Alternative Stem: Fighting Australia’s Education Inequity

SASKIA O’GEORGE

By age 15, children from the lowest socioeconomic households are on average almost three years behind in school than children from the highest socioeconomic households.

I learnt this fact when I became a student at ANU, and from there I began to dive further into the systemic problems within our education system. As a woman working in the Cyber and IT field, I have felt strongly about greater representation of females in these areas and it was shocking to discover how young Australians are suffering from a shortage in quality teachers in STEM. Australia’s future is deeply rooted in innovation, technology, medicine and science, but I can’t help but wonder how we expect to achieve this when youth outside of urban areas aren’t able to access these fields.

I received the opportunity to interview Dr. Jennifer Pritchard, an ANU undergraduate and PhD alum, about her story, how she entered into STEM, and why she became a teacher. Q: What prompted you to study a STEM focused degree, and why at ANU?

A: I did earth science in years 11 and 12 at school in Canberra and I just loved it. I loved the field trips outdoors and I found it quite challenging which was definitely what I wanted. I actually started in environment and sustainability but I took an introductory geology course and just loved what it was about. At ANU, especially during my PhD, I had so many opportunities to do amazing things, like I got to visit Hawaii and look at all the volcanoes and see where all my samples had come from, so that was really cool.

Q: As a woman, were you apprehensive about undertaking your studies in STEM?

A: Initially not really because there were so many women in the undergraduate courses, but probably towards the end of my degree when career options started to be at the forefront of my mind and a lot of people started going into the mining industry. I felt at that time that the mining industry probably wasn’t somewhere where I would fit in or identify with, and I think that is to do with it being a male dominated industry.

Q: Is that what led you to embark on a career in teaching?

A: It’s [teaching] probably the pathway that sparked the most excitement and joy for me, and I did a lot of tutoring during university which was the aspect of my PhD that I enjoyed the most. It was just the interactions, being able to help people to understand really complex and challenging things, and that satisfaction knowing you’re helping someone in their education, helping them get them to where they want to be.

Q: Coming from a PhD, how did you feel when you made the decision to become a teacher; was there any backlash from your community?

A: I personally felt really positive about it. It was an area I knew I could be really good at, I could make a real difference in, and have a real sense of purpose and meaning in my life, so, you know, what more could you ask for? A lot of people definitely questioned my decision like, ‘you’ve got a PhD, what are you doing in teaching?’. I’ve definitely had those comments from friends and family and even colleagues within the teaching community – people are just quite shocked. For me, teaching is so complex with the content matter as well as the curriculum work, for example right now we’re restructuring the whole curriculum which gives me a lot to think about. It gets me really excited to think ‘what’s the best way to give these students the best education I can?’ So, in terms of the complexity and challenge, I definitely don’t think I’ve lost anything there by going into teaching.

Q: What have been the highlights of this career path for you?

A: At my school I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the more disadvantaged kids in the state of Victoria. I was appointed the head of the science department after only teaching for two years, which has been an amazing and highly engaging leadership opportunity and I think just coming into school and being in such a dynamic and bustling environment has just been so much fun. I feel like the research side of things was a lot more isolating, spending time on your own, and not necessarily in those really dynamic environments. Q: What steps did it take to become a Science teacher?

A: So, after I completed my PhD I went into a Masters of Teaching (high school) through the non-for-profit organisation ‘Teach for Australia’. The program runs for two years and you begin teaching in the classroom almost straight away and so I graduated from that last year and am now working full time at the same school I was placed in.

Q: What did that program provide for you that was better than studying a masters independently?

A: I would say if you can do it the Teach for Australia way, do it, because you get a lot of your master’s degree on scholarship, as well as being able to get into the classroom straight away. There’s the time saving aspect as well as the money saving aspect, as well as I think you get really amazing guidance and tuition from the mentors in the classroom with you giving you personalised assistance and feedback. I definitely feel really strongly about education inequality in Australia and so Teach for Australia’s mission really aligned with that for me and is probably what caught my attention initially. I think I saw the program and thought, this is what I want to achieve in my career.

Q: Finally, where do you see yourself heading from here?

A: I would love to stay in teaching and continue in leadership and developing professionally, or maybe even just working in the education space with disadvantaged kids. I definitely want to stay in education, and probably in the school system as well.

I would like to thank Dr Jennifer Pritchard for sharing her unique experience and story, and I hope that voices like hers prompt growth and change in the STEM education gap around Australia.