Christie D’Lima, a Secondary Education Assistant at St John Bosco College, is the West Australian Finalist in the Australian Teacher Aide of the Year Awards. 

James Elder, a secondary teacher at the College, nominated Christie for the award, saying that she was valued by the students, staff and the wider school community. 

“Christie has always shown an extremely high dedication to her work,” Mr Elder said. 

“Her official role is Secondary Education Assistant, however, she has taken on a much broader role within the team and regularly take on tasks to support both staff and students, 

“Her dedication to the school community has made her the person who many students turn to for help with both schoolwork and advice on how to deal with social problems,” he said.

With the selection as a finalist, Christie is in the running to be named Australian Teacher Aide of the Year in the awards, run by professional development organisation, Australian Teacher Aide. 

“As an Education Assistant, it is important to have patience and show empathy towards students by listening to and understanding their learning needs,” Christie said, when asked about her reflections on the work she does in her role. 

“This has been very rewarding for me personally. I also find a great deal of satisfaction when understanding and acknowledging the teacher’s overall direction, and using that information to help implement planned activities to assist students with their learning needs and allow for differentiation,”

Christie’s nomination highlighted her ability to encourage students to apply themselves to tasks, and to assist students from challenging backgrounds; it credited her with an ability to build friendly and trusting rapport with students, and turn tasks into exciting challenges.  

“Christie encourages students to become more interested in their work, which has helped to improve their academic learning and wellbeing. Christie also supports students with learning disabilities, and is able to ensure that conflicts are well managed, with positive outcomes for the student,” the nomination read. 

“Christie works collaboratively with students and colleagues for the good of the college community. This extends to providing extra support and encouragement to staff and students during a staff shortage, due to illness, and enabling a student to participate in a history competition, despite their difficulty with reading. Christie collaborated with colleagues, in order to provide the student with reasonable adjustment, thereby allowing their academic ability to be demonstrated.”

Share this article.