From auxiliary to professional: how changing one word could help our kids
If the SA Department for Education is sincere about supporting students and staff, then formally recognising its non-teaching employees as professionals rather than auxiliary is a good place to start, argues Suzanne Verrall.
It was the early 1990s and I was spending the weekend in Birdwood for the Medieval Fair. As always, the Folk Federation of South Australia had gone all out with jugglers and minstrels, horse rides and archery demonstrations. The flags were flying, the streamers streaming, and the lush green grounds of the Birdwood Mill were fringed with the striking reds and yellows of autumn leaves.
Crowds, many in medieval costume, flocked to the Adelaide Hills to immerse themselves in the fun, buying handicrafts and jewellery, watching the blacksmiths, consulting with tarot readers, trying their hand at throwing horseshoes. The sword-wielding knights and ladies of the Society for Creative Anachronism were in fine form, and the calligraphy was written-to-order.
Amongst the bustle and shifting throngs of punters, one stall stood quiet and forlorn. On closer inspection I saw it offered a single product only: medieval teddy bears. The bears were about 15cm long, with jointed limbs and appealing faces. They came in a variety of classic teddy bear shades of tan and brown.
Whilst no doubt directly out of a shipping container from China, they were jaunty and appealing. And, for the Fair, each sported their own hand-stitched medieval felt collar reminiscent of the petals of a flower in a child’s drawing. They were colourful and cute and eminently affordable. Perfect, one would have thought, for the huge number of families soaking up the atmosphere. Yet they were decidedly unpopular. “Medieval teddy bears,” I heard one father scoff. “No such thing.”
The South Australian Department for Education, as part of its formal strategy for the provision and improvement of public education in this state, pledges:
"Greater recognition and understanding of the role non-teaching staff provide in supporting learners, preschools and schools."
Despite this assertion, the department advertises non-teaching roles as “ancillary and support” positions on its Edujobs website.
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By definition, “ancillary” is “supplementary, subsidiary or subordinate,” that is, lower in rank or position to the primary operators in an organisation or system. Peasants, as it were, serving the noble class of teachers.
Listed under this sweeping category called ancillary positions is an eye-watering variety of roles: administration officer, ATSI officer, business manager, careers councillor, case manager, classroom support (specialised primary/middle school/senior), communications manager, community library assistant, curriculum support officer, grounds person, laboratory manager, operations manager, social worker, special education officer, WHS coordinator, youth worker.
The list goes on. These roles are highly technical and specialised. They require, and indeed are filled by, educated, experienced professionals.
The power of a word
On the final day of the Medieval Fair I was surprised to see a crowd gathered around the teddy bear stall. Thinking the stallholders had admitted defeat, packed up and gone home, I made my way through the swarm to see what attraction had taken their place.
With a surprise, I realised it was the same stall, the same sellers, the same product. But today they were doing a roaring trade, shifting those teddy bears hand over fist. Parents, grandparents and carers couldn’t get enough of them. Kids were squealing in delight.
What was going on?
Overnight, the stallholders had rebranded. New signs for a new image. No more medieval teddy bears. Today it was Jester Bears for sale.
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Leaving aside comments about the world of advertising and its shenanigans, here I was witness to the almost mystical power that a single well-placed word has to bring about change. Change in fortune, change in attitudes, change in understanding.
By defining its non-teaching staff as ancillary, the SA Department for Education is creating a second- or lower-class of workers. It is privileging the position of teaching staff over other staff and thereby undermining its own assurance that it will recognise the value of the many and varied roles provided in our schools that:
"nurture, develop and empower all South Australian children and young people with the knowledge, skills and capabilities they need to become fulfilled individuals, active, compassionate citizens and lifelong learners."
This double-tiered class structure embedded in the education system ensures it remains at its core, whether we care to acknowledge it or not, teacher-centric.
Seventy, sixty, even fifty years ago it may have been appropriate to identify the teacher as the most important person in the classroom. And while a 50-year-old attitude is not medieval, in today’s world – of globalisation, technology, equal opportunity, neurodiversity, flexible employment options – it is archaic, particularly in an education setting.
Today’s learning spaces are student-centric, focusing on nurturing a vastly diverse cohort of self-aware, critical thinkers. Yet the outdated thinking persists and it informs outdated behaviour, with non-teaching staff collectively referred to – by teachers, within schools, daily – as SSOs (student support officers), in blatant disregard of their various specialisations and actual job titles.
The University of Adelaide’s online careers page divides its employment opportunities into two categories: Academic and Professional. Similarly, UniSA vacancies are advertised as Academic and Research, and Professional.
This is a lead worth following. The power of a word. The shift in awareness.
A positive cultural shift
The medieval teddy bears were a dud at the Medieval Fair because they were presented under a banner of bandwagon-joining advertising schtick. People saw through it and were unimpressed. But those same people had no argument with the more accurate designation of Jester Bears, and the product sold out.
If the SA Department for Education is sincere in its promise to strengthen its support of the needs of its learners, its communities and its workforce, then formally recognising its non-teaching employees as professional rather than auxiliary is a good place to start.
Less easy will be the effort required to communicate the change. Yet robust, meaningful, widespread conversation must take place around the reasons for replacing the word auxiliary with the word professional.
We all need to be active participants, active changemakers, if we are to achieve a positive cultural shift. It is a shift worth achieving, because it is a shift that recognises that all employees of the SA Department for Education, whether teaching staff or not, are contributing genuinely and profoundly to the education of the next generation of South Australians.
Suzanne Verrall has a doctorate in English Language & Literature from the University of Adelaide and is the author of One Day I Will Go There (Vagabond Press, 2022).
