QCT TEACHER STORIES
  • Home
  • TEACHX AWARDS
    • 2019 TEACHX Winners
    • 2019 TEACHX Finalists
    • 2019 TEACHX Nominees >
      • Beginning to Teach Award Nominees 2019
      • OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL COMMUNITY AWARD NOMINEES 2019
      • Excellence in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Innovation in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award Nominees 2019
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award Nominees 2019
  • Teacher Stories
    • Teaching graduates meet tough standards
    • Rachel Downie
    • The importance of teachers
    • Marsden State High School has the answer to keeping beginning teachers in the classroom
    • Exceptional support for early career teachers in Far North Queensland
    • QBECT
    • 2018 Awards >
      • 2018 Winners
      • 2018 Finalists
      • 2018 Nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award
        • Excellence in Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to School Community Award
    • 2017 Awards >
      • 2017 Winners
      • 2017finalists
      • 2017 nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
        • Excellence in Teaching
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • 2016 Awards >
      • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
      • Excellence in Teaching
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • HAT and LT >
      • Meet the Assessors
      • Ruth Graham
      • Tracey Peden
      • Helen and Dwayne
      • Carly Sopronick
      • Jessica Roberts
      • Jessica Roth
    • OAM >
      • Kathryn George, OAM
      • Keith Graham, OAM
      • Dr Judith Grimes, OAM
      • Michael Goodwin, OAM
      • Steve Parle, OAM
      • Dr Lyn Bishop, OAM
      • Dr Catherine Day, OAM
    • Taryn Gollshewsky
    • Vanuatu
    • NAIDOC >
      • NAIDOC Week 2017
      • NAIDOC Week 2016
    • QLD Day >
      • Bundaberg East State School
      • St Catherine's Catholic College
      • Mornington Island State School
      • Queensland Week 2016
    • ANZAC
  • Anxiety and trauma―an expert’s advice

Matthew Barber
Elanora State High School

Picture
School starts at 6am in the ocean in an innovative school program which links students to employment opportunities, high-performance trainers and Gold Coast surfing icons.

Matthew Barber, who founded and runs CooeeGC—a first-of-its-kind surf-based school training program at Elanora State High School—is a finalist in state teaching awards.

CooeeGC students complete core subjects to attain their Queensland Certificate of Education, undertake Registered Training Organisation courses connected to the surfing industry, and start their day at 6am on Monday to Thursday with a surfing coach.
​
Mr Barber said he founded the program—based on the notion of an echo, with students getting out what they put into the community—after becoming despondent at what he saw some teenagers had achieved after school. 
“It is about post-school pathways,” Mr Barber says. “We are on the Gold Coast and I looked at the surfing industry, because most of CooeeGC is community-based, and because the surfing industry is so broad—it has got tourism, it has got hospitality, you have got all these tradies who have got surfboards in the back of their utes—so it can be as narrow or as broad as you want it to be.”
​
Mr Barber went to the Department of Education with his idea of engaging and connecting students using the surfing industry and he was given one year to see if it worked. He then refinanced his home, “went to literally every school on the Gold Coast” to recruit students, and started connecting to community organisations. 
​“Ultimately you have got to be the change that you want to see,” Mr Barber said.  
Three years on, his students are fast-tracking into university through a Diploma of Business, or are working with tradies, surfboard makers, in hospitality and allied health.

His Year 11 and 12 students also volunteer for community organisations including the Starlight Foundation and Police Citizens Youth Club, undertake surf coaching with Clayton Neinaber, have mobility training with Salt Performance, have undertaken mentoring with Olympic snowboarder Alex Chumpy-Pullin and Olympic surfing high performance coach Nam Baldwin, and have worked on wellbeing and been mentored by former high performance Paralympic coach Brett Robinson.

“I link students up with people in the industry to get qualifications and experience. Employability skills come out of it too—I’ve got students that are turning up to the beach at a quarter to six in the morning for training, so there is a good chance that they are going to turn up to a job site and they are going to be prepared for the day. School should be a dress rehearsal for the real world,” Mr Barber said.

Mr Barber is a finalist in the Queensland College of Teachers Outstanding Contribution to School Community TEACHX Award for his extraordinary commitment to his students and his work to connect them with the surfing community.
​
He said the CooeeGC program could be extended to other industries, including the Arts. 

As a finalist, Mr Barber received $500 for professional development. 
Queensland College of Teachers
Level 5, 601 Coronation Drive
​Toowong Qld 4066
Call (07) 3377 4777
Search the QCT Teacher Stories website
Visit the Queensland College of Teachers website 
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer

    Do you or a registered teacher you know have an inspirational story to share?
    ​We'd love to hear about it!

Submit
  • Home
  • TEACHX AWARDS
    • 2019 TEACHX Winners
    • 2019 TEACHX Finalists
    • 2019 TEACHX Nominees >
      • Beginning to Teach Award Nominees 2019
      • OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL COMMUNITY AWARD NOMINEES 2019
      • Excellence in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Innovation in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award Nominees 2019
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award Nominees 2019
  • Teacher Stories
    • Teaching graduates meet tough standards
    • Rachel Downie
    • The importance of teachers
    • Marsden State High School has the answer to keeping beginning teachers in the classroom
    • Exceptional support for early career teachers in Far North Queensland
    • QBECT
    • 2018 Awards >
      • 2018 Winners
      • 2018 Finalists
      • 2018 Nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award
        • Excellence in Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to School Community Award
    • 2017 Awards >
      • 2017 Winners
      • 2017finalists
      • 2017 nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
        • Excellence in Teaching
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • 2016 Awards >
      • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
      • Excellence in Teaching
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • HAT and LT >
      • Meet the Assessors
      • Ruth Graham
      • Tracey Peden
      • Helen and Dwayne
      • Carly Sopronick
      • Jessica Roberts
      • Jessica Roth
    • OAM >
      • Kathryn George, OAM
      • Keith Graham, OAM
      • Dr Judith Grimes, OAM
      • Michael Goodwin, OAM
      • Steve Parle, OAM
      • Dr Lyn Bishop, OAM
      • Dr Catherine Day, OAM
    • Taryn Gollshewsky
    • Vanuatu
    • NAIDOC >
      • NAIDOC Week 2017
      • NAIDOC Week 2016
    • QLD Day >
      • Bundaberg East State School
      • St Catherine's Catholic College
      • Mornington Island State School
      • Queensland Week 2016
    • ANZAC
  • Anxiety and trauma―an expert’s advice