Happy Birthday (Horses for Courses)

Photo by Amy Humphries

“Every birthday is like a step you take. You have to observe your path first, to cautiously proceed without stumbling.”

Ebelsain Villegas

Horses in the southern hemisphere are recognised on August 1st – the Horse’s birthday. This is the date that all horses are judged to be one-year older. This date also coincides with horses breeding and foaling seasons.

A simple process that enables horse racing and the industry to be organised across a standard.

There was a time when children were taught in age-based cohorts. The introduction of stage-based education, personal and individual learning plans has refined the organisation of how children are taught. Importantly, this allows for students to be assessed along a continuum of achievement. Principals and school leadership teams now have the tools to measure student growth, and school improvement using progressions.

Unlike the horse’s birthday, it is not often that teachers celebrating another year of service are recognised. Entitlements such as Long Service Leave have been earnt though collective action through the Union. While this does afford the recognition of long service, in isolation fails to recognise the work of teachers and school leaders.

It is not uncommon to hear the phrases ‘work-life balance’ and ‘self-care’ thrown around the staffroom. Perhaps they have been used too often, with little care or action to support the programs and time to affect the balance and care that teachers and school leaders deserve. School budgets, resources and geographic location impact the way in which teachers and school leaders find work-life balance and practice self-care.

Poorly managed competing priorities, targets and goals can drive schools to the extreme end of sustainable work practice. Teachers often buy and source the recourses needed to engage students in learning and to ensure that no child misses out. The myth that teachers can claim
this back on tax returns persists. Collecting and organising receipts for work related deductions is another impost on the work of teachers and school leaders.

How do you celebrate your birthday?