I N P RO FIL E
The teacher’s teacher IN JUNGLE CLASSROOMS AND ELEGANT CAMPUSES, FAY HAISLEY DEVOTED MORE THAN 60 YEARS OF HER LIFE TO EDUCATION - AND LEARNED A FEW LESSONS OF HER OWN. by Jo Crompton
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umping down a dirt track in the back of a jeep, driving deep into the wild Highlands of Papua New Guinea in the late 1950s, Professor Fay Haisley (Class of 2003) sometimes wondered what she had let herself in for when she joined a small team of Australian teachers scattered through villages hacked out of thick jungle. But if there’s one thing Professor Haisley has never shied away from, it’s a challenge. She started her teaching career, which has now spanned more than six decades, at one of Sydney’s toughest schools, so teaching English to local children in and around Goroka seemed like an adventure. But even Professor Haisley wasn’t quite prepared for what greeted her on her first day. “My students were aged from four to 40. Some of the boys had beards,” she says. Taking up her position in front of the class, not only was she ringed by students seated on the dirt floor of the hut, Professor Haisley was faced with a sight that would intimidate even the most experienced of teachers. Standing around the edges of the hut, in full warrior dress, were the rest of the villagers leaning in and watching intently as she imparted the basics of English language to her students. “It was certainly an experience,” says Professor Haisley. “I was one of about 20 men and just six women who had been selected for this work and we initially had no idea where we were going to be based. I ended up in Goroka and every day I would get into a jeep dropping me off in the morning, and then picking me up at the end of the day,” she says.
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“Other members of my cohort had similar experiences, but I never saw them again. “It was a long journey on what was essentially a bush track, and sometimes I would still be waiting there in the dark for the jeep to come and pick me up. So here I am, a young woman, alone in a jungle village in the dark, in what was some pretty wild country back then.”
“So here I am, a young woman, alone in a jungle village in the dark, in what was some pretty wild country back then.” Professor Haisley’s strong connection with her local church in Sydney, and her deep love of teaching, set her on the path to the first of many adventures. Initially planning to be a missionary in India, the country’s closure meant she sought out an alternative, applying to take her skills to Papua New Guinea. There she was tasked with training local teachers, a job she loved and tackled with the skill, inventiveness and gusto for which she would become renowned. Returning to Sydney after 12 months, she took a job as a school principal. But Professor Haisley had unfinished business with Papua New Guinea – the Australian government begged her to return. She stayed on and obtained a bachelor’s degree in classics and history
from the University of Papua New Guinea, becoming one of the university’s first six graduates. Having whet her appetite for further education, Professor Haisley decided to undertake postgraduate study in North America, gaining a Masters of Education and a PhD at the University of Oregon in the 1970s. She soon became known for her innovative approaches to teaching in the areas of special education, gifted students and early childhood education. She was appointed Assistant Professor in Educational Psychology at The University of California Santa Barbara before returning to the University of Oregon where she held roles including Assistant Professor of Special Education, Associate Professor and Department Chair for Curriculum and Instruction, and Associate Dean for Teacher Education. In 1984 she was appointed Professor and Dean of the Bernerd School of Education at the University of the Pacific in California, the first woman to hold the position in the university’s 150-year history.
