Can you give some background about how you decided to leave the classroom?
It was a bit of a process, then happened all at once. I had been asked fairly consistently to speak at conferences about assessment design and other things we were doing in Middle School teaching and learning. I was at a conference overseas, and an opportunity to take up a role in a school abroad came up. It was a real fork in the road as I was on a pretty great pathway in an excellent school in Sydney. My personal life took some unexpected turns, so I decided to lean into that uncertainty and chase the unknown, with the full support of the school I had been working at in Sydney. The leadership team at the time were incredible and saw the whole me, not just an employee at their school. Once I came back from the USA, I met with a few mentors who encouraged me to keep leaning into the unknown.
INNOVATOR |
A position came up at Sydney University alongside a role designing online leadership support material with NSW Government. The same mentors are with me today and continue to challenge me about playing it safe or smart in my career. It was in the leap between school and consultancy work, with support from these mentors that I realised Education is a pretty sizeable, complete and opportunity-rich ecosystem, all working in support of great learning. School is one part of the ecosystem, and anyone working in that ecosystem needs to decide on what scale they are keen to make an impact. For me, I love working on the National level, making connections across sectors and regions, dipping my toe into the international policy space too. I’ve always been passion-led, connected and ambitious, and I surround myself with people who see a little more in me than I have often seen myself.