Plenty left on retiring Avonside principal's to-do list

KIRK HARGREAVES/ The Press

MOVING ON: Retiring principal Theresa Shaughnessy ponders her future beside Avonside Girls' High School's coat of arms. The Latin words, in English, mean "seek the highest''.

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Theresa Shaughnessy is not sure how she will cope not being at school to greet students next year.

"It will be interesting," she says, sitting in her office at the school contemplating which shelf to pack first.

She plans to have lunch on the first day of school with another long-time staff member who is also retiring.

Shaughnessy has been principal at Avonside Girls' High School since 1996 and was deputy principal at the school for seven years before that.

During that time the school's roll has grown from about 900 to about 1250.

The 57-year-old says she decided to retire while she was still young enough to do other things.

"There's still lots more to do but I didn't want to leave when people felt I should leave. I wanted to leave when I was still enthusiastic and interested in the job and keen to do things."

She acknowledges that taking that view has made it harder for her to leave.

"I just felt it was long enough. It's time for a change for me and the school."

Being a principal is a huge job and a big commitment, and takes its toll, she says.

When asked how many hours she would have worked during an average week she says she never really counted, but it certainly was more than 60.

Shaughnessy is not sure how she will fill her days, but says she and husband Warwick Armstrong might travel. She is also keen to further her interest in art by doing university-level papers in art history.

"It's the most wonderful thing to have no plans at all."

Shaughnessy, a teacher of English, French and Japanese, started teaching in 1974 and has taught in only three schools – the others being Timaru Girls' High School and Papanui High School. She stayed in the same schools for long periods because her roles and responsibilities changed, she says, and she stayed in education because of the people.

"You can't help but be positive and optimistic about life when you work with young people who just have so much promise, excitement and ability."

There have been many changes in education in the last decade, but that is nothing new, Shaughnessy says. The industry constantly evolves.

She is a passionate believer in state education and believes New Zealand's state-funded system is a good one, especially when ranked alongside others internationally.

She is also an advocate of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), which she believes is better than the old system that was designed to ensure 50 per cent of students failed.

Getting NCEA embedded into everyday school life had meant a lot of work but now it is entrenched teachers are able to focus on teaching, she says.

There is a concern about the growing expectations from society that schools should be responsible not only for educating students but also for their welfare.

Teachers and schools have to do a lot of social work as well as educate but schools are not provided with enough money to do both, she says.

Parental expectations of schools is also growing. They expect schools to have rules and enforce them, but not when it comes to their children, she says.

Sue Hume, Burnside High School's deputy principal, will replace Shaughnessy as Avonside Girls' High School principal.

- © Fairfax NZ News