Stories FROM OUR COMMUNITY
WINTER 2018
Education during crisis and conflict with RAMYA MADHAVAN (Cohort 2010)
ABDUL WARSAME Former student at a Teach For Australia Partner School recalls how Philosophy Club with Mihi De Silva (Cohort 2014) turned him from troublemaker to fervent learner
Student ALEX CHAPPELL goes global with Science CASSIE-JANE RYAN (Teach To Lead Fellow) introduces competition to reduce school absences Securing local experience for migrants and refugees with PIP MCILROY (Cohort 2013) Taking a trip to Melbourne with ELENA MUJKIC'S (Cohort 2014) students
And featuring interviews with more Teach For Australia Alumni Hugh Bachmann, Alyce Cleary, Hannah Morris, Eric Woodward
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CONTENTS Introduction 03 Message from Melodie
A fierce advocate for equality in education
04
In conversation with Alyce Cleary, Cohort 2010
From school troublemaker to university student
05
Meet Abdul Warsame, former student of Charles La Trobe P-12 College, a Teach For Australia Partner School
For young people, there’s no limit to ambition
08
In conversation with Hannah Morris, Cohort 2016
Scholarship propels young Scientist’s journey
10
Meet Alex Chappell, former student of Traralgon College, a Teach For Australia Partner School
A new life in Nepal
12
Meet Ramya Madhavan, Cohort 2010
Every minute at school counts
14
Meet Cassie-Jane Ryan, Cohort 2017 (Teach To Lead)
Trip takes students from regional Northern Territory to Melbourne
16
Students’ travelogues from Elena Mujkic, Cohort 2014
Supporting migrants and refugees through employment
18
Meet Pip McIlroy, Cohort 2013
Diary of a Teaching and Leadership Adviser
19
Meet Chris Fraser, Teaching and Leadership Adviser, WA
Mind the gender gap
20
Meet Javiera Sanchez Rios, Enseña Chile (Teach For Chile)
A new school with a global focus
22
In conversation with Eric Woodward, Cohort 2014
Novels, policy and the best coffee in New York
24
In conversation with Hugh Bachmann, Cohort 2011
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THE POWER OF EDUCATION 2 | 2Stories INSPIRE From Our Community | WINTER 2018
What is the power of education?
Message
This edition of Stories explores the power of education to change lives, in expected and unexpected ways, because of the opportunities education affords.
We invited our Alumni and allies from Australia and around the world to share how their ambition around the power of education has led them and their students to new horizons. This is a theme that resonates with me on a personal level. As some of you know, I was born and raised in the rural American south, in a poor and small Appalachian mountain town full of beauty yet often short on opportunity.
But I did have two things: loving parents and a few exceptional teachers who made all the difference to my sense of self-worth and my sense of possibility. Most importantly, these extraordinary teachers helped me take authorship over my life, showing me that I did not have to be defined by my circumstances. Thanks to their efforts, I became the first in my family to graduate university, to then go on to earn a postgraduate degree from Harvard, and to eventually have, among other things, the worldly choice of which continent to call my home.
FROM THE CEO
This is the awesome and transformative power of education. I hope this publication inspires you to believe in the miraculous power of education and to continue fostering connections with the kindred spirits around you. If I’ve learnt anything about what it takes to tackle educational disadvantage it’s that you can’t do it on your own.
Melodie Potts Rosevear Chief Executive Officer
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IN CONVERSATION WITH ALYCE CLEARY Cohort 2010 Alyce Cleary was part of Teach For Australia’s first Cohort. Now, she is the Principal of the Senior Secondary campus at Palm Beach-Currumbin State High School in Queensland. In 2017, she was inducted into the Teach For Australia Board as the first Alumni member.
A FIERCE ADVOCATE FOR
EQUALITY IN EDUCATION You joined Teach For Australia as part of its first cohort. What made you decide to undertake the Leadership Development Program in its inaugural year? During my time at University I was lucky enough to undertake a variety of internships. From commercial law to human rights advocacy, I dipped my toe into the waters of a number of professions. These experiences were enough for me to decide that I needed to find a pathway that was firmly rooted in social justice and would also provide me with the opportunity to build a long-term sustainable career. Teach For Australia was the perfect fit.
You helped to start Parkville College (the first public school at the Victorian Youth Justice Facility). How did you get involved in that, and what does it take to start a school in a justice facility? One afternoon after returning from having traipsed around the globe for the good part of a year, a voicemail was left on my phone. It was the voice of a man I’d never heard of at the time, Brendan Murray, offering me a job inside a prison in Victoria where a small team was in the very early stages of establishing a school. With my interest piqued, I flew to Victoria to see the work in action and my decision was instant. We started our operations with just two classes of remanded
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students under the borrowed banner of a local school in Kensington and created, over the following four years, a multi-campus stand-alone Public Secondary School that now operates in every juvenile justice facility in Victoria, as well as several secure facilities. It was a formative experience that deeply grounded me in the fundamental value on which I still operate - every child has a right to an education.
As a Principal in Queensland, what does your current role encompass? How do you think the Leadership Development Program helped prepare you for this role, as opposed to other forms of teacher training? I am currently the Principal of a Senior Secondary campus on the Gold Coast in Queensland. My role is busy, but I am still no busier than our teachers who work tirelessly every day (and night). I deal with everything from HR and recruitment to student welfare and community engagement. This year I’ve also decided to step back into the classroom to have a class of my own. It’s really important for me to ensure that amongst the everyday tasks I find space to lead strategic projects that are targeted and measurable. Part of this leadership also involves me taking other staff on the journey to develop them in their own right. I think that was a big part of my learning from Teach For Australia: the need to invest in staff as individuals and to provide room for mentorship not management.
You’re now on the Board for Teach For Australia. What does being a board member for a nonprofit entail? I was humbled to be invited to join the Board of Teach For Australia as a Director. The experience thus far has been reaffirming in the sense that it has highlighted to me the transferability of the skills gained through being in School Administration. My position on the Board gives me the privilege of sitting as an equal opposite extremely accomplished individuals from a variety of sectors. Our task is to guide the direction of Teach For Australia’s work in a way that is mission-aligned, while also maintaining fiscal responsibility and accountability to external stakeholders.
On average, women currently only represent a quarter of board positions. What are your thoughts on gender parity in board rooms? What would you say to women or Alumni who want to join boards? I am a strong advocate for women in the workforce and believe in representation at the highest levels of not just boards but also executive tables. I am proud to be a young woman with a seat at both, but seek to create no illusion that equality got me to where I am. My advice: be fierce and back yourself.
From school troublemaker ...TO UNIVERSITY STUDENT MEET ABDUL WARSAME, Former student of Charles La Trobe P-12 College, a Teach For Australia Partner School Abdul Warsame was born in Somalia and migrated to Australia with his family in 2003 to start a new life in Victoria. He graduated from Charles La Trobe P-12 College in 2015 and is currently studying a Business degree at Swinburne University. Abdul loves basketball, is an avid fan of the television show “Suits” and will be celebrating his 21st birthday this year.
MIHI DE SILVA, Cohort 2014
“I’LL BE HONEST, I WAS A BIT OF A TROUBLEMAKER, I WAS THE ONE WHO ANNOYED THE HELL OUT OF THE TEACHERS.”
Mihi De Silva graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from Monash University and taught at Charles La Trobe P-12 College during the Leadership Development Program. He is currently the Head of Maths at Auburn High School. Mihi has a creative streak and loves all things related to music and theatre. He plans to perform gigs in local Melbourne venues over the next few years.
Abdul Warsame was in his bedroom when his mother came in to tell him that he would be moving to a new school. She had spent hours poring over his less than desirable report card results, and feared that her son was spending too much time with friends who had little interest in school.
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“SCHOOL WAS AN ESCAPE FOR ME, AND ANNOYING MY TEACHERS WAS ONE WAY I COULD GET ATTENTION FROM THEM.” “I’ll be honest, I was a bit of a troublemaker,” Abdul recalls. “I was the one who annoyed the hell out of the teachers.” Yet, contrary to what his teachers believed, Abdul actually enjoyed going to school: “School was an escape for me, and annoying my teachers was one way I could get attention from them.” Abdul frequently found himself in schoolyard fights. These scraps with other students resulted in Abdul sitting through plenty of detentions and being a frequent visitor to the principal’s office. This pattern didn’t concern Abdul too much at the time: “All of my friends were like that, everyone acted the same way – we were all a bunch of sheep,” he shrugs. Abdul is the oldest of seven children, and as a young teenager, he wasn’t the paragon of good behaviour that his mother hoped he would be. So it was in Abdul’s final year of primary school that she sat down in his room to impress upon him the importance of being a positive role model for his younger brothers and sisters. Together, they came to an agreement that it would be in his best interests to move to a new school, away from some of the negative influences in his life, to make a fresh start. “She wanted me to have a bright future,” he said with a smile. Abdul was game for a big change. After his move to Charles La Trobe College, Abdul quickly realised that he was one of only two Somali students attending the school. He felt somewhat out of place – but in a new school, away from the peers and teachers he’d always known, he was free to reinvent his attitude. He was going to make an effort from the get-go, and for the first time was committed to engaging with his school work. “I remember taking a seat at the front of the class for the first time. I wanted to put my hand up and start answering questions even if I didn’t know the answer,” he says. Abdul’s academic results inched upwards that first year, but it wasn’t long before he reverted back to his former troublemaking self. The following year, he befriended a dubious crew and “once again, education wasn’t on my priority list. I wanted to be cool, I wanted to be a gangsta,” he remembers. 6 | Stories From Our Community || WINTER WINTER2018 2018
A candid conversation with his ninth grade Maths teacher corrected his course yet again. “He told me straight up: you’re a sheep right now”. This idea gobsmacked Abdul. The teacher asked him, “Do you want to be a sheep or do you want to be a wolf?” Abdul’s perspective on what “cool” was suddenly changed. “Growing up, I always thought being ‘cool’ meant causing trouble at school and hanging out with all the ‘cool kids’,” Abdul says. Thanks to his Maths teacher, Abdul realised that “cool” to him actually meant having a job you enjoyed, working hard to buy your own home and being able to spend time with the people you cared about most. In his penultimate year at Charles La Trobe, Abdul took Grade 11 Maths with Mihi De Silva (Cohort 2014). “When I first met Mr. De Silva, I thought to myself, ‘Who is this geeky teacher with huge glasses?’” Abdul laughs. Before each class, Mihi asked the eleventh grade students to line up before permitting them entry into the classroom. “I hated it. I didn’t like him at the start because I thought he was strict.” So Abdul’s initial strategy was to annoy Mihi by being a brazen smart-aleck in his class. But their relationship changed over the course of the year. “I started talking to Mr. De Silva one day after school and eventually, I got to the point where I was opening up to him about my personal life.” What surprised Abdul most of all was that Mr. De Silva “seemed to understand where I came from.” “When we first met, Abdul was a young man in Year 11,” Mihi remembers. “He didn’t appear to see the value of education at that time. As we got to know each other, we had more conversations about life, love, family, education, and the Somali community to name a few. He began to read more and understand more about the system of disadvantage as well as the part that education can play in affecting change in that system.”
But as graduation neared Abdul felt like he wasn’t ready for the leap into adulthood: “I was scared of finishing school. Once you graduate, you aren’t a little kid anymore and you have to start making your own decisions.”
These after-school talks took place in the library on Fridays. They’d go on for hours, and philosophy became a central topic. “We called it Philosophy Club,” Mihi says. “It was a place of exploring ideas and engaging in civil banter.” Mihi was both a teacher and a mentor to Abdul, whose influence extended beyond academic results. Knowing that Abdul wanted to improve his literacy skills, Mihi also gave Abdul a journal for him to write letters each week. And “he introduced me to the TV show Suits. Best show ever,” Abdul proclaims. Mihi acknowledges that “for many of the students at Charles La Trobe College [CLTC], the teachers were more than purveyors of content knowledge. Father figure, educator, confidant, family, mentor, psychologist, parent – these are some of the synonyms for teacher that I have carried with me through my lived experience at CLTC.” Eventually, Abdul’s perseverance and hard work paid off: he accumulated As and Bs in most of his classes throughout grades 11 and 12. Within just a year, Mihi saw some of the students he mentored, including Abdul, “growing and speaking to their juniors about their journey. I was very proud of the kids. That was living evidence of a culture shift at the school when they became advocates for the change.”
On the evening of the graduation, Abdul was downcast. He’d been selected by his teachers to be the Master of Ceremonies because of the tremendous progress he’d made, and was due to receive multiple awards – but his newfound dedication to his studies had opened a rift with some of his former friends. “I felt really low that evening, some of my friends weren’t speaking to me and I just had a fight with my girlfriend,” Abdul remembers. As he walked towards the podium to begin his speech, he looked up to notice two people in the crowd: “I saw my mum and Mr. De Silva, they both had the biggest smile on their faces.” After his speech, Abdul checked his text messages and noticed a message from Mihi and one sentence in particular stood out: “I am so proud of you.” The feeling of elation finally swept over him. Mihi also wrote Abdul a long letter. “I said he ought to be proud of his growth and be grateful for the ongoing journey he was on. Philosophy Club would miss him.” Abdul visited his extended family in Somalia at the end of 2017. The inequity he witnessed was eye opening: “I never really thought about it until I traveled to Somalia last year. It’s crazy to think that I can feel so comfortable in my own home, and the people here are walking ten kilometers just to get fresh water.” Gaining a deeper understanding of how the country was affected by the Somali Civil War from his family, Abdul realised that “I just really want to help people, in any way I can.” Abdul is currently studying a Business degree at Swinburne University and working part time at Chemist Warehouse. Next year, he plans to transition to a Pharmacy degree. His goal is to open a pharmacy in Somalia and improve access to essential medication for the people living in the town he was born in.
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For young people there’s no limit to
Ambition
HANNAH MORRIS NOTICED A COLLECTIVE LOW SELF-ESTEEM AMONGST HER STUDENTS: THEY HAD TROUBLE SEEING THEIR POTENTIAL. SHE STARTED A NOT-FOR-PROFIT TO CHANGE THAT.
How did you get the idea for Blue Sky Connect?
IN CONVERSATION WITH HANNAH MORRIS Cohort 2016
Blue Sky Connect was formed from my experiences living and teaching in the Northern Territory over the past couple of years. I had a lot of conversations with teachers not just in Darwin but in the Tennant Creek, Katherine and Alice Springs areas about the concept of ambition in our students. Comparing my own childhood growing up in metropolitan Sydney and going to a selective academic high school with a strong support network, I found there was a huge disparity between my personal experience and that of my students when it came to their ambitions for their future after high school.
Hannah Morris moved from Sydney to Darwin when she became an Associate at Nightcliff Middle School in the Northern Territory. She is currently in her third year teaching and founded a not-for-profit organisation, Blue Sky Connect, with fellow Teach For Australia Alumnus Jonathan Chow (Cohort 2015). Blue Sky Connect links aspirational high school students in the Northern Territory with meaningful, challenging work experience placements in leading organisations.
My colleagues and I found that many of our students didn’t have much drive or passion to pursue a career after graduating from school. There are multiple factors that influence this but when I spoke to my students about pursuing professional careers after school, many of them would respond with “other kids can do that” or “I’m not the type of kid that can get into a job like that.” I noticed that there was a collective low self-esteem amongst my students when it came to their potential (which they had a lot of).
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Why do you think work experience is the right solution? When I was in tenth grade, work experience was a great opportunity for me to determine if I wanted to pursue a career in that industry. I was lucky in the sense that I had numerous options to choose from. However, many students in my region and those of my colleagues were not offered the same opportunities. In the Northern Territory there is a really strong network of young professionals working in all different professional fields and I thought that it would be great to facilitate a connection between these two groups – like a Tinder for work experience, I suppose. [laughs]
How did this move from an idea into a tangible project? The catalyst happened when I was selected to attend the Northern Territory Social Change Summit for young entrepreneurs. We were given the opportunity to refine our ideas through incubator-type workshops over a weekend. At the end of the weekend, I pitched my idea to a group of investors and I was fortunate enough to win a grant to start a not-for-profit organisation.
“IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY THERE IS A REALLY STRONG NETWORK OF YOUNG PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN ALL DIFFERENT PROFESSIONAL FIELDS AND I THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE GREAT TO FACILITATE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THESE TWO GROUPS.”
I’ve never done anything like this before so it was both amazing and a little overwhelming. I had a conversation with a friend of mine who was also a Teach For Australia Alumnus, Jonathon Chow, and he expressed a strong interest in being involved as a cofounder of Blue Sky Connect. Jonathon and I designed the project and ran a pilot program at the end of last year.
How did the pilot program go? It went really well! We had six students from three different schools – Nightcliffe Middle School, Taminmin College and Katherine High School – participate in the pilot. We brokered relationships with four organisations in different industries: the Katherine Times (journalism), William Foster Chambers (law), Jacobs Engineering (engineering) and the office of Natasha Fyles who is the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice in the Northern Territory (politics). Our goal was to find reputable work places who were interested in taking on students from low SES communities. We received really positive feedback from the students, and the partner organisations all have agreed to participate in the program again this year.
I feel lucky to be part of a community that is so supportive.
How difficult was it to build the relationships with the organisations? I was pleasantly surprised because the organisations we approached were so eager to offer their assistance and I feel lucky to be part of a community that is so supportive. The Teach For Australia network was also an important source of support as I was able to reach out to my colleagues and ask them to recommend students that would really benefit from the program. I also reached out to Sonia Loudon, a fellow Alumna of Teach For Australia, who founded Boundless (a Victorian based not-for-profit organisation with similar goals) who gave me some great advice and was incredibly supportive of the initiative.
How did the students respond to the program? One student who was placed in William Foster Chambers told me that the experience really confirmed her passion to enter the legal profession. Another student placed at the Katherine Times had her article on PFAS contamination* published in the newspaper which made her feel really empowered.
What do you want to say to other Alumni and Associates who see a problem within their communities but aren’t quite sure how to take the first step? I think it is important to keep in mind that if you see a problem that needs to be addressed, there will definitely be other people who have the same perspective as you. I honestly think the best thing to do is to discuss the problem with your peers and colleagues. I’ve found that there are no limits when it comes to the change that a group of motivated people can make. So make sure you continue to have conversations with your friends and colleagues and there’s no telling what you might be able to achieve together. *PFAS is the name given to a group of chemicals used at the Tindal RAAF Base in firefighting foams used in training between 1988 and 2004.
Hannah was recently nominated as a Finalist in the Northern Territory Young Achiever Awards for Excellence in Youth Leadership. Winners will be announced in April 2019.
The students who worked at Natasha Fyles’ office happened to be Student Representative Council (SRC) leaders in their school, and they were able to see what it was like to be a representative of the people at a larger scale.
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Scholarship PROPELS YOUNG SCIENTIST’S JOURNEY
MEET ALEX CHAPPELL Former student of Traralgon College, a Teach For Australia Partner School KEITA MATSUMOTO Cohort 2018 (Teach To Lead), Cohort 2016 (Leadership Development Program) Keita is Berry Street Education Model Leader at Traralgon College in regional Victoria, where he continues to teach Science after completing the Leadership Development Program last year. He joined Teach To Lead as part of its 2018 Cohort, and is on the Executive Committee for Teach For Australia’s “Business and Education” Community of Action. Keita was recently nominated as an “Education Rising Star of the Year” in the Australian Education Awards. (Winners will be announced in August 2018.)
Alex Chappell’s exceptional journey as a young Scientist took on new heights in 2018 when she was announced as the inaugural recipient of the Michael James Lambourne (MJL) Scholarship. The MJL Scholarship is awarded to support the tertiary studies of an outstanding secondary school student who has faced and successfully overcome significant adversities throughout their educational journey. 10 | Stories From Our Community | WINTER 2018
MONTHS OF PREPARATION SENT ALEX TO TWO PRESTIGIOUS SCIENCE FORUMS IN HIGH SCHOOL. THIS YEAR, SHE STARTS UNIVERSITY AS AN INAUGURAL SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT.
The scholarship is valued at $25,000 per year throughout Alex’s tertiary studies in Biomedical Science.
With Keita’s mentorship, Alex set to work practicing interview etiquette and revising her application.
Alex is now on an outstanding path – but for many reasons, school was not always her priority. Alex’s path to the MJL started in Year 9 when a “tough but inspiring” teacher helped start to channel her energy into studies, specifically in Science. She re-gained this momentum when she left Ballarat to return to Traralgon College in Year 11 as an independent student, meaning she was fully responsible for her own finances, housing and schooling.
“We definitely did our due diligence!” Keita says. “We first got in touch with a number of NYSF alumni. With the help of Suraj Ajjampur (Cohort 2016), we connected with a seasoned NYSF alum who had worked with the program and who gave us a lot of valuable insight into the application process.
At Traralgon College, Alex was encouraged to apply for the National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) by her Biology teacher and Teach For Australia Alumnus, Keita Matsumoto (Cohort 2016). At first, Alex was doubtful that attending the forum was a possibility for her: “NYSF is such a prestigious program that seemed very out of reach,” she says. But Keita took her ambition seriously. “I felt and saw two things in Alex: an incredibly firm sense of conviction, and outstanding leadership abilities to move others towards an outcome,” he says. “Fundamentally, Alex had an innate hunger and tenacity that could be nurtured to achieve great things.”
We then worked on many drafts for Alex’s application whilst exploring what a career in Science could mean for her. With the help of Sarah Martin (Cohort 2015), we ran three mock interview sessions with and without CVs, and Alex iterated her approach with lots of feedback.” After over two months of preparation, Alex was accepted into the NYSF, one of the most competitive and prestigious Science forums for secondary students in Australia. In January of 2017, she went to Canberra for twelve days, where she attended lectures, visited labs with leading Scientists and met other students just as curious and interested in Science as she was. Through these experiences, she started to see the gap between rural and urban schools. “Although we had great teachers, we didn’t have the resources to do any practicals at school,” she says.
“I HAD NEVER LEARNED AND WORKED WITH SUCH A DIVERSE GROUP OF AMBITIOUS AND MOTIVATED PEERS.” Though her teachers had encouraged her to pursue Science, the possibilities within the domain were often hard to see. “I am a person who learns through both practice and theory – but [only learning] theory made the classes more disconnected from the subject.” The forum in Canberra inspired Alex, and she wanted to see more of the world of Science. She applied and was then selected to attend the London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF) as one of just twenty-five students to represent Australia. “It was my first time out of Australia,” Alex says. “It was exciting to see new things and new places.” For Alex, meeting young people from around the world who shared her passion was an incredible highlight. “I had never worked with such a diverse group of ambitious and motivated peers.” In Australia, students from regional, rural and remote communities face educational disadvantage compared to their metropolitan peers. “A real barrier for people studying Science is that rural and regional students have less access to great resources compared to students in the city,” Alex explains.
“Rural students aren’t exposed to Science in the same depth and have to seek programs outside of school to experience different types of Science.” This challenge has been on the mind of the Australian Government, too, when in 2017 it commissioned an Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education (IRRRRE). The fact is that in Australia, the postcode that you’re born in can radically impact your whole future. In particular, students from rural or remote communities can face challenges over their metropolitan peers. The review received over 300 submissions from stakeholders, including Teach For Australia. Conducted by Emeritus Professor John Halsey from Flinders University, he made eleven recommendations earlier this year, and suggested fifty-three actions as examples of how to progress them. Among many others, this included greater flexibility in the application of the curriculum, rigorous selection of - and ongoing support for teachers and ensuring children start school with a strong foundation for learning.
From Alex’s perspective, improving regional education means providing access to great teachers as well as the resources that let students experiment and “do Science” in their own schools. “They should have the same opportunities in Science as someone that studies in urban areas,” she says. “Going to NYSF and LIYSF made me realise how rich Science can be as a field of study and as a work industry,” Alex says. “Seeing first-hand the things we were learning about in the classroom made a huge difference in my desire to study Science at university.”
“I felt and saw two things in Alex: an incredibly firm sense of conviction, and outstanding leadership abilities to move others towards an outcome,” Alex is currently in her first year at Victoria University. She is studying Biomedical Science towards a career in medicine and public health.
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A NEW LIFE IN
NEPAL MEET RAMYA MADHAVAN Cohort 2010 Ramya Madhavan was part of the first cohort to graduate from the Teach For Australia Leadership Development Program. Ramya was placed at Mill Park Secondary College during the program and taught middle years Maths and Science subjects. Ramya is currently the Global Education Director at Street Child, an international organisation that aims to enable access to education for children in crisis- and conflict-affected countries in Africa and Asia.
After Teach for Australia
Transitioning to Education in Emergencies
Following the Leadership Development Program, Ramya worked with Teach For Australia as a Support Manager, and went on to complete a Masters in Teaching and International Education Policy. In her second year with the organisation, she was seconded to Teach For India to design and develop their social entrepreneurship and engagement strategies. She went on to work with a range of organisations as an education consultant in Bangladesh, Colombia, India, Sierra Leone and Turkey, enabling her to experience education programs spanning the spectrum from strategy, planning and implementation, to impact assessment.
In 2015, Ramya returned to Melbourne to pursue a PhD whilst working on the education team at Social Ventures Australia. As she prepared for her research in Mumbai, India, an organisation she had worked with in Africa known as Street Child offered an opportunity to lead its expansion into Asia and establish operations and programs in response to the recent earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal.
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So in 2016, Ramya travelled between Mumbai and Kathmandu, pursuing her research whilst delivering an Education in Emergencies response that included construction of hundreds of classrooms; training and coaching thousands of teachers and education authorities; and enabling access to emergency education materials for tens of thousands of children in affected areas. Learning to adapt and adopt educational principles and programs to a crisis context was a transformational experience.
EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES IS LIFE-SAVING AND LIFESUSTAINING. IT OFFERS CHILDREN AND COMMUNITIES A SAFE, SECURE AND STABLE SPACE TO INCREASE THEIR RESILIENCE TO CRISIS AND CONFLICT, AND TO CONTINUE LEARNING THAT WILL SUPPORT AND SUSTAIN THEM ACROSS THEIR LIFETIME.
Learning for All In 2017, Ramya was appointed Global Director of Education at Street Child, with a portfolio including programs in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Nepal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka, amongst others. She spends her time travelling from country to country to support the teams on the ground. Each of these contexts offers specific challenges: from creating community-centred avenues of access to education in conflict-affected areas of Afghanistan for returned refugees from Pakistan; to supporting children from lower caste communities to transition into education and employment in remote, hard-to-reach areas of Nepal; to driving the development of a National Curriculum for Education in Emergencies in Nigeria.
Education in Emergencies is life-saving and life-sustaining. It offers children and communities a safe, secure and stable space to increase their resilience to crisis and conflict, and to learn in a way that will support and sustain them across their lifetime. The Teach For Australia ideal of an excellent education for all children continues to compel Ramya, and her experiences in the Australian classroom continue to inspire and influence her work in crisis- and conflictaffected contexts across the globe.
Since 2008, Street Child has helped over 100,000 children to go to school, and supported over 15,000 families to set up businesses so they can afford the cost of educating their children.
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SINCE IMPLEMENTING THE EMMAC COMPETITION, COBRAM PRIMARY SCHOOL HAS SEEN A HUGE REDUCTION IN STUDENT ABSENCE FROM OVER 3,000 TO A MERE 900 ABSENCES IN THE PAST YEAR.
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EVERY MINUTE AT
SCHOOL COUNTS MEET CASSIE-JANE RYAN Cohort 2017 (Teach To Lead) assie is a Cohort 2017 Teach To Lead Fellow currently working at Cobram Primary School. She has spent the past thirteen years working in the education system and has taught almost every primary year level. Aside from chasing after her two young sons, Cassie keeps busy wearing multiple hats at work by operating as the school-wide Physical Education Coordinator and the Attendance Officer at her school. In 2016, Cassie received an email from her Principal about the Teach To Lead program and thought it was a perfect opportunity to further develop her leadership skills.
A focus on attendance at school In 2016, Cobram saw lower than expected NAPLAN results, and disappointing responses in their “Attitudes to School” survey from students. Cassie subsequently met with her Principal and the Wellbeing Officer and they collectively recognised that student absence was a key contributor to the survey results. In one year, the school experienced over 3,000 student absences, most of which were unexplained: many parents did not provide an explanation if their child could not attend school, and teachers did not have capacity to follow up with every unexplained absence. Yet, Cassie knew, if students failed to attend school on a regular basis, their engagement in the community and ability for continued learning would be impossible.
An ambitious project
The importance of positive discourse
A key aspect of the Teach To Lead program is the Impact Initiative: each Fellow designs and implements a project with the aim of raising student achievement, increasing teaching capacity, or improving student wellbeing and engagement. Cassie’s Impact Initiative was a project called “Every Minute Matters at Cobram” (EMMAC), which aimed to improve student attendance at school
Cassie believes that one of the key components to the success of her initiative is the positive discourse underpinning the project. The emphasis was on bringing the school together as a community, and rewarding positive behavior was essential.
After a brainstorming session with her school Principal and Wellbeing Officer, Cassie designed a competition known as the EMMAC Competition that encourages each class to compete against others for the lowest number of student absences. Each class is allocated points depending on the number of absences they have and the results are announced at assembly on a weekly basis. The points accumulate over the course of a year, and the class with the highest points at the end of the year are rewarded with an excursion to the cinema - a real treat as the cinema is a 45-minute drive from Cobram.
School-wide change The whole school embraced the competition and the students, parents and teachers were all invested in the outcome. Since implementing the EMMAC Competition, Cobram Primary School has seen a huge reduction in student absence from over 3,000 to a mere 900 absences as of June this year. “Chronic absence” (describing a student who has been absent for 30 days or more in an academic year) has dropped from 15% to 10%.
Implementing EMMAC at the school was not always smooth, and students were not the only ones who were part of a shifting school culture. Part of the project involved switching from using a paper-based roll call system to a digital program to track attendance, and technical complications were common. “The most important thing I’ve learned is that significant change only comes about when your staff are invested in the culture shift,” Cassie says. “The only way to influence this is through using evidencebased data.” During her time undertaking the Teach To Lead program, Cassie built on her leadership skills that helped enact EMMAC. “I have been given the tools to manage and communicate with staff in a more productive and efficient way,” she says. “I have become more self aware and appreciate the importance of building relationships based on trust to be able to maximise team performance.” To enact whole-school change, staff at Cobram Primary had to see, through raw student outcome data, that accountability for student attendance does not just lie with the Welfare Officer or the Administration staff. Improving student attendance is always a school-wide project, and EMMAC turned a problem into an inspirational success through friendly competition.
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LEARNING TRIP TAKES STUDENTS FROM REGIONAL
Northern Territory STUDENT TRAVELOGUES ELENA MUJKIC Cohort 2014 In September 2017, the Teach For Australia Community Fund (formerly known as the Alumni Community Fund) was launched to provide financial grants to the Teach For Australia community for initiatives driven by our Alumni, Associates and Teach To Lead Fellows. The funds were raised by the Alumni Gala Committee with proceeds from the 2016 Alumni Gala. Teach For Australia provided assistance by supporting the Alumni Grants Committee with distribution of the funds. Grant recipients were announced in November 2017. Elena Mujkic was the winner of one of four grants in 2017, which she used to help fund a learning trip for her students. Every year, about ten students in Year 11 travel from Katherine in the Northern Territory to Melbourne for one week. The aim is for “students to experience the urban environment, and to attend university and TAFE provider tours, careers expos and other events being held at the time, such as arts, culture, STEM and team building activities,” Elena explains. “Most of the students are from rural backgrounds; some coming from Aboriginal communities hundreds of kilometres from Katherine or from remote cattle stations, so the opportunity to visit an environment like Melbourne and travel in a group of young people is very unique,” she says. But students must each raise their own money for bus transport, flights, accommodation, food and activities, while balancing senior school academic requirements with sport, part-time work and family commitments. Elena used the Community Fund grant to alleviate some of the pressure on her students by contributing to their accommodation in Melbourne. Some students reported back from their trip.
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ass ear 11 cl il, the Y r p A f o o p h x t ers e On the 30 or a Care lbourne f e M o t versities i t n n U we to the t h g i d s n i ersity an to get an RMIT Univ o t t d n n e i w k e what there. We ity to se s r e v e i r n e U w if we Melbourne ered and ff o y e d h e t t fi s I bene of course of them. y n a ay n w i a d ence in intereste ne experi r u o ty b i l c e M r bigge from the ence of a i r e p x o e t t d xpose that l go e to be e it is lik t a h w , l would o d s n a nity. Al u m m o c g n tudy in the worki oing to s g r e d re i s n cause the really co ear 12 be Y r e t re. f e a h t ties Melbourne opportuni r e e r a c o r t one are bette had not g ack, if l b g n hought of i t k o e o v L not ha d l u o w in l sity and Melbourne my Univer r o f e r e going th future. the near - Anesu
16 | Stories From Our Community | WINTER 2018
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The Melbourne tr ip was an experi ence I will always va lue. There were the face value educat ion aspects: seeing universiti es, doing worksh ops and visiting land marks, but it wa s the things in be tween that made it, to me, worthwhile . Seeing students rushing to classe s, and studying everywhere from staircase steps to sunlit parks. Falling over ice -skating, and so lving puzzles to escape a room. Ta lking to people in love with what th ey do, becoming part of a bustli ng crowd of peop le I will probably never see again– an d spending it all with the ones I see everyday... The trip strengthened friendships with in my class and showed me anothe r “life being li ved” for lack of a be tter way to phra se it. It was wonder ful. - Ianna
St. Paul’s Cathedral
ely definit p was i r t y y m th t of m ime wi ghligh more t all d The hi n e e w p to s that g e n v i e t i t ge this bel ult of tes. I s a e m r s s a a cl ad as s we h closer nt rience e differe p became x e e h t e h t t u o d n f the d ab trip a side o learne t u I o . e r e ar is togeth there at it out wh nities b u a t ow to r h , o y p d r op ty an rrito i e c T e n v r ntly. assi Northe efficie in a m t e i b d o oun along like t get ar o get t d n w a o h e ip t operat The tr d abou learne omise. of r o p s s m l p o a a c I and de he a s m r e I h t ortant e as with o ed imp e to m n l r b a a e u l l and tually was va rip ac mories t e m s i e h m T lly aweso hout. It rea throug eaps. h do in e r o u skills ant t y fut w m er I d e t t be aft n wha impac nt to a uestio w q I e m re made nd whe ture a the fu chool. high s dia - Clau
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SUPPORTING MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES THROUGH EMPLOYMENT
AUSTRALIAN EMPLOYERS ARE FIXATED ON CANDIDATES HAVING “LOCAL EXPERIENCE”. THAT’S NOT EASY TO SECURE WHEN YOU’RE A MIGRANT OR REFUGEE.
MEET PIP MCILROY Cohort 2013
ulturally and linguistically diverse groups in Australia experience very high rates of unemployment as well as chronic under employment. In particular, migrants and refugees encounter multiple and sometimes complex barriers to finding work in Australia, one of which includes conscious and unconscious biases in Australian recruitment processes. Pip McIlroy currently works in the Corporate Diversity Partnerships team at Jesuit Social Services. “Our partnership programs aim to provide those facing barriers to employment a foot in the door and highly valued local experience in their field. Our team currently works with the National Australia Bank, the Australian Taxation Office and John Holland in the engineering sector to link qualified people who have faced barriers to employment in their field, such as migrants and refugees,” Pip says. “The work we’re doing has really far-reaching effects in terms of the capacity to provide role models within communities of disadvantage so that young people can see a pathway ahead of them post-school.” Pip explains, “There’s a fixation on candidates requiring ‘local experience.’ Many migrants and refugees find it difficult to secure employment in their field in Australia.”
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“Our participants undertake a six-month paid, supported work placement and receive training with a view to assisting them in securing ongoing employment in their area of qualification. For the organisations we partner with, the programs assist in achieving business and social impact goals, the opportunity to nurture a dynamic, inclusive workplace culture with diverse ideas and innovative problem solving. It also ensures that these organisations reflect their customer base.” Pip was part of Teach For Australia’s fourth cohort. “I was applying for a number of graduate programs at the same time that I submitted my application to Teach For Australia. Once I realised that Teach For Australia was the one that scared me the most, that the program would push me quite far outside my comfort zone, I knew I had to do it.” As part of the Leadership Development Program, Pip taught at Mill Park Secondary College. She stayed on at the school for another two years after completing the program, where she was able to consolidate her teaching practice and take on more responsibility. “While I was undertaking the Leadership Development Program, I was also studying towards a Masters of Theology specialising in mission and culture,” Pip says. “I’m particularly interested in values-based organisations in the social services and health sectors which have a strong vision and mission that influences the work that they do and the people they are.” That’s exactly how Pip has found herself working for Jesuit Social Services. “The organisation is very successful in delivering a variety of high quality services to vulnerable people in our community.
At the same time, it has a strong focus on advocacy, research and social policy in order to continue to build awareness of injustice and respond to areas of need.” “I cannot underestimate how much my experiences in the classroom, in positions of responsibility and the training I received through the Leadership Development Program have equipped me with the transferable skills I feel I require to succeed in my current role and in the future,” Pip says. “These include the ability to work productively and calmly in a fast paced and stressful environment, an understanding of the complexity of social determinants of disadvantage, the ability to tune into an audience and communicate clearly and efficiently, emotional resilience, humility and a commitment to continue to work with those who are most marginalised and vulnerable in our community.” If you’re looking for ways to get involved in similar missions, there are plenty of opportunities: •
Jesuit Social Services has many volunteer opportunities, and as a large organisation jobs are often advertised on their website. Or get involved with like-minded groups such as the SAIL program, AMES Australia and the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
•
If you are working in the business sector, consider speaking to your team about creating your own program.
Or if you want to learn more about Pip’s work, you can email her at philippa.mcilroy@jss.org.au
Diary
OF A TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP ADVISER
THIS YEAR, MORE THAN HALF OF COHORT 2018 ASSOCIATES ARE WORKING IN REGIONAL AND REMOTE AREAS, WHICH MEANS MANY OF OUR TEACHING AND LEADERSHIP ADVISERS (TLAS) ARE OUT ON THE ROAD COVERING A LOT OF GROUND COACHING IN CLASSROOMS ACROSS AUSTRALIA.
CHRIS FRASER is a Teaching & Leadership Adviser in Western Australia. He shares two days on the road.
FEBRUARY 12, 2018 Karratha
4pm: Off to my “International” Hotel Accommodation. Has the word “Hotel” been misspelt and should have an “M” instead? 6pm: After walking, alone (no one else is mad enough to do so in this humidity) for a kilometer, I meet the Associates for a meal in the Blanche Bar. 8:30pm: A wonderful day. Thanks to Lilli, David and Jess and all around them for a great visit. All are doing well. Time for bed. Off to Port Hedland tomorrow. Then flight back to Perth and Fremantle.
4am: Rise and shine Chris. Shower, get into the car and off to the airport.
FEBRUARY 13, 2018 Port Hedland
5am: The queue is horrendous going through security in Terminal 4, with a sea of orange and yellow Hi-Vis.
5:30am: Rise and emails, as Melbourne is open and Associates sent messages whilst I was working yesterday. Breakfast.
6am: Take off. 125 blokes, less three women. I saw three vegetarian food packs (chickpea burger) distributed. The bacon and egg sandwiches were as hard cardboard as the packaging.
7:45am: Head off to Port Hedland from Karratha, 242 km. First major town is Roebourne; a sad place with a sadder history but beautiful vista. Every town should have a race course and Roebourne does. Next town halfway along is Whim Creek. Not a town but a tavern off the road and I missed it. But I did not miss the country around it. The hills stay with me all the way.
8am: Land after a flyover of the city. Wonderful new airport and only 50 metres from plane on tarmac to airconditioning. 32⁰ and 70% humidity! I pick up the hire car. 9am: Meet Jennifer McMahon, Principal of Karratha Senior High School. For the first time in any school in WA I had to produce and record my Working With Children card. Wonderful support for the Associates here, Lilli, Jess and David H. Through the day I watch 30 minutes of each in the classrooms, chat with them for about 45 minutes, talk with their Mentors and meet their HoLAs. Very warm welcome as the temperature rises to 36 Celsius and the humidity stays the same.
10:30am: Arrive at Hedland Senior High School. Principal off sick but a wonderful friendly welcome from everyone. Meet Dirk and Charlie along with Jayne and Gerhardus, the In-school Mentors. Everyone is going well. The support is wonderful, as is the optimism and determination. 6:10pm: My plane leaves for Perth then. Will head to Airport early for some food and personal time.
Stories From Our Community | WINTER 2018 | 19
JAVIERA ENTERED THE CLASSROOM AS A HOPEFUL YOUNG TEACHER WHO WAS EAGER TO PASS ON HER PASSION FOR LEARNING TO HER STUDENTS. SHE QUICKLY DISCOVERED THAT HER PRECONCEIVED IDEAS ABOUT TEACHING WERE VERY DIFFERENT TO HER LIVED EXPERIENCE.
20 20 || Stories Stories From From Our Our Community Community || WINTER WINTER 2018 2018
MIND THE GENDER GAP MEET JAVIERA SANCHEZ RIOS Enseña Chile (Teach For Chile) Alumna Javiera is a Cohort 2016 Alumna of the Enseña Chile (Teach For Chile) program. She taught Mathematics to middle school students. During the program, Javiera launched an initiative “Elige Tu Rol [Choose Your Role]” – a teacher-training initiative that aims to address the unconscious gender bias in the education system. Javiera and her partner have taken a gap year to travel around Australia and she took some time to visit her Teach For All network partners at Teach For Australia HQ in Melbourne.
An eye opening experience Javiera entered the classroom as a hopeful young teacher who was eager to pass on her passion for learning to her students. She quickly discovered that her preconceived ideas about teaching were very different to her lived experience. “My first year as a teacher was really hard,” recalls Javiera, “I knew it would be challenging because I knew the social background of these students.” Nevertheless, being face-to-face with these realities in the classroom was more difficult than she could have imagined. “I was constantly thinking about how to improve the students’ learning and motivation. It was exhausting.”
JAVIERA SANCHEZ RIOS COULDN’T HELP BUT NOTICE GIRLS’ LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN HER MATHS CLASSES. SHE STARTED A PROGRAM TO EQUIP TEACHERS TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE.
Javiera laughs when she remembers the moment when a female student threatened to physically assault her: the student had a menacing look in her eye and said “How about I wait for you after school?” The situation was resolved once she realised the student needed attention and affection. Their relationship improved. Despite the challenges she faced, Javiera remained optimistic that she could have a positive impact on the lives of her students and summarised her experience as “incredible, I would do it again without question.”
A problem in the classroom During her time as a teacher, Javiera discovered a way she could take action to combat two issues she cared about: gender equality and educational disadvantage. From her own experiences, Javiera found there were many ingrained gender stereotypes in both adults and children around STEM opportunities for girls. “I noticed the girls in my class were very hesitant to put their hand up to answer questions or engage in discussion about the problems I posed,” she says. Javiera found many young female students in her class were convinced that they were not able to achieve high results in Mathematics and Science, and that they were unlikely to pursue a career in any of the STEM fields.
“Elige tu Rol” In her second year as a teacher, Javiera attended an education conference with a friend who was an Enseña Chile Alumnus; Gabriel Cruz. Along with other passionate fellow teachers, she devised a plan to build a professional development program for teachers to combat gender inequality in the educational sector. They called the initiative Elige tu Rol (Choose Your Role). They were supported by Enseña Chile’s local Alumni Incubator with a small amount of funding and mentoring to help the group to implement the project. Over the next few months they conducted research around historical, cultural, and societal factors that have led to the lack of gender diversity in STEM careers and other gender inequality issues in Chile, and designed a series of workshops to equip teachers with the necessary skills to address the issue. In June 2018, Javiera, Gabriel and Maria represented Enseña Chile in the Global Final of the Skoll Centre’s Map the System competition held at the University of Oxford. “One of the most valuable things about the competition is that rather than focusing on the solution, it encourages you to step back and more thoroughly understand the problem you’re addressing,” they said. Elige tu Rol reached the final round of six finalists and became the first team to represent a Latin American country at the competition.
“I was constantly thinking about how to improve the students’ learning and motivation. It was exhausting but worth it.” Stories Stories From From Our Our Community Community || WINTER WINTER 2018 2018 || 21 21
A NEW SCHOOL WITH A
Global Focus Tell us about your initiative.
IN CONVERSATION WITH ERIC WOODWARD Cohort 2014 Eric Woodward recently completed his Master of Education focusing on progressive education from the University of Melbourne. As part of the Leadership Development Program, Eric taught at Gold Creek School in the ACT until 2017 when he returned to Melbourne to work part time at Parkville College. Eric is currently teaching at Lalor North Secondary School with a group of at-risk students and also devotes his time to founding an alternative school in Victoria with a team of people passionate about education called the “Global Village School.”
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“Global Village School” is the mission of myself and a team of teachers who believe we can create an educational model where a student’s background does not have a negative influence on their achievement. Our vision is to become a school that leads the way in creating a more humane and globally-focused educational system. We do that by using best practices in therapeutic and trauma-informed education, combined with best practice in progressive education such as interdisciplinary learning, inclusive access and looking at students’ progress based on competency rather than age.
What inspired you and the other committee members to drive this initiative? For me, it began while I was studying my education degree. I was able to meet likeminded teachers, and a particularly inspiring lecturer confronted us with the reality of how inequitable Australian’s education system is. It was really eye-opening to see how the current education system perpetuates inequity. I remember really feeling disheartened initially – however, my group of university friends collectively came to the conclusion that it actually takes a village to raise a child. That’s where the name “Global Village School” comes from.
WHO BETTER TO START A SCHOOL THAN THE TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY WHO WILL POPULATE IT?
From that point on, the idea lay dormant in my mind during my first few years as a teacher. Then, I made a decision whilst studying my Master’s degree that the time was right to turn the idea into action. I had some great discussions with a few mentors of mine and decided to hold a community forum to share my idea with the public. I experienced a positive response and the community forum was attended by teachers, principals, members of the community and many people whom I’d never met before but all of whom were interested in the vision and what we could achieve together.
During your first few years as a teacher, did you ever think that you would start your own school? Well, it was something that was always in the back of my mind, and my frustration with the status quo combined with my growing optimism from visiting various progressive schools strengthened my resolve. I remember I would say to my colleagues, as a joke, “We should start our own school!” It wasn’t until I had a conversation with a good friend of mine who told me, “You’re not going to start a school, you’re just going to talk about it” – that was when I decided to go all in.
Our vision is to become a school that leads the way in creating a more humane and globally-focused educational system.
You decided to accept the challenge! Pretty much! At first I kept finding reasons why I shouldn’t follow through on the idea: I haven’t been teaching long enough, I don’t have enough experience, I haven’t been a principal and many more excuses. Eventually I came to the realisation that if the idea is strong enough and the vision is clear enough other people will come on board. I don’t need to know everything there is to know but I can bring together a team that will have the skills and capabilities needed to make this work.
Do you think that the Australian education system is hesitant when it comes to being innovative with education? One thing that I’ve realised since starting my studies is that there are so many schools that are doing innovative things. It’s easy to say that the government doesn’t support innovation or that the culture to be innovative doesn’t exist. Yet there are many progressive public and private schools that are doing really interesting things already. The federal and state government may not have the political will to take educational risks themselves, but I don’t think their goal is to hinder innovation. I actually think that we can no longer blame the system, we need to think creatively at a school systems level while consolidating our teaching practices in a logical way, and showing the evidence behind decisions. I’ve had some inspiring conversations with principals of progressive schools and I’ve come away feeling incredibly encouraged, knowing that the support network does exist and that people will get behind you.
What were some of the biggest hurdles you faced? Two of the biggest hurdles I am finding are securing a location for the school and obtaining funding. It hasn’t been easy to find a good balance between a “school” space and a location where the students can also feel integrated into the community. I’m going into unchartered waters but at the same time there is something really exciting about it. And I’ve learned that if one person isn’t prepared to work with you, look for someone that will.
What’s the urgency in driving the project forward now? Why not spend a few more years teaching at a progressive school and build your experience? That’s a question that I ask myself too. It does seem like I’ve taken on a pretty big challenge but I hope that I have the humility to listen to those around me and heed their advice. I’ve received positive feedback from people with far more experience than me and if there’s anything I’ve learnt from them it’s this: there’s never going to be a “right” time. I am working with an amazing team and we are making every effort to make sure the whole community is involved. We are consulting with young people for whom the school is designed as well as getting input from teachers who may be teaching at the school in future and finally, making an effort to involve the wider community. Who better to start a school than the teachers, students and community who will populate it?
IT WASN’T UNTIL I HAD A CONVERSATION WITH A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE WHO TOLD ME, “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO START A SCHOOL, YOU’RE JUST GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT” – THAT WAS WHEN I DECIDED TO GO ALL IN.
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NOVELS, POLICY AND THE BEST COFFEE IN NEW YORK IN CONVERSATION WITH HUGH BACHMANN Cohort 2011
“I WANTED TO BE PROVOCATIVE - TO CATCH THE READER’S ATTENTION AND THEIR IMAGINATION - AROUND WHAT POLICY CHANGES COULD POTENTIALLY OCCUR IN THE AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT.”
Hugh Bachmann is currently working as a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Co. His work involves implementing large-scale school system reform and he is particularly interested in emerging market education. He spent seven months in Punjab, Pakistan helping the local government increase student attendance at schools. He recently published a book titled, “Please Don’t Tell Mum That I Have Become a Government School Teacher – She Thinks I’m Still at Law School”. Hugh is passionate about how education can change lives, he enjoys travelling, good coffee and has arranged for all proceeds from the book to be donated to charity.
What have you been up to since finishing the program? I don’t feel like I ever left the program! I finished the program a bit over five years ago and I’ve been at McKinsey & Co since, working on emerging market education and government transformation projects. The reason I joined Teach For Australia in the first place is because I am incredibly passionate about how education can change people’s lives and I’m trying to contribute to this change at a more macro and system level. 24 | Stories From Our Community | WINTER 2018
What’s been a highlight of your role? A project that I had the opportunity to work on in Pakistan involved trying to increase the school attendance rates (and then levels of learning) for 10 million plus students. I’m lucky because I’ve been able to do a fair amount of travel and I’ve definitely gotten a few stamps in my passport.
What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced? Professionally, I think one of the biggest difficulties I have faced is around influencing senior system stakeholders to make tough decisions and stick by these to really drive and accelerate positive change. Personally, I’m looking forward to planting my roots somewhere this year. I don’t have a permanent address right now (long story) and I’m looking forward to settling down a bit more.
What inspired you to write the book? The initial idea came to me after I finished the Leadership Development Program. I was travelling with a few of my close friends and they kept asking me about the program. I shared a few snippets of my experiences as a teacher and they couldn’t stop laughing, one of them said to me that I should write a book about it. That was the catalyst.
“EDUCATION SYSTEM LEADERS NEED TO SET A BOLD ASPIRATION FOR WHERE THEY WANT THEIR SYSTEM TO BE IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS, AND GO AFTER THAT ASPIRATION LIKE AN OLYMPIC ATHLETE TRAINING FOR GOLD.”
Initially, when I started drafting the novel, my intention was to write a non-fiction book where each chapter was focused on a policy position. For example, how do you attract, invest in and retain high calibre people to become Principals? Each chapter would start with a funny anecdote, and then dive into the policy issues this anecdote highlighted and what the evidence says about the issue. I wanted to be provocative on one hand – to catch the reader’s attention and their imagination – around what policy changes could potentially occur in the Australian context. Along the way, I got feedback from a few different people advising me to remove the non-fiction elements and draft the book as entirely fiction. I ended up taking the advice.
Would you say that much of the main character, Harry Mann’s, experiences were inspired by real life events that happened to you? I would say 80% of the book was inspired by my experiences at the coal face as a teacher. In some way, shape or form all the characters were inspired by people I encountered at the school. Obviously, as a work of fiction, there is definitely hyperbole in the descriptions of these characters. But the main reason I wrote it was to make people laugh and get them to think about what is actually going on in our schools and what could be improved. It’s funny because, looking back, I was so optimistic on my first day of teaching and I don’t think I realised how ineffective I would be. I was unbelievably ineffective. When I watched Testing Teachers, I found the experiences of the Associates who were featured to be so relatable. Given that I had a very stable and comfortable upbringing void of poverty or trauma, it was a little mind-blowing to hear and understand what the kids I taught had gone and were still going through.
I don’t think I properly processed what some of them went through at the time, and writing about it was a little bit of my way of communicating that. I hope people can connect to it.
I loved the realistic portrayal of the characters like Mr. Jones! How did you go about creating such a three-dimensional character? It was actually really easy; Mr. Jones was a real person. Everything was based on something he did or a story he told. He was a complex person – on one hand, unbelievably passionate about his students with a really inspiring, intellectual zeal and energy for being an educator, while on the other bitter, disenfranchised and frustrated with the system. He had so much expertise for helping his students learn but really became a little overwhelmed by the weight of a dysfunctional environment that frankly was not so conducive to learning. I actually saw a little bit of myself in Mr. Jones, and really could imagine myself possibly heading down a similar path if I remained.
Do you think that being passionate about their students, but also feeling disenfranchised with the system is a common dichotomy that exists in many teachers? Sadly yes. I saw it in a lot of teachers who have been in the system for a long time. Yes, they care deeply about their students while also being frustrated with the way the system works, or could work better. Although there are some cynical moments, I think there is a really optimistic tone throughout the novel.
It’s now largely an execution problem. Education system leaders need to set a bold aspiration for where they want their system to be in the next few years, and go after that aspiration like an Olympic athlete training for gold. Research shows that a system can increase average student learning by more than a year on average over the span of five years; however to spark this change requires a leader willing to make this change a reality.
What do you hope your audience will get out of this book? I saw an anecdote from Arne Duncan, who was the former Secretary of Education under the Obama administration, which neatly sums this up. When the President was visiting the then-president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak’s biggest education challenge was summed up as parents –“parents are too demanding”. And with that, I hope that this book provokes the question: what would our education system look like if our expectations of it were unrelenting? Ultimately, I hope people laugh and start having more conversations about the state of our education system – and, demanding more from stakeholders in the system as a direct result.
So, best place for coffee in New York? I must admit that I’m a little bit of a coffee snob. I make sure my colleagues in the New York office head to Australian places for their caffeine hit. Best ones (I could go on) are Bluestone Lane and Little Collins.
Is this how you feel about the education sector more broadly? Yes, I’d say I’m generally largely optimistic about the potential for change. The answers are by and large there, and there is limited debate around the big policy issues in education.
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