again when I arrived in Benalla.
University is usually an example of a 'community or communities of interest', but for me it was also within my geographic community. My sister was a secretary there, I could walk to lectures, my babysitting jobs were often for University lecturers living in the area. The University 'pub', the Nott (Nottinghill Pub), was our local pub. My initial communities of interest were the other students in my lectures and tutorials, which again included Ivan Durrant from Oakleigh High, and other students, often from rural communities, on teaching studentships.
Monash was a very active political community while I was there, with activists such as Albert Langer and the student newspaper, Lot's Wife, featuring Michael Leunig and other creative radicals, challenging our ideas. Maharishi Yogi, who influenced the Beatles, visited our campus at the time. Participation in an overnight 'sit in' at the university library to protest against funding cuts to the library, was the first of many examples in my life of involvement with communities of interest concerned about education. Two other 'communities of interest' at University were 'Modern Dance' and 'Social Involvement', reflecting many years studying ballet and my long term concern about social justice.
Then came twenty years or so of teaching in the state school system. I became immersed in school communities in a number of city and country schools. Two school communities which made a particular effort to help new teachers make a transition to their communities were Heywood, where we were taken on an excursion which included a visit to a sheep station, complete with peacock roaming homestead garden, during shearing; and Flemington, where we were taken to a flat in one of the top floors of a public housing high rise estate.
After a decade's break to study and work as a social worker, I returned to teaching at GOTAFE and again became immersed in an educational community. Concerned about teaching conditions, which to me represent increased learning conditions for students, I again became an active union member - another 'community of interest'. I have always been interested in curriculum development, attracted to communities of likeminded people who enjoy sharing ideas about education, preparing newsletters, setting up workshops and conference sessions and more.
It seems as if there's a lot to write about! This story is getting far too long, and I still haven't spoken about the 'expat' educational communities of Madrid in Spain and Kamloops in British Columbia; my years at GOTAFE, or the educational community of U3A Benalla which continues to immerse me. Perhaps another time!
Bev Lee
May 2022