Alfredton Primary School principal Laurel Donaldson celebrates 40 years in education

Teaching mostly "on adrenaline" for the first year, hours were spent on blackboard presentation, creating worksheets using the spirit duplicator and making up resources for the class.

Now, thousands of families across the Ballarat region know Ms Donaldson who has spent her whole teaching life at various schools in the area.

As principal at Alfredton Primary School, where she has been in charge for 13 years, she yesterday celebrated her teaching milestone on a pupil-free day with a planned staff breakfast, and a surprise morning tea.

Reflecting on four decades as an educator, she said the challenges of the past few years with COVID-induced remote learning were among the most significant of her career.

"It was a challenging time for principals, for teachers, for parents - it was challenging for everybody," she said.

Juggling students who needed to come on site, and those who couldn't because of COVID restrictions were tough, as was supporting families who needed it.

Then there were snap lockdowns when teachers needed to pivot the entire curriculum to suit remote learning with sometimes just a few hours' notice.

It was the technology, which she considers the biggest change over the past 40 years, that allowed education to continue through the pandemic but has also become a big "rob" for teachers.

"The first year of teaching you are living on adrenaline a lot and working really hard because there's a lot of learning. I think back to the first year and preparing things like using the spirit duplicator, there was so much work put in to the blackboard and resources and things like duplicating sheets ... so technology has been a big change but it is both a tool and a rob for us," she said.

"The things we can do now, and the communication it provides, that's fabulous but then again we are a bit of a slave to it. We used to get mail, open it, and reply when we could, but the internet and technology is immediate.

"However, imagine how we would have coped with COVID and remote learning if we had not had high levels of technology."

While many people believe children have changed over recent decades, Ms Donaldson is not so sure.

She says the children are the same, the influences on them are not.

"I think kids are still kids, but when you (consider) the technology side of it it's disappointing they are not as active and able to just go out and play and be creative and use their imaginations," she said.

"They do focus a lot of their time on devices and being inside which I think is a shame. I think we tend to be more protective now and not allow kids that freedom to be out and explore, we are more worried which is a shame. I don't think the dangers are any more than what they were years ago but maybe because of the internet and reporting of things people are more worried about their safety."

Ms Donaldson's first teaching job was at Mount Pleasant Primary.

"My first day was at Mount Pleasant Primary School in 1983 ... my first grade was grade three and a delightful group of students, but I must say it was a very steep learning curve," she said.

After that first role, and a period of family leave, Ms Donaldson has taught at Clunes, was a shared PE specialist at the Bungaree cluster of small schools, was a teacher at Bungaree Primary School, returned to Mount Pleasant as a leading teacher, then joined Woady Yaloak Primary School as an assistant principal, was acting principal at Miners Rest Primary School for a year, then was appointed to Alfredton Primary in 2010.

A few years ago one student from her original grade three class at Mount Pleasant was the father of children attending Alfredton Primary - completing a full circle of education. "It makes you realise how long you've been around, but it's nice," she said.

Ms Donaldson said the demands on teachers and school leaders had grown considerably over the years.

"The demands on teachers and principals in general are huge. The role of shaping the lives of young people is so incredibly important, but then there's all the additional things. If only we could concentrate on teaching and learning but there's all the other things mandated we have to be aware of ... the extra layers of accountability we are responsible for and expected to deliver," she said.

"Things arise in society that might be flagged as an issue, and it's usually then passed on to schools who have to deliver education around that area - things like social media, e-safety.

"That's why it's vital that educators get the support and resources they really need to contribute to that valuable work and their efforts."

Ms Donaldson said over the years there has been less trust from parents in education and the roles and responsibilities of teachers.

"We should be accountable, but we live in a bit of a blame society sometimes and we see a lot more questioning accountability from parents and their expectations when coming in to bat for their kids ... yet that partnership between home, school and parents is so, so important."

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COVID offered many parents an insight in to the challenges of teachers.

"I think during COVID and remote learning there was a greater appreciation for the role teachers play," she said.

Despite the challenges, Ms Donaldson said her passion for education had never waned.

"I just think I've been really privileged and had such a really fulfilling career in education. I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing educators, met wonderful families, wonderful children and it all comes down to those relationships and connectedness between each other that makes a difference," she said.

"I owe education a lot. It's given me lots of opportunity to develop as a leader, to support and witness growth and nurture other young teachers and children."

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