World Teachers‘ Day: Educators SA honours outstanding educators in SA
On Friday 25 October, Educators SA acknowledged and celebrated the achievements of an outstanding group of educators at the World Teachers’ Day Awards night. 250 guests joined the celebration, among them the Hon Minister for Education John Gardner and the Shadow Minister for Education Susan Close MP. This year’s theme for World Teachers Day was titled „Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession.“ More than 70 awards were presented to educators from all sectors, acknowledging the very heart of excellent education.
The night started with association awards which were presented by Educators SA’s member associations to highlight significant achievements made by individual educators as part of their voluntary contributions to the profession. There were followed by the University Awards: Jonathan Legg received the Flinders University Award, Nia O’Loughlin won the University of Adelaide Award and Timothy Durst received the University of South Australia Award.
The Department for Education honoured Arts and Languages educators by awarding Lily Gower from SA School for Vision Impaired (SASVI) with the Primary Minister’s Arts Education Award and Wanda Jarvis from Port Lincoln High School with the Secondary Minister’s Arts Education Award, each of them worth $5,000. The Minister‘s three $8,000 Language Immersion Scholarship Awards were presented to Amanda Measday from the Nativity and McAuley Community School (Catholic), Georgia Heynemann from Immanuel College (Independent) and Tanya McCulloch from Naracoorte South Primary School (Public) were the lucky winners. The Credit Union SA Early Career Educator Award went to Maria Bilske from Visual Arts Educators SA, the Orff Schulwerk Association of SA received the Andersons Solicitors Connecting with Regional Educators Award. Both institutions are the major sponsors of Educators SA. Mike Chartres from the Primary Maths Association won the Teachers Registration Board Award, the World Education Forum (SA) Educator Award was received by Bernadette Hagerty from the Australian Association for Environmental Education, while Rebecca Garrett from the Mathematical Association of SA was the winner of the Educators Supporting Educators Award. The night closed with the Innovative Association Award which went to Drama South Australia.
„Tonight we celebrate how our SA educators are driving improvement and innovation all day, every day, in every learning field“, said Lisa-Jane, President of Educators SA. For her, the strength of associations lies in the power of the energy of educators who not only strive for excellence in their paid work but are also assuming their professional responsibility and devoting hundreds of hours of their personal time to create a community of support for all educators and particularly, young, aspiring educators. „Professional associations create networks that will nourish, inspire and support every educator through their learning journey“ she pointed out.
World Teachers Day was established by UNESCO in 1994 to draw public attention to the important role of educators in building a better future for the world’s children. The day is celebrated in over 100 countries on 5th October, Educators SA always celebrates World Teachers Day on the last Friday of the month.
Watch a short video of the night here!
