Kate didn’t always have a passion for teaching, unlike many of her classmates in the Master of Teaching course. In fact, she studied a number of different areas before landing on teaching as a potential career.
Her undergrad was in Comms and Media, followed by a Graduate Diploma in history, she wanted to be a psychologist for a while, and also had an archaeology unit under her belt by the time she was recommended for Honours.
“I was interested in the psychological side of teaching,” Kate says, “things like process management and focusing on attention-seeking behaviour.”
“When I went on my first prac I didn’t really know what to expect because I knew a lot of people who had bad experiences, but I just had the best time ever.”
“I kept thinking ‘what if I just stand there and can’t do it’, but it was the complete opposite. I got along with the children really well and made relationships really fast.”
Though teaching hadn’t been in the forefront of her mind as a job, Kate does admit that the Master of Teaching helped her realise how well well-suited she is to the profession. She loved school, loved her teachers, and even took a personality test to find out what profession would suit her and received teacher as her ideal job.
I think the big advantage of the Master of Teaching for me was that I feel so much more involved and active in the actual studying. When I was studying history it was all facts, facts, facts, which I loved, but the Master of Teaching is leading me to a job, I will be a teacher at the end of it.