industry & reform about the choices I ’ ve made . It ’ s been really stable for me and my family .
In your role at Preston High School what years and subjects do you teach , and do you have a teaching philosophy or belief ? I ’ m a classroom teacher and I ’ m also an instrumental music teacher . I teach voice , bass guitar , double bass and percussion . I teach year 7 , 8 and 9 on those instruments . And I teach year 9 classroom music . I also teach a little bit of philosophy .
I ’ m sure I have many assumptions that I haven ’ t examined about the values and beliefs I have about education . But if I had to boil it down , it might be something like : all young people have the right to the best education possible . And that underpins my decision to work in the government school sector . I ’ m very passionate about public education . That ’ s probably one of the things that drove me to a teaching career , this deep founded political passion about the importance of education as a democratic right and something that underpins strong democracies .
Were you overwhelmed by school lockdowns and distance learning at first , or did you approach the challenge methodically ? At first , I probably felt a little more prepared than most . I think my years of having a music studio at home became a real strength of mine when we suddenly switched to online . I ’ ve got a good mic set up and I ’ ve got good speakers and I ’ ve always had a nice space in my homes for recording music . So I was well prepared for that first technical hurdle of transitioning to teaching online . And it was always very impressive when the year sevens got on and I had all the whizzbang gadgets and they ’ re like , “ Mr . Muir , what ’ s going on ?” and , “ Are you a famous Twitch streamer ?”, “ Are you on YouTube ?”, “ Are you a famous YouTuber ?” I ’ m like , “ No , this is the stuff musicians have at home .”
Of course , for every profession that ’ s had to make the switch to some sort of remote professional work , it ’ s had its immense challenges . And also little bits that you actually get to reassess . You ’ re like , “ Oh , we did this for a long time , but did we need to do it this way ? Because actually this way of doing it in this one area is actually better . It ’ s improved .”
I think , like many people , we get to do that little bit of re-examination . But yes it was immensely challenging being locked in my house .
I imagine there would have been some students who may have not had reliable internet access , or who may have required extra help in learning during that period . Absolutely . And I ’ ve been lucky enough to work at a school where we ’ ve had a lot of really strong professional thinking around how we can support those students best . We ’ ve examined and collected data on how our systems are working so we don ’ t let any of those students fall through the gaps , in terms of their ability to access learning .
Studies that have come out show that remote learning widens the achievement gap . One of the main things is the access to technology ; the device that they have at home or the internet speed and the working environment they might have at home – all these factors that are outside of our control become really frustrating . I ’ m very much looking forward to returning to spaces where we can fight those things by having us all in the same room .
Where do you see yourself in say 10 or 20 years , if you ’ re still teaching ? Are you aiming to be a faculty head or a principal , or would you like to remain in the classroom ? It is very hard to project myself into the future , especially in uncertain times like we are in now . School leadership is something I ’ m already showing a passion in , so I think there ’ s a strong chance I ’ ll go that way . I ’ m guided by a principle where I ’ d like to have as much impact as possible . There ’ s something alluring about school leadership where I can impact more on society by impacting more students . But I don ’ t ever imagine I ’ d be outside of a classroom , just because I think that ’ s where the good stuff happens . I ’ d like to always remain in touch , but I imagine everyone who ’ s going into school leadership says that they ’ d like to remain in touch in some way .
I ’ m really passionate about education research . I ’ m doing my Masters of Education Research part-time , so that ’ s another way that I ’ m adding to my professional skills and that might lead me in another direction .
Do you think the pandemic will have an effect or has already had an effect on teacher retention rates ? From my perspective , we ’ re all very grateful to have had stable jobs during
I ’ ve had this weird sense of gratitude about the choices I ’ ve made .
this time . I think we ’ ve all heard of people who are doing it really hard right now in terms of stability and finances . And I ’ ve been very grateful that I ’ ve had a job where I haven ’ t . Of all the many annoyances that the lockdowns and the pandemic have had in my life , worrying about the paycheck hasn ’ t been one of them .
In my circles of musicians , because they make up most of my friend groups , is this move towards teaching . This is always a conversation musicians have , because the way we learn music is by having private tutors . Even when we ’ re professional musicians , we continue to go to a voice teacher or something like that . So it ’ s always in the back of our minds , about teaching as providing a stable income .
I ’ ve had a lot of friends who have been messaging me saying , “ What ’ s teaching like ? I ’ m thinking I need to do something now because the gigs aren ’ t coming in and I want to make the move . Where did you go to uni ?” At least from my personal perspective , it ’ s been a great way to get teachers in , because everyone ’ s considering this at least from a musician ’ s point of view . I know that the studies are showing that the stability of something like teaching is suddenly becoming very attractive in a situation where maybe there ’ s a little bit of uncertainty in the future .
I ’ m very sympathetic to the difficulties that remote learning has brought along to many teachers . I would be particularly sympathetic to those who have had a professional practice that ’ s been rock solid and refined over many years , and then suddenly there ’ s been this thing that ’ s made you completely change . I don ’ t know much different from this sort of disrupted learning . I ’ ve just rolled with it . And I work at a school where we ’ ve got a lot of young staff . So we have this collective optimism about us . But I am sympathetic to those for whom this has really been a thorn in their side . ■ educationreview . com . au | 9