You might not expect to find your future career in the middle of a Vietnamese holiday, but that’s the way things worked out for Kate Dewar.
“I had a couple of years off after college and I volunteered as an English teacher in Vietnam, which was a really good experience for me,” recalls Kate.
I guess it kind of showed me that teaching was an option, which is something that I hadn’t considered before.”
“Then I came back to Tasmania and worked in a bank for a year, which I found a bit boring.”
“I decided that I wanted to keep learning, so I went back to uni.”
After Kate graduated from a Bachelor of Arts – with a major in English – she went on to do her Master of Teaching, where she had placements around the state.
“The Tasmanian demographic is unique and education in Tasmania has its own specific challenges,” says Kate.
“And when we do have low rates of adult literacy in Tasmania, changing those things and encouraging people to value education is really important to society.”
“It’s good to learn from Tasmanian staff who understand those challenges and have worked in Tasmania.”
Today, as an English teacher at Hobart College, Kate’s passionate about how she can make a difference to students.
It’s a rewarding job – you can see why you’re doing it every day.
“It’s a lot of fun. You can be having a really bad day, then you have your time with your class and they’ll make you laugh or pick up something or you’ll have a good lesson.”
“My hope is that I’m able to help – even if it’s in a small way, I want to have some sort of positive impact on every student that I teach.”
Interested in Education and Teaching? Apply now to study a Bachelor of Education (Primary) or Master of Teaching.