Loading
Only 30 seconds into an interview with the Commonwealth Employment Service, he’d got the job as a science and maths teacher at Bell Park Secondary College in Geelong.
“I was young, I was ready. I was 22, [the students] were 18,” he says.
He would spend extra time supporting students outside of school, and has taught year levels seven to 12.
He was given a year 10 class that told Anawati they were “hopeless, absolutely hopeless”.
“They said to me, ‘Sir, you sit at the front there, get your newspaper, coffee, eat, drink, do what you like, leave us alone,’ ” he says.
But Anawati set a challenge for them: they learnt something the other classes didn’t, and when they were surprised they could, he had convinced them to engage. He has seen students with no English language skills become university lecturers.
“Lots of them became doctors, teachers, engineers. One of them is a professor of medicine at Melbourne University, another has his own IT company. Another is the head of Save the Children.”
Sandringham East Primary School principal Laureen Walton has also racked up 55 years in education.
“The only choice we had in the country was, you teach, you work in a bank or you’re a nurse. I decided to become a teacher,” the graduate of Ballarat Teachers’ College says.
Loading
Walton’s first job was at a remote school in Goroke, in Victoria’s Wimmera region, teaching grade 1 and 2.
Since then, she has seen huge shifts. When she started, classes were individual – with closed doors.
“Here at Sandy East, we have doors open everywhere, we have flexible learning environments,” she says. “That means teachers can talk to each other. There’s a lot more collaboration.”
A former prep student she taught 33 years ago, Jeremy Yelland, now has his child at her school.
“I remember the first week very well,” Yelland says. “I remember her being a very caring and welcoming prep teacher. I remember her being a very big part of the community.”
And what keeps Walton coming back? “Terror for punishment maybe?” she says with a laugh. “I love seeing the kids develop. I love seeing the kids learn. There’s always challenges, always things to keep you going. If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
Anawati agrees that his drive is the students. “It’s not the money that keeps me in, it’s the students,” he says.
How does he feel when his students excel? “I succeeded. I achieved. I’m successful. I’m useful.”
And there’s no thought of retirement. He says aches and pains dissipate at school.
“You get fulfilled because you are imparting your knowledge on to these students, they want to learn from you,” he says. “As soon as I step in the grounds in the school, I feel happier.”
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.