Back to study after over 20 years...

Hello, my name is Julie and I am from Tauranga.  I currently live and work in Rotorua and consider it home as much as Tauranga these days.  I have been a teacher for about 20 years on and off, teaching in New Zealand and London.  Travel is a huge passion of mine and I have worked as a tour guide in New Zealand and Europe when I have taken a break from teaching.  I am the youngest child of five and my family all live in Tauranga.  Last year I became a mum to a beautiful baby boy called Archer and he is just the coolest little guy.  Archer is five months old and the apple of everyone's eye - especially his grandma and grandad.

When I finished high school last century I went straight into tertiary study to become a teacher through Waikato University.  I have always enjoyed working with children and whatever career I would have ended up in would have been something along those lines of education and children.  The longer I teach and more I see the more I want to be able to support all the learners in my classroom and beyond.

This year I am on a year's study leave to undertake the Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive Education through Massey University.  When I am not on study leave I am a teacher at Rotorua Intermediate.  For the last 5 years I have taught a year eight mainstream class with students of very diverse backgrounds, challenging behaviours and a huge range of individual needs.  I have also been one of the school leaders in curriculum and assessment leading my whanau group of teachers with this.  The last year and a half before maternity leave I was also an Across School leader in Maths for Rotorua Central Kahui Ako.  

Transforming education to me would be trying to stop continually reinventing the wheel or giving the old wheel a new name but actually looking at what works and why it works.  Using proven practices and methodologies, weaving it with modern ideas and adapting to the learners we have in front of us.  It also in my opinion needs to be achievable and manageable and take into account that teachers are people too with lives outside of the classroom that need to be valued when looking at ways to transform education.  Adding to a teacher's workload is not an answer - burnout is real.  In terms of the students, it is important for the teacher to be a lifelong learner and always transforming their teaching to suit the audience.

I am looking forward to learning and researching successful methods of teaching to cater for a variety of needs.  I hope to leave this paper and year with a whole new perspective on teaching and learning and see some real change in my own teaching for the better.  I hope to be refreshed and inspired when going back into the classroom in 2025.