Tell us a bit about your work background.
I’ve just had my employment anniversary – 25 years with UC College.! The path to being an educator was not a straight one. I enrolled in UC Prep (a pathway program for older students) at UC College and went on to study at the University of Canberra. After finishing my honours year in communication, I went back out into the workforce in the health area. It was complete happenstance that I ended up teaching at UC College in the same UC Prep pathway program where I had been a student a few years before.
When I look back, I see how my past brought me to this point. My primary school was a small country school with one teacher. Once a week he would ask the three of us (the grade sixers) to take the four kindergarten children outside to read. I’ve never forgotten the joy of sitting in the sun, assisting someone with their reading.
Fast forward through high school, where education was all about ducking dusters, chalk, and chairs being thrown at us for not understanding what the teacher was trying to force us to learn. In my final two years I met Miss Rolf, who engaged me with calm confidence and warm encouragement, and I developed my singing; stepping onto the stage for opening night in years 11 and 12. Little did I realise then that the attributes Miss Rolf drew on – passion, joy, belief in potential – would lay the foundation for me as a teacher in the future.
Tell us about your role at UCC; your main responsibilities, the parts you enjoy and the challenges you face.
I am the Program Coordinator for UC College’s Enabling programs. I oversee four main pathway programs for people wanting access to university – UC Preparation (for adult learners); the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Foundation program; UC Connect (for those who have recently finished year 12); and International Foundation Studies (for year 11 international students). I teach in three of these four programs.
My enjoyment comes from seeing students achieve what they set out to achieve, and from those moments when a student’s face lights up in understanding. Also, when you see a change in the way a student moves through the classroom - from shoulders rounded, eyes down, small nervous smiles, a shadow of strain across their face - to walking boldly into the classroom, standing straight, saying hello, smiling, laughing, and chatting. This change signifies the growth in their confidence as learners as they navigate the learning environment.
The biggest challenge is always helping the student to see the potential that I see in them. When I see a student I see a small glowing ember of potential, which needs nurturing. At its best, education is transformation, but often the students in our programs have never had that experience. However, they are looking for that experience, for education to transform their lives, even with a real inner fragility, so the challenge is to nurture their potential at the same time as facilitating the necessary learning to achieve success at university, which can be a difficult and unforgiving system.
What do you consider most important for the wellbeing of students?
Kindness. Kindness in spades. Unconditional kindness, unconditional care. Being mindful of the person in our classroom. Our students have so much happening in their lives, let alone studying as well. And it is all this other stuff that sees them disengage, drop out, not complete assignments, appear to be ‘lazy’ or hand in work that is a straight copy from the internet. We need to look beyond the student, to the person, and engage with them. This guides the steps to take that support the wellbeing of the student as a whole person.
What have you learnt from working in higher education?
I’ve learned that, to many students, a university is a foreign land with its own language and rules, and that pathway programs are also where they should turn their attention. Students need to learn skills such as critical thinking and academic style writing to succeed in higher education. But they also need to learn the ways of a university and its expectations, so they can more easily navigate their way through their degree once they start that journey.