Students at Marsden State High School are having their relationship with Maths transformed thanks to teacher Gregory Jessep.

The 2023 TEACHX Excellence in Teaching awardee has been praised by his colleagues for utilising hands-on materials and instructional strategies that encourage students to deepen their understanding, rather than relying on rote memorisation.

“Learning is more than absorbing facts; it is acquiring understanding. When I teach maths, it's more about the understanding of where the formulas came from, than just using them,” he said.

This strategy includes series of instructional videos on various topics to allow students to relearn and review at their own pace, afternoon tutorials three times a week for all students – not just his own, raising the confidence and performance of all students.

Greg describes a good day in the classroom as “Having one of those lessons where you see the students have understood the concepts taught and are excited to attack new problems with their new understanding.”

It's not just his connections with students that sees their success, Greg is dedicated to involving the parents in every step of their children’s education journeys by providing weekly updates regarding student progress and welcomes the opportunity to meet with parents throughout the year. Parent Teacher interviews always see Greg fully booked - showing the trust and rapport he has built with the school community.

In 2019, this saw Greg recognised by both parents and his peers, awarding him the school’s ‘Janet Jackson’ award. The award is presented to a teacher with exceptional teaching practice and exemplification of the school’s values of pride, passion, and excellence.

Greg is also a casual lecturer for primary education at Australian Catholic University and has been awarded the Executive Dean's Commendation for achieving outstanding results in the Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching Survey