Being a lab tech in a school is completely different to being a lab tech in a place like CSIRO. In a school, the tech has to know about all the branches of science to be truly useful. On a typical school day, I can walk from one end of the science blocks at my school and encounter a senior physics class, a senior chemistry class, Year 10s doing biology, Year 11s doing science 21, and two junior classes doing anything from geology or earth sciences, to making robocopters or using bunsen burners. I am the one that had to set up equipment and chemicals for all of those classes, with an understanding of what each class will be doing, and what outcomes they are aiming for.
My role as a lab tech is truly diverse. It involves anything from trialling experiments to iron out the ‘kinks’, sourcing experiments and equipment to construct a practical lesson that will exemplify a concept, and knowing at any moment where all the equipment for all these disciplines is located. On top of this, I have to prepare chemicals, maintain a chemical register, make sure the correct MSDSs are available for every prac I prepare, and sign off on all risk assessments for every single experiment conducted in the school, as the last point of call in our risk assessment system, and file them all. Finally, my least favourite job is cleaning up, washing up, and throwing away another piece of chipped or broken glassware that happened quite mysteriously, since no one owned up to doing it. Actually some of my students at my current school are quite good at owning up. Oh, and sometimes I feed the goldfish as well.
The best part of my job is interacting with students, and seeing the lightbulb moments when kids just ‘get’ it. I enjoy finding quirky ways to deliver a concept, like studying plate tectonics with biscuits and icing. I also enjoy getting involved with the senior kids when EEI (Extended Experimental Investigation) season is upon us, even though there are lots of early mornings and lunchtimes involved at this time of year.
Most of the rest of the school would have no idea of what I actually do, let alone the wider public, nor the time I put into my job. No one entertains the idea that another school’s officer would step in if I was away sick. Apart from the fact that they would be out of their depth, it would simply be dangerous. Being so far away from Brisbane, I don’t have many opportunities for genuine job specific PD. If such a thing arises, it’s usually far away, adding a travel cost factor to it, or in the holidays, requiring overtime, especially since I am only paid term time. There have been times when that kind of money has simply not been in the budget, and I am told ‘maybe next year . . .’
That being said, I love the school that I work in. I have been here for 11 years now. I watched my daughter come through the school, graduate, and take up a university scholarship. The school supported me through a year of chemotherapy and recovery. Despite being the member of staff with the most unusual set of duties, I still have the same aim as all of us – to use all the skills and resources I have to educate the next generation of students.