[A blue screen appears with text that reads ‘Subject Matters: A guide to teaching in Victoria. Vodcast hosted by Gorgi Coghlan’.]
Gorgi Coghlan, Host: Hello and welcome back to series two of subject matters the vodcast that aims to share all you need to know about teaching in Victoria. My name is Gorgi Coghlan, I'm thrilled to be hosting again. I'm a former secondary school teacher and I've got a passion for science and storytelling. So throughout this series, I'll be joined by some incredible inspiring guests who are at the frontline of the education profession. We're going to chat about all things teaching, including the benefits of teaching in Victoria, the various routes into the profession, and how you yourself can make your mark as a teacher.
Gorgi: Welcome to Episode Five. Today we're tackling the question why Victoria? And we're chatting to Trudy Parkin and Tegan Compson about their latest relocation and why they chose Victoria as their teaching destination of choice. Welcome, Trudy, and Tegan if you could start by telling us a bit about yourselves and what you've done in terms of teaching.
Trudy: I’m Trudy Parkin, I’m currently teaching in Auburn south which is right in the middle of Melbourne. I moved from New Zealand about 13 years ago. Before that, I was living in the UK, and worked in the UK as a teacher, and also had taught in Cambodia as well. So I’ve been around a bit.
Gorgi: And Tegan?
Tegan: So I'm Tegan Compson, I’m the prep-one teacher at Arthurs Creek Primary School, which is a semi-rural school in the north eastern suburbs, And I'm originally from WA.
Gorgi: So Tegan, I understand you've also had a really fascinating childhood in terms of other country where you grew up. Tell us a little about that.
Tegan: Yeah, so I was born in Ireland, but I lived in Saudi Arabia so I lived in Riyadh for 12 years from baby to 12 before I moved to Western Australia.
Gorgi: What was that like?
Tegan: Very different. Very, very different in terms of culture, school, everything.
Gorgi: So did you go to an international school?
Tegan: Yes. The teachers that were working at the school that I was at, were from all over the world. So that just shows that the teaching job can take you anywhere.
Gorgi: I love that. Trudy What about you?
Trudy: I grew up in a very, very small little community, like a village, I guess where the school was quite similar to Tegan of like 60 kids. It was very sort of multicultural, so we would speak a lot of Maori and I was just immersed in my everyday life at school of singing Maori, speaking Maori. Yeah, it was really amazing. So we’d have exclusions to the local park. Yeah, it was just really sort of very humble. Very, country.
Gorgi: So how much did the fact that teaching can give you a travel passport influence both of your decisions to go into teaching?
Tegan: I’d say it was a bit of a mix. I think I've always loved the idea of working with kids at some point in my career and teaching something that had been on my mind you know, through high school and then when I wanted to then move into university to study.
Trudy: Yeah, mine was really just my love of children. Probably because I was brought up in such a rural place. The idea of travel wasn't necessarily on my mind growing up so yeah, just always loved kids.
Gorgi: So based on where you were in those locations, New Zealand, WA, why the choice to come to Victoria?
Trudy: My husband got a job in Victoria, so it was literally a relocation, and I didn’t know anything about Melbourne, or Victoria and it just exceeded every expectation, and beyond really for me. Had no idea how good it would be.
Tegan: I think the lifestyle in Melbourne is amazing. You know, you go outside of your school and job and there's just so much to see and do, places to eat out. The footy is a big one for me. So yeah, so much to do in terms of outside of school as well.
Gorgi: Victoria is often referred to as the education state. What is it about Victoria that's so unique in terms of teaching?
Tegan: I think for my school being where we are and being semi-rural, we're surrounded by paddocks. So for the kids, it provides those experience of being out in nature. We every year do a tree planting event. We've been able to go to Edendale farm and learn about the farming and worm farms and different animals. And then we've been to Trafalgar East and done an adventure camp. We've got an upcoming excursion to Bendigo, we’re going to the planetarium next Friday which will be lots of fun.
Gorgi: What about you, Trudy?
Trudy Probably the access to the city in Melbourne which is amazing because you sort of as a person you just get used to this inner city Melbourne and when you take a classroom of children, you look at it through a different lens, you get the kids to really sort of inquire into the street art, the museum.
Gorgi: So what would your advice be to teachers who are considering coming to Victoria with a teaching career?
Tegan: I'd say just do it. I think the schools that we have in Victoria are so diverse with regard to how they look the kids that are in there, from different nationalities to kids with different needs different families, people from different parts of the world that are coming into Victoria so that diversity I love.
Trudy: But just, you know, parents also feel really comfortable to bring their culture to school, and like Chinese New Year we have the dragon, and parents do a dance and it's incredible because
Gorgi: There's a richness there
Trudy: There is a huge richness. It's really amazing.
Tegan: But also I think the opportunities that we have outside of school to be able to go and do the things that we want to do they give us that happiness and that joy that we need for our own time.
Gorgi: To fill your cup outside the classroom.
Tegan: Absolutely. Yeah.
Trudy: Yeah, and Victoria for me, I can probably speak more about Melbourne. It's just been amazing. You’ve got every sort of suburb that you go to has got its own sort of look and feel. You’ve got it's just all so vast and different and you can have just so many different experiences.
Gorgi: What do you think you bring to the classroom as teachers with your travel experience and what happened in your childhood in different countries that you're exposed to?
Tegan: Being in an international school in Saudi Arabia, I was around people, you know, all different races and cultures and I feel like I just developed and been able to be accepting and welcoming of students in my class who bring their own beliefs and values.
Gorgi: And Trudy, you've worked in Cambodia, in the UK, you've worked in New Zealand. How does that affect you as a teacher in terms of what you can give the kids?
Trudy: With the Cambodia travel, I’ve been able to take kids on that journey without actually taking them to Cambodia. We've managed to raise money to take over to Cambodia for the kids to supply them with clothes and shoes and books. With my travel opportunities, I've been able to link it into the school and the kids to really understand that they are very fortunate.
Gorgi: Trudy and Tegan, I can tell you’re both such passionate teachers, and such lucky students to have you. One of the moments that make you realise just how magical teaching is and that fill your cup as educators, if you had any of thos? Or what sort of things happen in the classroom, that make you walk home a little bit puffed up and inspired?
Trudy: I have those magical moments every day. I've been teaching for 24 years. So it continues to blow my mind at how clever children are and how when you get the chance to sort of have a one-on-one conversation with them, how you can really sort of delve deeper into talking about their thinking. An example would be if they've got a piece of art that they've done, and as a teacher, you're like, oh, that's nice and pretty. And then you'll look talk to them about their art and you know, they can talk about the story and they talk about things that you didn’t even notice in the art, like just that sort of connection to really, you know, get into their thinking to see how curious. They’re incredibe.
Tegan: The relationships, you can't go past that. In the morning, the kids are often bounding into the classroom before classes even begun to say hi, and if it's been the weekend, I miss you. Yeah, I just love the relationships that you've built kids and they're all so unique and different. So you have different relationships with different kids and getting to spend that time one on one with them and building that rapport and having those inside jokes with the class.Yeah, love it.
Gorgi: Well, Trudy and Tegan, thank you so much for joining us and for sharing your experiences. What lucky students you have and, we hope you keep teaching in Victoria for a long time. Well, that brings us to the end of today's episode, thanks for watching Subject Matters. And for more information about teaching in Victoria, and why it might be the right career for you. Visit vic.gov.au/ teachthefuture. See you next time.
[End of transcript]
Updated