Australia’s Best Teachers: Bill Rolfe has taught pop stars and sitting MP’s

Bill Rolfe has taught pop stars and sitting MPs but he’s more interested in speaking about the kids who are slipping through the gaps.

He’s taught the likes of Australian pop superstar Jessica Mauboy and several sitting NT ministers, and with three decades of teaching experience to his credit, Bill Rolfe of Sanderson Middle School in Malak in the NT has plenty to say about why some kids are slipping through the education cracks while others succeed.

“The reality is, even with NAPLAN, after all these years, nothing has changed. In fact, it’s getting worse and there are kids who are getting through the system who can’t read,” said Mr Rolfe.

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“We are not teaching kids how they want to learn, we’re stuck with the same old practices … and the second biggest issue is we need more resources to meet the needs of these kids.”

To try and meet the demand of students at various stages of learning, Sanderson Middle School is challenging the status quo by implementing a vertical timetable, which effectively means that a progressive student can go into an older year classroom for any particular subject, and vice versa.

Teacher Bill Rolfe was singer Jessica Mauboy’s humanities and business teacher from 2002-2006 at Sanderson High School, Malak, Darwin. Keri Megelus

“Getting to know the students and what their interests are is incredibly important, and I would say, let them play. Games are one of the best ways to engage with the students. I taught a group of kids to juggle, and one girl said to me, ‘It took me a whole year to learn how to do that’ and for the rest of her life she will remember that.

“She’s not going remember the everyday things she was doing during class, but she will remember that she learnt to juggle that particular school year and it boosted her confidence.”

While the curriculum is of course important in the progression of a student’s academic future, Mr Rolfe said it needs to be expanded to include subjects like personal health and the realities of life outside of school to give youth the best chance of success outside of the school corridors.

“They come to school to learn, but we need to teach them how to think for themselves. We teach them to get through a particular task to get through the day in the classroom … but there’s no time for them to actually think.”

Originally published as Australia’s Best Teachers: Bill Rolfe has taught pop stars and sitting MP’s