When Bega teacher Gabbie Stroud submitted an essay to the Griffith Review she could never have imagined what would come next.
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Despite wanting to help children on the “journey of learning”, she was burnt out. After 15 years of teaching, a heart-broken Ms Stroud resigned.
“I had reached a point where I would be able to get all my work done if the kids didn’t come to school,” she said. “That is just nuts and yet that is the reality of teaching right now.”
To mark the occasion, she grabbed an excerpt from her essay and posted it on Facebook. Before she knew it her post had gone viral.
Now a year later, Ms Stroud has been named a finalist in this year’s Walkley Awards.
Her essay, Teaching Australia, falls under the Feature Writing Short (under 4000 words) category and now she is standing alongside well-known journalists Ben Doherty and Julia Medew.
“I am still in disbelief. The two other articles I’m up against are brilliant, they both deserve to win.”
Teaching Australia has had more than 42,000 views and is one of the most read stories the Griffith Review has ever published.
“When I wrote it I was agonising over something and I thought ‘Oh Gabs, stop agonising hardly anyone’s going to read this anyway.’ That’s truly what I thought.”
But Ms Stroud’s essay struck a chord with the Australian public.
“A lot of people are feeling discontent with education. My essay started a conversation and empowered people to ask questions.
“Because if it’s not working we can make changes. We seem to feel like we’re locked into this and we can’t look sideways. But we bloody can. We can look sideways and up and down to make a system that works for us.”
When asked what Australia needs to do to fix the problem, Ms Stroud has three points.
“We need to stop making schools like businesses because schools aren’t like anything else. They are unique and very special places.”
Secondly, she says teaching is a science and an art meaning “we have to stop reducing teaching down to a standardised process”.
Lastly, she said “there is nothing standard about the journey of learning”.
“Trying to impose this standardised structure is never going to lead to happy and successful people.”
Walkley winners will be announced on December 2.
