Staff support officers need to be teachers

DICK FROST and GAELLE O'NEILL show the case for why staff support officers need to be teachers.

Staff support officers provide support to all Department of Education and Training (DET) staff. Of the almost 92,000 employees of NSW DET, about 71,000 are teachers. It would therefore seem a logical departmental response to support these staff with officers who have themselves been teachers.

This is because:

• Teachers, by training and experience, have an understanding of child and adolescent growth, development and learning and therefore are able to understand, in depth, the issues facing teachers, especially when working with students with diverse learning and welfare needs.
• Having been teachers they have a clear understanding of the concept of duty of care for all students and how this impacts on staff.
• They understand the stresses associated with managing classes of 30 students and can rebut community perceptions of teachers having an 'easy job' -- teachers therefore feel comfortable that their concerns are understood.
• Teachers understand 'the system'. They can draw on first hand experience to suggest appropriate responses to teachers including accessing DET resources such as school counsellors, home school liaison officers and appropriate supervisory pathways.
• They understand, from experience, school culture -- issues of curriculum, timetabling, budgets and school structure and demands of key learning areas as they pertain to infants, primary, central and secondary.
• They are well placed to ensure that appropriate support structures to nurture newly appointed teachers are implemented.
• Teachers have an historic perspective on education and the Department -- an understanding of lists, inspectors and departmental procedures past and present. Given the ageing workforce and potential disenchantment of older teachers, such an understanding allows them to better support this sector of employees.
• They have credibility with teaching service staff. Staff know that these staff support officers have been there, done that -- that they have experienced the stressors inherent in the role of a teacher.
• These support officers feel very comfortable and indeed enjoy interacting with students when in schools.
• Teachers have an experience in pedagogy. As teachers themselves they feel comfortable in the many training and development responsibilities the role requires: occupational health and safety training, mediation training and addressing principal, staff and parent groups.

Dick Frost and Gaelle O'Neill are staff support officers in regional NSW School Education Area offices.

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September 2004 contents