Yes that is my book sitting on a desk at a high school in Queensland. I often hear that education ain’t what it used to be – kids can’t spell, they can’t add up, they don’t know anything about where wheat is grown in Australia – yes I still remember the beautiful colouring in I did in high school geography showing wheat belts in Australia and sheep regions in Queensland…
But I can tell you education these days is about teaching kids how to find out information if they don’t know something- how to research! And that is much more important than regurgitating some limited facts on an exam day. I know an inspirational teacher who obviously sees educational opportunities around every corner. I wrote the last blog about a report into the state of health in Australia and she grasped the report and knew of my book and decided that these two things would make a great topic for her Health Ed students to think about -something that affects 50% of the population – Women’s Health!
Yes I know you are asking but when will they learn about the wheat belts in Australia, but it has been my dream (apart from the other dream about educating the women in regional areas who can’t access any continence services and are stranded, alone and wet in remote Australia) to bring these simple facts about the bladder, bowel and pelvic floor into the schools and nip the bad habits in the bud BEFORE they escalate into major quality of life disasters for women in their 20s 30s and 50s.
Actually everything I do every day is just about being a good teacher – the things I teach about are very personal so I am very grateful to every patient who gives me their trust and spills their guts about the most personal and embarrassing problems they are experiencing. My job can be repetitive, but if you don’t say the ‘story’ with the same gusto and enthusiasm to the last patient of the week as you did to the first, then someone is going to perhaps not achieve the best result they can with their learning- and the result if you fail them with their teaching experience is not a B…or a C… or a D…. its wet pants, soiled undies or continued pain with intercourse. Quality of life issues that make you depressed, cause you to socially withdraw or perhaps cause a relationship breakdown.
Of course, now days our research doesn’t come from books- it comes via the internet. In fact every day I do some PD (professional development) via Facebook- we have a fabulous group of inspirational Women’s and Men’s Health Physios and we connect daily- problem solving, spreading little pearls of wisdom on to the next physio so she/ he can help their patient’s problem whether it be in Dublin, Chicago, Glasgow, Canada or Brisbane.
The reach of the internet is remarkable. Last weekend I was interviewed about my new Pelvic Floor Safe Exercise Studio- Studio194 by a fantastic American interviewer (you will hear more about this in the future when her series is ready to go to air) before I’ve even had a chance to let our little local suburban paper  know about the studio’s concept(pelvic floor safe exercising). And today I received a letter (it was so gorgeous to receive a letter about my book from America!) from a lady in America who had been advised to read my book- so her friend in America must have become aware of my book through my blog, website, or the internet. Christine has asked me a question and I will pass the information onto her via her email. Wow…..the internet. How did we ever learn anything before?
So back to the original point of this blog – good on you to the inspirational teacher who used my book as a research tool and I know her students are going to make a difference in their working lives because of the sparks of interest she must create every day-they will eventually light up into a great big bonfire of knowledge and perhaps the trained scientist, doctor or inventor that they all may become, may change our lives in the future.
Anyone can be a good teacher, it takes something special to be a great teacher. Now the wheat belts in Australia….