By Jamie O’Brien and Rachel Curry
“He jumped up and said to the class, ‘Mrs O really does care you know, she is crying for me, she wants me to succeed.”
The road to becoming a principal hasn’t been straightforward for Carmel O’Shaughnessy.
The founding principal of St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary School in Hocking, Mrs O’Shaughnessy experienced learning difficulties as a student and later pursued a career as a nurse.
It was a personal matter that called her to the vocation, she told The Record Magazine, after she witnessed the struggles of a child who was getting little support from the system.
“I decided that it couldn’t be that hard to go to university and undertake the Bachelor of Education to give this young person the best possible outcomes for his future,” she said.
“However, it didn’t take me very long to realise that I was never ‘a real teacher’ for someone so close to me. This young person went on to have two very successful careers. For me, I was successful in applying for a teaching position in Catholic Education and the rest is history.”
Growing up in a family of seven children in the State’s mid-west, Mrs O’Shaughnessy’s caring nature was clear from a young age.
In fact, the reason she became a nurse was because she felt sorry for the chickens which had to have their heads cut off for dinner.
“I thought that if I was a nurse I would be able to look after them,” she recalled.
Her father worked for the Western Australian Government Railroads, while her mother – a devout Catholic – balanced looking after her large family with supporting the local parish and Dominican Convent.
The children were also called upon to contribute, Mrs O’Shaughnessy said, and she spent many hours helping in the convent vegetable garden or cleaning the church on Saturdays with her siblings.
She looks back on her primary school days at St Paul’s Catholic School in Three Springs fondly, but said learning itself didn’t come naturally to her.
“Unfortunately, I found learning very difficult and vividly remember struggling with reading. I learnt very quickly the power of coping mechanisms,” she said.
“We always read in a round-robin style so I positioned myself as the number four child and listened intently so I could recall verbatim what had been read. I managed to get away with it for some time. I often tell my students that almost anything is possible if you work hard.”
Her secondary school experience boarding at Dominican Ladies College in Dongara was also enjoyable, she said, although some of the sisters were extremely tough on the students.
She admitted that she would often get in trouble for speaking out in defence of the younger girls, particularly when they were sad or unwell.
Mrs O’Shaughnessy would go on to display the same compassion and tenacity for her own students but, before becoming a teacher, she experienced a rewarding and, at times, heartbreaking career in nursing and midwifery.
She said her patients heightened her “awareness of resilience, effective listening, sincerity, importance of family and the gentle touch of a hand”.
After moving into education, Mrs O’Shaughnessy became a passionate advocate for a strong relationship between teachers and parents.
“Teaching is an amazing career. As a teacher, you have the parents’ trust that you will love and care for their child and support them in their learning, to become active, moral citizens in the society in which they live,” she said.
“I believe that parents and teachers must be active participants in their child’s education and, to this end, an active community school is the essence towards success. I also believe that all children need to experience love and care, and support, in their learning regardless of their ability.”
Mrs O’Shaughnessy is also a fierce supporter of Catholic education, but said the system wasn’t without its hurdles.
She believed the challenge for Catholic educators today was to “bring alive” their Catholic practices to families that have moved away from the Church and rarely attend Mass.
“We must provide parents with opportunities to regain the knowledge of their Catholic faith and to find within themselves the understanding that Jesus is with them as they support their child’s total development,” she said.
Reflecting on her years as a teacher and principal, Mrs O’Shaughnessy said there were many memorable moments, and hopefully many more to come, but one in particular stood out.
One of her Year Seven students had nominated as a leadership candidate but, due to low self-esteem and learning difficulties, he began crying during his speech to the class.
“He looked over at me, and being a softie, I was shedding silent tears. He jumped up and said to the class, ‘Mrs O really does care, you know, she is crying for me, she wants me to succeed’. And he was voted in unanimously by the class,” she said.
From page 22 and 23 from Issue 3: ‘Education: Teaching, Learning and Technology in 2016’ of The Record Magazine