Rob notches up 25 yrs

Woombye principal Rob Edmonds

WOOMBYE State Primary School principal Rob Edmonds has been recognised for his long term service to education in Queensland with the presentation of a certificate for 25 years meritorious service.

Rob has been teaching for 32 years, the last five at the helm of Woombye State School.

"Woombye is a great school," he said. "My goal as a teacher was to be the principal of a Woombye sized school, a school where you know the children, parents and staff on a personal basis."

Woombye school motto is "Achievement with Friendship" and Rob said that was exactly what the school was all about.

"I'm proud of this school," he said. "I have a firm belief in our school motto, and I think it is what we are living here."

Rob began his teaching career in Melbourne, and has taught up and down the East Coast of Queensland and as far west as Murgon.

He said he had seen dramatic changes in the classroom during his time as a teacher.

"The biggest change I have seen is the integration of technology and computers into the school curriculum," he said. "Today all children must be computer literate, it is not an option anymore. It doesn't matter what career path they choose, be it a profession or a trade, computer literacy is absolutely necessary."

Rob said the use of computers in education had accelerated during the past five years.

"Computers have been in the classroom for around 15 years, and we have seen a rapid development in this field since the early 1990s," he said.

"Some people have criticised the move towards computers, but I believe that the benefits outweigh any problems, especially when you look at the role computers play in modern society."

Rob said changes within the family had also been noticed in the classroom. "There's no such thing as normal anymore," he said. "Once it was mum, dad, and the kids. Dad worked and mum stayed at home with the kids. Today there are so many variations. We have single parents, working parents - things have really changed."

Rob said the changes within society had led to a greater diversity of values and beliefs in the school yard.

"For some children, there is not a common set of values between school and home," he said. "And in some cases that has caused children to become confused, and occasionally has led to behavioural problems."

According to Rob, children today are far more confident than they were when he began teaching in the 1960s.

"Children today are far more knowledgeable, and in modern education we encourage children to question," he said. "Maybe it has something to do with what children have learnt from television and technology, but children definitely do have more to say in the 90s than they did in the 60s."

Rob said these changes had created a different environment for teachers. "For starters, we don't have our desks nailed to the floor, and we don't sit boy, girl either," he said. "We've become more flexible and teachers have adapted to cater for special needs and abilities.

"It is more difficult, but at the same time it is certainly more satisfying."