Congratulations to the State Finalists in this year's Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards.
We hope you enjoy reading about each of the finalists, and their outstanding contribution to student learning and wellbeing, collaboration, and commitment to continuous professional learning and training, in their schools.
Thank you to the school leaders who made time to recognise the work of their teacher aides by submitting a nomination.
State Finalist
Elizabeth Musitano
Lanyon High School, ACT
Nominated by: Amanda Pickering, Sascha Zsigmond and Lara Croucher
Lisa Musitano, a Learning Support Assistant at Lanyon High School, is the Australian Capital Territory Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards.
For the past 15 years, Lisa's role in the Learning Support Unit (LSU) and Inclusion Support Program (ISP) has centred around supporting students with disability to achieve their best in all academic settings. Lanyon High School teachers of disability, Sascha Zsigmond, Amanda Pickering and Lara Croucher, said that Lisa works in partnership with classroom teachers to deliver academic programs to students with disabilities, and her gift of encouragement and vision for students’ futures has enabled them to overcome adversity and go on to teach and inspire new generations of students.
Lisa’s nomination highlights her expertise working with students with complex learning needs. She collaborates with teachers to provide targeted support to students in classroom settings, as well as running dedicated small group and one-to-one tutoring and support sessions to students with low literacy skills. As a result, one student that Lisa supported has since gone on to become a qualified teacher.
Lisa also researched, developed, and implemented an academic program to engage a year 7 student who was achieving at a significantly lower academic level to what staff at the school had experience in supporting. Through her support, guidance, and unwavering determination, the student became verbal and demonstrated a passion for mathematics that far exceeded expectations.
Lisa maintains a high level of professionalism and passion when engaging with colleagues. During the establishment of the LSU in 2017, Lisa worked collaboratively with the new LSU teacher to establish the academic programs, and played an instrumental role in transitioning students into the LSU from mainstream class settings.
Lisa is passionate about remaining up to date with the latest strategies and tools to benefit her students. In addition to completing her Certificate IV in Education Support, Lisa participates in yearly professional development. Lisa developed skills in Google Classroom and Google Meets to deliver daily content to students learning from home during lock-down. This resulted in continued contact with the school and a smooth transition back to the on-site environment.
State Finalist
Ricky Lam
Greystanes High School, NSW
Nominated by: Hayley Matas - Head Teacher, Learning Support - Literacy & Numeracy
Ricky Lam, a Student Learning Support Officer at Greystanes High School, is the New South Wales Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards.
Hayley Matas, Head Teacher of Learning Support at Greystanes High School, said that Ricky is passionate about his role supporting students with complex needs. Ricky works closely with teachers to differentiate assessments, monitor student progress, manage standardised testing, and maintain learning observations for parent meetings and external referrals.
Ricky’s nomination highlights his outstanding commitment to supporting a diverse range of students. He has worked closely with international students who were displaced during the COVID pandemic, and his ability to speak fluent Mandarin has not only supported the students, but also their families. Ricky is often called upon by Senior Executive to transcribe sensitive information, and regularly attends meetings with parents and government agencies.
Ricky works closely with the school’s numeracy and literacy team to extend student potential by co-planning lessons and creating rich tasks. He was also pivotal in supporting students in the school’s numeracy withdrawal program. As a result, 75% of Year 9 students exceeded expected growth in numeracy, in 2019.
Ricky champions the mantra of the Learning Support Faculty that all students can learn and will benefit from a ‘scaffolded up’ rather than ‘dumbing it down’ approach. He works collaboratively with teams to review tasks, navigate changes to standardised testing, analyse data, and plot student performance. Consequently, his work has helped ensure that student data is rich and reliable.
Ricky is a lifelong learner and committed to continous improvement through professional development and training. He has completed a course on Teaching Students From A Refugee background. Through his studies, he gained an insight into the complex trauma faced by many students, as well as key literacy and numeracy strategies to best support them. Ricky also completed the Billingual SLSO Professional Learning course which drew upon his capacity to speak and write in Mandarin. As a result, Ricky now supports all EALD assessments at the school.
State Finalist
Jacqueline Boumford
Cleveland District State High School, QLD
Nominated by: Karen Abraham, Deputy Principal
Jacqueline Boumford, a Teacher Aide at Cleveland District State High School, is the Queensland Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards.
Karen Abraham, Deputy Principal at Cleveland District State High School, said that Jacqueline supports Year 12 “at risk” students to reach their potential and achieve a Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE). Since taking on the role in 2018, Jacquie has personally assisted over 700 Year 12 students to graduate with a QCE. Without Jacquie’s dedication and support, many of the school’s Year 12 students would not have graduated.
Jacquie’s nomination highlights her ability to understand that students are individuals, and tailors her approach to meet their needs and wellbeing. She monitors the academic progress of students across the lower level English and Maths classes in Year 12, and provides in-class support as well as group and individual tutoring sessions to improve outcomes for these students. This year, Jacquie supports 168 Essential English and 157 Essential Maths students. All of these students are currently on track to meet the Literacy and Numeracy requirements of the QCE thanks to Jacquie’s organisation, patience, and commitment to her students. Jacquie also manages the practical modules for some vocational certificates, and works with vocational students to catch up on work that they have missed.
Jacquie is a valued member of the school and wider school community, and an integral member of the Senior Student Engagement Team. She attends all meetings and actively contributes to the School’s Annual Improvement Goals, in particular, introducing the new QCE into the Senior School and improving the literacy of students.
She plays a leading role in monitoring the “at risk” Year 12 students, particularly in English, Maths, and many applied subjects. She liaises with teaching staff to identify areas of need, and has the ability to connect with students to build rapport and student confidence.
Jacquie has been involved in QCE specific professional development so that she can better understand how this qualification is awarded. With this understanding, she can work with others in the team to track student progress towards the QCE. She is currently mentoring the Year 11 Teacher Aide, and providing advice to the Numeracy Liaison Teacher and Numeracy Teacher Aide on academic monitoring and how to organise their time, timetable targeted intervention and think flexibly around ways to engage “at risk” students in a more meaningful way than current practices allow in the Junior School.
State Finalist
Angela Beltakis
Mil Lel Primary School, SA
Nominated by: Ben Savage, Teacher
Angela Beltakis, a School Support Officer at Mil Lel Primary School, is the South Australian Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards
Ben Savage, a teacher at Mil Lel Primary School, said that Angela is held in very high regard by the children, school staff, and parents of the school. She works with students from Foundation to Year 7, and supports students with disabilities to access the curriculum, and provides reading and numeracy support.
Angela's nomination highlights the positive impact she has on the learning and wellbeing of students. She has been critical in helping children make great learning progress in the Minilit and Quicksmart intervention programs, has been instrumental in helping a Year 7 student with complex needs transition smoothly to high school, and successfully helped children who require significant speech and language intervention. Angela also spent a lot of time working with a year one student with unintelligible speech, and within a few months the student’s speech had dramatically increased, and was easily understood by everyone at school.
Collaboration with others is one of Angela’s strengths. She seeks opportunities to meet with new teachers when beginning work with them, to discuss their expectations, and easily adapts to working with a range of teachers. Angela also had a large role in implementing the Minilit and Quicksmart intervention programs. Angela has successfully trained many other SSOs from the school in how to run the programs, and a significant number of other schools have sent teachers to speak with Angela about the programs and to watch her running them. They have all been impressed with how she operates, and many of those schools have since introduced the programs.
Angela is always keen to develop her skills and enthusiastically attends professional development sessions. She applies the professional learning in her practice, to increase student learning and growth.
State Finalist
Tonia Kaine
Punchbowl Primary School, TAS
Nominated by: Lauren Shephard, Teacher
Tonia Kaine, a Teacher Aide at Punchbowl Primary School, is the Tasmanian Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards
Lauren Shephard, a teacher at Punchbowl Primary School, said that Tonia works mostly with upper primary students who have disabilities. She has a special gift of making her students feel supported, and builds strong relationships with them. She goes above and beyond, to give students the best possible chance for success, and is constantly looking ahead to where the students need to progress to. Ms Shephard said that Tonia is supportive and understanding, and has the expertise and initiative to step in whenever she sees a student needing extra support.
Tonia’s nomination highlights her excellent work supporting the social, emotional, and academic needs of students. She currently works primarily across two classrooms with students with high needs. Tonia is able to communicate with students to find out about their interests and strengths. She identified that a new student with very little English loves art, and so she set up an art activity. Lauren explained that this makes students feel worthy and ‘seen’, and sets a strong foundation for helping them to learn. Tonia also works with a student with autism, who has very specific interests. Tonia is able to adapt her teaching to suit his learning style, and to incorporate his interests.
Tonia is valued by fellow staff members, students and the wider community for her teaching skills, empathy, and positive impact on students. She has a special interest in helping students transition to high school and works closely with students, primary school teachers and with local high schools to ensure that the transition is smooth for all parties involved. She also accompanies students on extra transition visits and has a deep understanding of what may pose a potential roadblock for each student.
Tonia is always willing to improve and update her skills. She has participated in professional learning on Zones of Regulation, and after attending this professional learning, she updated her PDP plan to include a focus on zones of regulation and emotional responses. Tonia also uses additional technologies to help support students' learning, such as teaching a student to record his ideas using voice to text functions.
State Finalist
Julie Buick
Kolbe Catholic College, VIC
Nominated by: Jane Wenlock, Co-ordinator - Learning Support
Julie Buick, an Education Support Officer at Kolbe Catholic College, is the Victorian Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards
Jane Wenlock, the Co-ordinator of Learning Support at Kolbe Catholic College, said that Julie is a valuable member of their team, who works with some of their most vulnerable students. She has a true love of assisting those students who find learning very difficult. She also has an administration role organising timetables and working on NCCD information.
Julie's nomination highlights her ability to assist students with exceptional needs. She supports students with intellectual disability, ensuring that they have completed the set tasks, and understood the concepts that are being explored. She works with teachers to differentiate learning, so students have a curriculum that meets their academic and social needs. Julie also has excellent rapport with all students in the classroom, and ensures that their work is completed to the highest possible standard. Julie discusses with students how they are role models for other students in the class and how they can be the best possible version of themselves. These discussions often produce a change of attitude, and students often become more confident and positive about their learning, as well as their attitude to school.
As part of her role at the College, Julie is the assistant to the Learning Support Co Ordinator. She has an excellent rapport with all staff, and collaborates with her colleagues to ensure that programmes are differentiated for students, and that all paperwork is up to date for the collection of data for NCCD. When other LSOs were struggling with their notes and the amount of administration work to do, Julie set up a template for others to use which has proven to be very successful in cutting down the amount of time spent on administration work. Julie adjusts daily timetables, and works with her colleagues to ensure that the needs of the students are matched to the availability of staff. Julie also mentors new LSOs and assists in inducting them in College processes. This is an invaluable part of her role as staff feel welcomed and informed, making their work place a positive experience.
Julie has engaged in a variety of professional learning to develop her knowledge and skills. She has completed many of the modules through ATA and facilitated discussions with other staff on what she has learnt. Currently, Julie is also doing further self-development and training through a counselling course.
State Finalist
Christie D'Lima
St John Bosco College, WA
Nominated by: James Elder, Secondary Teacher
Christie D’Lima, a Secondary Education Assistant at St John Bosco College, is the West Australian Finalist in the Australian Teacher of the Year Awards
James Elder, a secondary teacher at St John Bosco College, said that Christie has always shown an extremely high dedication to her work, and is valued by the students, staff and the wider school community. Her official role is a Secondary Education Assistant; however, she has taken on a much broader role within the team and regularly takes on tasks to support both staff and students. Her dedication to the school community has made her the person who many students turn to for help with both schoolwork and advice on how to deal with social problems.
Christie’s nomination highlights her ability to encourage students to apply themselves to tasks, and to assist students from challenging backgrounds. She is able to build friendly and trusting rapport with students, and turns tasks into exciting challenges. Christie encourages students to become more interested in their work, which has helped to improve their academic learning and wellbeing. Christie also supports students with learning disabilities, and is able to ensure that conflicts are well managed, with positive outcomes for the student.
Christie works collaboratively with students and colleagues for the good of the college community. This extends to providing extra support and encouragement to staff and students during a staff shortage, due to illness, and enabling a student to participate in a history competition, despite their difficulty with reading. Christie collaborated with colleagues, in order to provide the student with reasonable adjustment, thereby allowing their academic ability to be demonstrated.
Christie participates in professional development and training to build on her ability to help students. She also provides support to other staff members, and debriefs staff to ensure all members of the team have the confidence to apply their professional learning in school situations.
