Conversation: No platitudes – ‘all our teaching has to be real’

Sydney
23 June 2002

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Conversation: No platitudes – ‘all our teaching has to be real’ - Sybil Dickens, school principal

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Conversation: No platitudes – ‘all our teaching has to be real’ - Sybil Dickens, school principal

Fred Malone of the Gandangara Land Council at Liverpool and Sacred Heart principal Sybil Dickens. Mr Malone will be participating in the Sacred Heart school open day on June 28

By Chris Lindsay

“There is no place for platitudes or motherhood statements here,” says Sybil Dickens, principal of Sacred Heart Primary School, Cabramatta.

“Our commitment to Gospel values and mission statements has to be seen from what we do, not from what we say.

“All things that are part and parcel of teaching in Catholic schools have to be real.

“Because of the language problems with the parents of our children (95 per cent of the students come from a south-east Asian or southern Asian background), we cannot just say we treat people with respect and dignity.

“They have to see that is the case from what we do.

“I am not saying we are different to other schools.

“It is just that we serve a community that doesn’t speak English and we are called on to get past that barrier and let people know that we do value them and respect them because they are part of God’s creation as we are.

“Every other Catholic school is doing the best it can in its community, and we are doing the same.”

Most of the Asian students at Sacred Heart come from homes where English is not the language of communication between parents and children.

Their parents are from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China, Malaysia and Burma. There are also students of Polish, Italian and Indian background and, of course, some who are dinky-di locals.

“The English of a lot of these students is limited, so the calibre and commitment of the teachers is very important,” Mrs Dickens says.

“As soon as these students are enrolled they are put through an intensive language development program, which is also woven into the full education process, including art, music and human society.”

Mrs Dickens knows about conflicting cultures.

Before coming to Australia in 1986 with her husband and two daughters, she was head of the English Department at the Bechet Teacher Training College in Durban, South Africa.

She was also heavily involved in the Catholic Church as chairman of the St Emmanuel Cathedral Parish Council in Durban.

What drove her and her family out of South Africa was the apartheid political system.

“It was at its worst in 1986,” she says.

“The political situation was untenable and I left because of the safety of my family.”

Mrs Dickens is reluctant to talk at length about what happened, saying it would take two days.

“Let’s just say I had many conversations with my students over the whole struggle, and leave it at that,” she says.

The family discovered on arrival that the exchange rate was such that they had lost heavily. Mrs Dickens and her husband, a vehicle body builder, had to find work as soon as possible.

“I knew I couldn’t come here and expect to pick up at the level I was at in South Africa,” she says.

“I would have to start again at the bottom.

“So I looked in the paper and there was a job going as a teacher of English as a Second Language at St Mel’s College at Campsie.

“I applied and got it.

“It has a high migrant density among the students, mostly Lebanese.”

She has now been principal at Sacred Heart for six years.

“This is an amazing place to work,” she says.

“We have the opportunity to be of service to the children in our care and the parent community.

“The ministry of service here is quite humbling and rewarding.

“It is a privilege to be able to see the work you do making a difference in people’s lives.

“Sacred Heart is also a celebratory place, a fun place. The children quickly learn that schooling is fun.

“We celebrate our cultural diversity, we celebrate the children’s uniqueness, their achievements, the parent’s commitment to their children’s education.

“We are a praying community also, very much so.

“We have community prayers every Thursday in the hall, where we often pray for events or things that happen in the world.”

Cabramatta, of course, is labelled by the media as the drug and violence centre of Sydney.

“It is a pity the wonderful work of the Cabramatta community is not recognised,” Mrs Dickens says, “the charity and kindness, the treating of people with dignity and respect.

“The media only sees the negative things.”