HUNTER School of the Performing Arts principal Jo Gray has been named as one of Australia's most outstanding educators, picking up a National Excellence in Teaching Award (NEiTA).
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Ms Gray is one of only two NSW educators to receive the award this year.
"It is wonderful to be recognised and more importantly it is great that our profession is recognised," Ms Gray said.
"I think that 2020 has really brought home to people an appreciation of teachers and schools and the work that they do. I am well aware that teachers all over the country have made award worthy contributions."
Ms Gray said COVID-19 had presented challenges for every school.
"It has given us all an opportunity to re-imagine and re-shape what we do in so many ways," she said. "We really did have to exhibit those qualities of optimism, creativity, resilience, innovation and so on that we try and develop in our students."
Ms Gray said HSPA already had sophisticated technology and staff had considerable expertise to move to online learning and make it engaging and interactive.
She said students followed their normal timetable, attended online weekly assemblies and had daily face-to-face interaction with teachers and classmates.
"The main lesson learned for me as an educator is how important so-called soft-skills are for us to cope with unexpected changes," she said.
"This is not to say that we weren't challenged - some people more than others - but the creativity, resilience and so on demanded in the performing arts certainly helped.
"Remember that the arts are part of all schools and it is my contention that they should enjoy a status equal to every other discipline. If we didn't already know it, the lockdown period showed how important our friends are - learning and playing are more effective and more fun when we have direct human contact."
Ms Gray said the separation of science, technology, engineering and maths from the arts and humanities was "not only arbitrary but also a myth, if you consider that technological and engineering boundaries are pushed as much, if not more, by music, animations, film and cinema".
"The sound engineering, the lighting technology, the animations, visual and sound effects, the camera work, streaming and so on is STEM in action - relevant and real to students who see the value of the STEM that are their tools for imagination, creativity and performance."
She said music notation had inherent logic and syntax like computer code.
Helen Gregory
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
Helen Gregory joined the Newcastle Herald in 2010. She is the masthead’s education reporter and has written for the H2 and Weekender sections, as well as across a range of issues. Helen is a Walkley Award winning journalist and was also part of the Newcastle Herald team that won the United Nations World Environment Day Media Award for Environmental Reporting.
