Life-long Learning

After two years and eight assignments, I have finally submitted the final assessment task for my Grad.Cert. Middle Years Education. To say that it was a challenge is an understatement!

It had been 23 years since I had last hit the books and written an assignment. Balancing the demands of school, home and uni was very difficult, but there was no opting out. You see, in order to gain my Full Teacher Registration in Queensland, I had to become '4-year trained'.

I graduated from Armidale College of Advanced Education in 1990 with my Diploma in Teaching - a 3-year course, then embarked immediately on my first teaching adventure to Coonamble, NSW, and never looked back!

Between surviving my first years in the classroom, planning, teaching, travelling, getting married, having babies, buying, renovating and building houses, moving states, starting new jobs, becoming a basketball mum, working in a boarding house and still teaching, there were not enough hours in the day to even think about further study.

After moving to Queensland for a second time, it was necessary to register with the Queensland College of Teachers and this is where it all came unstuck! To be given Full Teacher Registration in QLD, I had to be 4-year trained. This meant I would have to go back to school.

I was initially quite excited by the prospect - my children were older and not as demanding, and I was no longer full-time in the classroom with my new position as Head of Middle School. So, I eagerly started looking for courses.

My first roadblock was finding a course that related to my passion - Middle School, and I could not find a '4th Year' course that focused on this age group. So, I started looking for Grad.Dip. courses, until I was told I had to choose a Grad.Dip in any other field than Education (as it had to be in a different area than my first qualification). I did not qualify to apply for my Masters (as I only had a Diploma, not a Bachelor Degree). So, I was left to search for a Graduate Certificate course (of which I must complete 2, in order to meet the criteria for the QCT). Seriously?! Four years to gain an extra year's qualification? You've got to be kidding me!

So, here I sit after two years of part-time study, on the cusp of gaining my Grad.Cert. in Middle Years Education and having to begin the search for yet another relevant course that will keep me engaged and excited for another two years - jumping through hoops for bureaucracy, but hopefully coming out the other side a fully registered and better informed educator.