Journalist Jane Caro gets intimate view of teachers at work in new Compass series

DISTINGUISHED author and journalist Jane Caro has warned the ongoing demands on teachers is burning them and ultimately students will suffer.

Journalist Jane Caro at Canley Vale High School. The school is included in a Compass documentary The Staffroom.

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DISTINGUISHED author and journalist Jane Caro has warned the ongoing demands on teachers is burning them and ultimately students will suffer.

Ms Caro had unprecedented access at three Sydney high schools — including Canley Vale High School and Mary McKillop Catholic School, at Wakeley — to put together a three-part documentary The Staffroom.

It will be screened on ABC’s Compass and ABC iview over three weeks, starting on Saturday.

In the series, Ms Caro links with two teachers from each school, and cameras capture their working day and also at home.

She concluded the popular perception of educators working 9 to 3 and enjoying 12 weeks school holidays was a fallacy.

“We are asking teachers to do more and more,” Ms Caro told the Fairfield Advance she had concluded at the end of the documentary.

“They are being robbed of their sleep, leisure and creative downtime ... they are just managing but they can’t keep doing it forever.

Journalist Jane Caro with Canley Vale High School teachers Helen Arfanis and Ken Swinfield.

“Teachers show resilience but, like elastic, if you stretch it too often it will lose it bounce.”

During the two months of filming at the schools, Ms Caro sought to explore what drives the teachers, what defeats them and what inspires them.

She admitted she herself was particularly inspired by Canley Vale High School’s Ken Swinfield.

“It was interesting talking to Ken,” Ms Caro said.

“He’s been a teacher for 43 years, he retired but only lasted a few months because he said he wasn’t doing ‘anything that matters’. He felt like he had to make a difference, so returned to teaching.

“It was my wow! moment. Ken’s still teaching at 71, 72.”

Ms Caro also highlighted Rachael Bakhos, a fourth-year teacher at Mary MacKillop Catholic College.

“It’s a huge thing as a young teacher to be a leader of young girls. Every morning it’s a large intake of breath and gulp.

“Our job has ethical and moral obligations, but teachers also have a duty of care.”

THE STAFFROOM

● Three-part Compass series over three weeks, starts this Saturday, 6pm, ABC and ABC iview

● Teachers from Canley Vale and Corcord high schools and Mary MacKillop Catholic College (Wakeley) gave journalist Jane Caro “unfettered” access to their classrooms and staffrooms to see what makes them tick