If the SA Department for Education is sincere about supporting students and staff, then formally recognising its non-teaching employees as professionals rather than auxiliary is a good place to start, argues Suzanne Verrall.

It was the early 1990s and I was spending the weekend in Birdwood for the Medieval Fair. As always, the Folk Federation of South Australia had gone all out with jugglers and minstrels, horse rides and archery demonstrations. The flags were flying, the streamers streaming, and the lush green grounds of the Birdwood Mill were fringed with the striking reds and yellows of autumn leaves.

Crowds, many in medieval costume, flocked to the Adelaide Hills to immerse themselves in the fun, buying handicrafts and jewellery, watching the blacksmiths, consulting with tarot readers, trying their hand at throwing horseshoes. The sword-wielding knights and ladies of the Society for Creative Anachronism were in fine form, and the calligraphy was written-to-order.

Amongst the bustle and shifting throngs of punters, one stall stood quiet and forlorn. On closer inspection I saw it offered a single product only: medieval teddy bears. The bears were about 15cm long, with jointed limbs and appealing faces. They came in a variety of classic teddy bear shades of tan and brown.

Whilst no doubt directly out of a shipping container from China, they were jaunty and appealing. And, for the Fair, each sported their own hand-stitched medieval felt collar reminiscent of the petals of a flower in a child’s drawing. They were colourful and cute and eminently affordable. Perfect, one would have thought, for the huge number of families soaking up the atmosphere. Yet they were decidedly unpopular. “Medieval teddy bears,” I heard one father scoff. “No such thing.”

The South Australian Department for Education, as part of its formal........

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