About me!
“I started school at five years old and never left.”
I grew up in New Zealand in a farming family of nine children. I am neurodivergent and I was definitely not an academic success at school. I think this is to my advantage. I know how it feels when the way you learn does not necessarily fit the way education is delivered. It shapes how I continue to question how we educate children.
My life as a teacher began in New Zealand in 1987. Since then it has taken me to Uganda, to working with refugees in a camp in Nepal, to many years at Currambena, a democratic school in Sydney. I worked for six years as Principal of Redfern Jarjum College, a primary school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
In 2022, a group of Elders, educators and committed indivudals formed a company called CommunityXchange (community sharing knowledge, expertise and experience to create change) and we opened Murray-Toola Damana Ngarra Ngurra (Many Hands Learning Place) in Mt Druitt, a First Nations preschool created with community. It is where much of what I have learnt through listening, research and experience is now being lived and developed in practice.
I continue to ask the question: is this the best for the child or the children, or is this simply because we have always done it this way?
I believe every child has the right to thrive.
I do not see myself as an expert on Aboriginal culture or Aboriginal children. Aboriginal Elders, families, carers, educators and children share their knowledge, experiences and perspectives with me. I see myself as a conduit and an advocate, with a responsibility to acknowledge where the knowledge comes from and to respect the people who entrusted it to me.
My role has been to listen, learn, bring together what people shared with me and, at their request, help carry those voices forward.
I combined what was shared with me with the knowledge I had gained through my own educational experiences and the knowledge and research of the academic world. From this, I developed an outline of a model of education in which First Nations children can thrive.
My doctoral thesis, First Nations Children: Investigating Elements for a Successful Education Model.
I approached the research from a positive position. The research questions included:
What constitutes a successful school?
What are the elements of an education model in which First Nations children can thrive?
These questions continue to guide my work today.
From Research to Practice
The PhD was never intended to sit on a shelf. In 2022, the research began to move into practice through Murray-Toola Damana Ngarra Ngurra (learning place) in Mt Druitt. The Learning Place gives us the opportunity to explore what education can look like, embedding culture, identity, knowledge, relationships, experiences and strengths. It is not a finished model. We continue to learn from the Elders, children, families, educators and the community around us. We try new ideas, question, change, and keep asking:
Is each child thriving?
