The Australian Teacher Aide of the Year awards provide schools with a unique opportunity to recognise the positive impact of paraprofessional educators in schools, and the significant difference they make to student learning and wellbeing, teachers, and the school community.
In September, Aiden Sing, an assistant teacher at Belyuen School in the Northern Territory, was names the 2021 Australian Teacher Aide of the Year. Aiden was one of eight outstanding finalists competing for this year’s coveted title.
Last year, Aiden returned to his home community in the Northern Territory, as a young man wanting to make a difference to the lives of the children in the community. Principal at Belyuen School, Elspeth Hurse, described Aiden as an outstanding educator and inspirational role model, whose work is making a real difference to the education and wellbeing of Aboriginal Australians.
In 2021 we also introduced the Australian Teacher Aide Team of the Year award which was won by the outstanding team of Bilingual Student Support Officers at the Centre of Deaf Education, Avenues College in South Australia.
Chelsea Sawley, Tahlia Riessen, Tracy Papanotis, and Roy Visser were recognised for collaboratively facilitating the inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing students across all subject areas.
We are in the process of interviewing the State finalists, and recently met with the Queensland State finalist, Jacqueline Boumford, who is a teacher aide at Cleveland District State High School. (Pictured)
Jacqueline supports Year 12 at risk students to 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.
We are currently producing some short video clips that will illustrate the many ways teacher aides support student learning and wellbeing, across Australia.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy reading about the achievements of the winners, finalists and highly commended nominations on our website.