Scott Williamson

Interviewer: In the studio now we’ve got author Scott Williamson. Hi Scott, welcome to the studio.

Scott Williamson: Good morning. Thanks for having me on.

Interviewer: Scott, you were also a teacher for 40 years.

Scott: Forty years of public education, most of it in the Macarthur area.

Interviewer: So you would have seen a lot of change in education.

Scott: Yes, lots of different changes. When I first came out, we didn’t have computers in classrooms. Then the internet hit us and we had the educational change of technology coming into classrooms.

The kids changed in their manner. They were spending a lot of time on technology and less time with books. And then, of course, COVID hit and things changed again.

Changes in reading and education

Interviewer: What about English learning itself, Scott? We’ve had a lot of change in the way it is taught. Have we gone back to basics?

Scott: We have gone back to basics. The Department has put out brand new units which are very prescriptive in the way they’re taught. Whether they are wonderful in terms of engagement, I would still question, but we’re definitely looking back at the nuts and bolts and mechanics of reading, and the same with writing.

Interviewer: They’re encouraging schools to teach more phonics as well. They’re finding that kids have been missing out on their phonics.

Scott: Yes, that was part of it. As kids went through with technology, there wasn’t as much core reading happening, particularly at home, where kids were on devices more than they were reading books.

So they weren’t getting a chance to practise those phonic ideas that they learned at school. But some of those ideas are being brought back into the classroom.

Interviewer: Do you think that’s a positive?

Scott: I think it is in the long run. Kids need to understand the fundamental building blocks of how reading works, and then of course that flows into writing, which is obviously my sphere.

But kids need to have a love of literature, and they’ll only have that love of literature if they have a broad understanding of the basic mechanics involved. Phonics is part of that.

The challenges facing teachers

Interviewer: The learning curriculum has changed so much over the years. Kindergarten used to be a fun time where children learnt things such as cutting out and coordination. Now there can be an assumption that children have already been to preschool and have those basic skills, but not all children do.

Scott: That’s very true. A lot of kids, when they attend school in kindergarten, have some pre-reading skills and an understanding of alphabet and number patterns, but others just don’t. They’re starting from scratch, so the teachers have to deal with that.

Fortunately, in New South Wales public schools we only have 20 in a kindergarten classroom, which helps us manage that a little better. But there’s also all the socialisation that comes with being in a new school.

There are a number of parameters and, while I wasn’t a kindergarten teacher myself, I take my hat off to the ones who are because they have to deal with a lot of different issues when children come into the classroom these days.

Interviewer: It’s very challenging. You can have some children with no skills, some in the middle and others who are highly skilled. The teacher has to work out how to help children at each level.

Scott: Yes. Small-group instruction is absolutely essential when you have kids in tiered learning environments. A lot of teachers work very, very hard at that and give time to those specific groups for their needs.

That’s happening all across New South Wales, and I have to say that teachers these days have never been better trained. There’s a lot of professional learning going on all the time.

People are out there trying, but there are very challenging circumstances, particularly with more children with diagnosed disabilities coming into mainstream schools, which teachers are working with on a day-to-day basis.

Interviewer: Even comforting a child has changed. It’s natural when someone is upset to want to comfort them.

Scott: There’s a bit of a grey line there. If a child needs support, most teachers give that child the support they need there and then, because teachers are in the game because they’re nurturing people.

They want the social and emotional wellbeing of the child to be at the forefront. That way, children can actually apply themselves to learning. Establishing yourself as that trusted person is really important.

Would Scott recommend becoming a teacher?

Interviewer: We’ve got parents listening who have children doing Year 12. Would you recommend teaching as a career? Did you find it challenging yourself?

Scott: Challenging is definitely the word. I have a bit of grey hair now because of teaching!

But rewarding is the thing. It was rewarding to me every day. Even though I’m retired now, I still go and do book studies in classrooms and I’m still passionate about it. I still want to be there. I still want to be part of their day and their learning journey.

Most teachers have that in them. So I would say to Year 12 students who aspire to be teachers: by all means, try it.

It’s not for everybody. The hours are long, and I know people think the holidays are there and there are ten weeks of them. Believe me, a lot of people work in their holidays. I was one of them.

But I would really encourage people to look into teaching.

My number is 19. I have 19 people that I know of who I taught who are now teachers, which is really inspiring to me.

Interviewer: And when you’ve had an impact on a child, they will come back and see you. That must be very rewarding.

Scott: When you catch up with them and they’ve grown, they see you and recognise you. Then you have to think, “What year were you in?” You start talking about the experiences you had along the way and it all comes back to you.

Then their children come through and they talk about you too. It’s really lovely and really rewarding.

From teacher to children’s author

Interviewer: You’re listening to The Sounds of Macarthur and with us in the studio we’ve got author Scott Williamson. Scott, what made you want to take on the challenge of writing?

Scott: I always thought I had a book in me. I always liked creative writing myself and I wrote pieces to use in my teaching with kids.

When the COVID crisis hit, we obviously went into lockdown. When the kids came back into the classroom, they were different. They’d been lounging around at home and they’d been on devices. Some kids would have been out there reading, no doubt, but most of the kids were very disconnected with education.

When we got them back into school, my colleagues in other schools were saying the same thing. Kids were disconnected. They didn’t really want to learn and they didn’t want to focus their attention on learning for a sustained period.

Why Scott created books for modern young readers

Scott: When I would take kids to the library — every class goes once a week to borrow a book — the kids would look at the books, turn them to the side and look at the spine to see how wide they were.

If it was any wider than, say, a centimetre, they would put it back on the shelf because it was all too hard.

Their reading fitness wasn’t there.

Reading fitness is a real thing. It’s the amount of words on a page that kids can read comfortably before they get a bit sick of it and want to put the book down.

I looked at that and thought, “We’ve got to change this. We’ve got to change this attitude to books and reading,” because that, of course, flows into writing.

So I thought to myself: what does the modern child want in a book?

I went to lots of kids and surveyed hundreds and hundreds of children across various grades from Year 3 through to Year 6. I asked them the question: “What do you want in books?”

I recorded all the information and looked at the results.

They wanted adventure stories. Mystery and detective stories were their favourite. They wanted heroes with a range of skills and talents, elements of danger, plots that were easy to follow and not overly descriptive, and criminals that were believable in their actions.

They wanted modern-day issues covered in books. They wanted short chapters. They wanted illustrations — and let’s face it, they’re visual learners, so illustrations make sense.

And the one that really threw a curveball for me was that they wanted a hint of a love interest!

So I thought, “Okay, that’s what they want.”

How 5-Alive began

Scott: I took all that away and worked on it. I came up with a mystery-detective concept and five characters.

It took me quite a while to come up with different characters who would have different appeal. Once I had my five characters and my villain, I produced the story Mystery of the Town Bell.

Essentially, my books are a modern-day Famous Five, but with modern technical ideas.

One of my kids is called Tech because he’s really good with technology. One is a sporty kid. One is an animal lover, and so forth. All my characters have different aspects that kids can really latch onto and love in a character.

I produced my first book. It took me three weeks to write, and I went downstairs one Sunday morning where my family were sitting at the table and said, “By the way, I’ve written a book.”

They looked at me strangely, as if to say, “Yeah, come on, sure!”

And then I showed it to them.

Interviewer: How did they take the book? Did they pull it apart on you?

Scott: My oldest son, God love him, read the book and had lots of critique, which I took on board. We made some changes, but essentially the book stayed the way it was until I took it to my publisher.

Interviewer: Have you had feedback from children at school, because you’re still involved with schools?

Scott: Yes. My first book came out while I was still teaching, and of course I read it to my class.

Now, my class would be biased because I was reading my book to them, but they absolutely adored it. Nobody was bored with it and I thought, “Wow, this is really amazing.”

So then I started on Book 2.

My whole series follows the same five characters going through adventures and taking down notorious criminals. They don’t always win. Some of the criminals escape and come back in other books.

The series follows them through their Year 5 and Year 6 days and into high school.

Adventure, danger and real-world issues

Interviewer: It sounds like some of the ideas the children gave you came from the games they were playing during COVID — particularly the adventures.

Scott: Yes, some of the gaming ideas are there, particularly around some of the adventures they go into.

In the first book they tackle a shark, and in the second book there are all sorts of problems with quad bikes. Book 6 has a spider in it. There are lots of different situations where there’s exciting tension in a chapter, but hopefully in the end things work out okay.

Interviewer: How many books have you got now?

Scott: I’ve got nine out so far. Books 10 and 11 are already written and 12 is almost complete.

Interviewer: One of the books you were showing me relates to events that have happened here in Australia — the fires and other things children can relate to.

Scott: Yes. Book 9 is called Mystery of the Fiery Inferno.

Three or four years back we had smoke in our playgrounds from the bushfires. Australia being a bush environment, I thought, “Let’s have a mystery around that.”

Fire comes and ravages the town, and there’s a storyline around people doing the wrong thing and setting bushfires, with the kids trying to set things right.

I try to include thematic issues in my books, particularly around bullying. Modern-day scamming is covered in one of my books as well.

I try to deal with modern-day issues that kids and parents can both relate to because they’re issues that are in our community at present.

Tackling bullying through stories

Interviewer: Bullying happens both in and out of school.

Scott: Very much so. Online bullying is particularly concerning now. There have been some really sad situations that have cropped up through online bullying.

The idea of bullying in schools isn’t a new thing. We’ve all talked about things that happen in schools.

By focusing on that sort of issue in one of my books, we can bring it to light and show that bullying isn’t acceptable behaviour and that there are ways we can deal with it.

Interviewer: So you’re covering both sides — those who might join in with bullying because of peer pressure and the person who is being bullied.

Scott: Definitely, both aspects. You see people who are pressured by a bully to become a bully themselves. They’re not comfortable with it, but they do it anyway through peer pressure.

Then you’ve got the other side with the kids who are experiencing bullying. How are we going to get around that in a positive way so it’s not going to become some sort of violent issue?

Feedback from parents

Interviewer: Have you had feedback from parents about how the books and some of those issues have impacted their children?

Scott: I have had some really, really good feedback. I’ve got a website and social media, and parents have reached out to me through email or spoken to me about these issues.

They’re very thankful that the books cover some of these topics because it gives them an easy talking point as a parent.

Something happens in the book and they can then talk about how that relates to their own child.

I’m very, very pleased by the amount of positive feedback I’ve had from parents around my books.

Risk, water safety and making good decisions

Interviewer: Have you written a book around water safety — things like children taking risks around water without thinking about the consequences?

Scott: It’s funny you mention that because Book 11, which isn’t out yet, deals with water and poisoned rivers. It also deals with kids jumping off a rock, so it touches on water safety and pollution.

Interviewer: Children sometimes see something as a challenge and want to try it without thinking about the consequences.

Scott: Yes. One of my characters has to think about those consequences sometimes because he takes too many risks. Of course, there are other characters who bring him back to the real world.

Interviewer: Which character is that?

Scott: Jimmy.

Interviewer: So he’s the lively one?

Scott: He’s the leader, but he’s also the risk-taker.

In some books, risk can be a good thing because there’s risk and reward. But there are other times when the kids need their parents or the authorities to help them apprehend a criminal or someone who’s doing something wrong.

Interviewer: So do you cover safety and the role of the police as well?

Scott: Yes. One of the characters is Sergeant Higgins. She makes a number of appearances and is very tongue-in-cheek about what the kids are doing along the way, but she’s also happy that they’ve helped her with her investigations.

At the same time, she warns them about the dangers of dealing with criminal elements. So there is definitely that safety element included in the books.

Scott’s school visits and author days

Interviewer: Do you do many talks for people who would like to hear you speak about the books?

Scott: I do lots of work in the community around higher-potential and gifted education students.

I also do author days. I go into schools and talk about my books. We do some dress-ups, role plays and talk about the importance of books and writing and how that can impact children later in life.

But we also have fun around books.

I want to make books fun.

Picking up a gaming device is always going to be fun, but the idea of picking up a book can also be fun. We need to get that balance right.

I do lots of school visits. People can contact me through my website or social media and I’m very happy to talk to children from a young age through to Year 6. Sometimes I also go into high schools and work with high school students on writing.

I particularly love working with advanced writers.

Where can you buy Scott’s books?

Interviewer: If parents want to buy a book as a gift, or buy the whole series, where can they get them?

Scott: They’re available through my website. There’s a shop there, and if you buy a book through the website I will definitely sign a copy and send it off to you.

The other place is Harry Hartog at Narellan. They love my books and sell lots of them for me. They’re wonderful people and very helpful.

Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time this morning, Scott.

Scott: Thank you. I love being here.

Interviewer: You’re listening to The Sounds of Macarthur.