Australia has some of the best educators in the world. In ABC Education's Class Acts series, we meet people doing inspiring work in schools around the country.
John Goh is Principal of Merrylands East Public School, NSW — a primary school in Sydney's outer western suburbs.
John Goh, Action man
As we're walking through the outside corridors of Merrylands East Public School (MEPS), John Goh draws my attention to the artwork on the exterior walls of the classroom block. He commissioned the work from a French artist who specialises in street and public art.
"I saw him down the street one day and I asked, 'Do you do work on schools?'" John convinced the artist to create his first school mural for Merrylands East.
The result is exterior walls with colourful geometric designs reminiscent of Sonia Delaunay.
While there's no doubt the artwork beautifies the otherwise utilitarian 1980s red brickwork, the artwork symbolises more about John Goh's personality and leadership.
You see, John is not only an ideas man, but he's also a man of putting ideas into action. I guess you could call him an "action man". He sees opportunities and acts on them.
Not the typical school day
Some years back, when getting his morning coffee at the local shops, John noticed there was a sea of blue MEPS shirts hanging around: some mingling, some helping parents shop. It was 7.30am.
"I thought, 'Hang on, these kids are all up and about, ready to go to school. Why is that?' And that's when I realised that in our community here at Merrylands, many families start work very early … or who also come from many different cultures where school starts very early."
And from that, John thought it would be much better for the students and families in his community if school started at 8am, instead of 9am, and finished at 1.15pm.
It probably seems a radical move to many, but after consultation with the community and authorities, Merrylands East was allowed to operate with these new school hours and has done so for the past five years.
The message is clear: the school thrives with these sorts of actions.
Learning does not start and stop at the school gates
John's rationale, and what seems to be at the heart of every decision he makes, is the welfare and learning of the students who come to his school.
For instance, once school finishes at 1.15pm, students can return home for lunch (which is often the case for many families in his community) or they can stay at school with one of the organised clubs, go to community-organised groups like Guides and Scouts or socialise outside of school with friends.
If students do choose to stay at school, they can have a $2 canteen lunch packed with fresh food, prepared by one of the parents at the school.
On the day I visit John, we feast — and I mean feast — on vegetable koftas, homemade hummus, fattoush and Lebanese bread made from scratch, all for $4. The packaging is 100 per cent biodegradable and the cutlery is made from cornstarch.
For John, this sort of connection to school community and understanding of its cultural needs is paramount to building great relationships and promoting the idea that learning is happening all the time and not just within the confines of the school grounds.
We inspect the chicken coop that has a very busy laying brood and a cocksure rooster, who have all come in handy to explain power dynamics and bullying to children.
We dodge the ducks wandering and nesting around the kitchen garden.
While there are a couple of withering passionfruit left on one of the vines, the next crops of zucchini, carrots and tomatoes are ready to be planted, which will then be tended to and harvested by the students.
And the stone fruit trees are lush and fulsome, labouring towards the months when they will produce their treasures.
It is evident that from this garden, like so many that are in schools across Australia, bigger things are growing than fresh produce — things much bigger than what John believes testing could ever reveal about a child's learning.
The first Chinese person born in Hornsby Hospital? The John Goh origin story
John, the son of Chinese immigrants, was born in Hornsby Hospital. "I still think I was the first Chinese person born in that hospital!"
Education was very important to his parents, and he attended the local primary school and Normanhurst Boys High School where, he explains, "I learned the four Rs of 'Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Rugby'."
He has mostly very fond memories of his school years at Normanhurst, where he notes he had some terrific teachers who no doubt inspired him later on.
John's initial aspiration to become a police officer was thwarted by simple genetics: he did not meet the height requirements for entry to the academy. Instead, he went on to study teaching at what was then the Macarthur Institute of Education, then Sydney Institute of Education (now part of the University of Sydney).
After graduation John was not able to find a casual teaching position in and around Hornsby. With gracious tenacity, he headed towards Sydney and started handing out his résumé to schools in the inner west.
He landed his first position at Newtown Public School and then at Stanmore Public School, where he not only learned a lot about teaching but also had a whole new world open up to him that was much more culturally diverse than the backyards of Hornsby.
Before arriving at Merrylands East as principal in 2006, John worked as a senior education officer for the Department of Education in NSW, servicing more than 200 schools and supporting them with resources for teaching English as a second language. Then, he took up assistant principal roles at two schools in the Mount Druitt area.
Reflecting on why he decided to pursue a leadership role, John says: "It's about helping your colleagues."
He relates this back to the language that's prevalent in the teaching standards that describe highly accomplished and leading teachers. He recognises that the best leaders help, assist, guide and support their colleagues, and he's thankful for that same assistance he received as a beginning teacher.
What would John like to see change in education?
John makes no bones about his views on NAPLAN. He stands by his personal views that the test is "such a narrow measure of our students' success".
He feels that the system, educators and community need to look at broader ways to identify what students can achieve and to celebrate learning beyond testing results or tertiary entrance ranks.
Quickfire Q&A with principal John Goh
I have spent a good hour or so chatting with John, and the clock is about to hit 1.15pm, when school will formally end for the day.
We still have a few minutes to spare, so John can be the very first participant in my Quick #QandA — my opportunity to ask some of our educators the most pressing, irreverent and earnest questions.
John Goh's love for the profession, his school and people in general is palpable.
There is no doubt he is one Class Act who we are lucky to have in front of young people every day.
Annabel Astbury is Head of Education at the ABC.
First posted 19 Feb 2019, reposted 18 Apr 2023