Transfers bring new perspectives

Schools benefit from transfers...Angela Cattalo.

By Kerri Carr

The statewide staffing system based on transfers benefits schools because they get teachers who bring different perspectives to the schools, Bossley Park High School teacher Angela Catallo said.

Angela and her schools have benefited from the transfer system.

"I was appointed as a targeted graduate in 1992 to Canley Vale High School," Angela said.

"After two years the leave without pay provisions allowed me to volunteer to work in Papua New Guinea where the Australian Government through Australian Volunteers Abroad was facilitating Australian teachers to take the places of local teachers who were then given a year to study and upgrade their qualifications to be able to teach up to year 12 (rather than year 10)."

Angela said it was good to know she still had right of return to Met South West.

"With right of return to Met South West I was offered Campbelltown Performing Arts High School," she said.

Angela said the school benefited from having someone who had an understanding of children from another nation.

"They gave me ESL because they knew I had empathy and understanding for them."

Angela taught there from 1996 to 2003.

"Looking for a professional challenge I put in a service transfer to the Fairfield area where I would be teaching ESL in the mainstream," Angela said.

She received a transfer to Bossley Park High School.

"Because I was accredited ESL I also had the opportunity to teach the HSC ESL course," Angela said.

"The benefit for students was that I was experienced teaching the standard course and could link my skills across the two courses and set up a program which could be followed by both ESL and mainstream English teachers."

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Last Modified: 07 Feb 2008