ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A popular early childhood teacher at East Betoota Primary School can almost feel the sem sauv blanc run down her throat this afternoon as she counts the hours down until she’s on school holidays.
Dahlia Weilson, 24, is just about half way through her first full year as a full-time teacher and agrees that there’s nothing else she’d rather be doing with her life – but in saying that, she’s thankful for the holiday time.
“I love my class, they’re such darlings but Jesus fucking Christ, I need a break once in a while,” she said.
“The incessant nagging and all the tiny voices asking: ‘Ms Weilson, Ms Weilson’. It can get too much by 3pm. If I was older and sufficiently more jaded, I’d be keeping the whole Diamantina wine region afloat. But yeah, only a couple more hours to go.”
“It’s not like I’ve got anything planned for the holidays, though. I’ve just done reports and I’m running on an oily rag. I reckon the first week I’ll just lie around in my Qantas pyjamas drinking wine and eating Thai. Literally heaven to me right now.”
Teachers are often the target of unfounded criticism from other professionals, who say they have great hours and 12 weeks holiday a year.
But Ms Weilson has thrown the gauntlet down to anyone who thinks they can manage a heard of 5-year-olds while trying to teach them a bit about reading and writing.
“Just try it, for one day, just try it. Then tell me I don’t deserve the holidays I get.”
More to come.
‘…anyone who thinks they can manage a heard of 5-year-olds..’
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