The Transformational Power of Education
Teachers among many others associated with Education are inspired to be and do the best they can, just as doctors are inspired to also to be at the top of their game and engineers are inspired to meet the varying needs of our modern society.
But let's be honest Teaching is also hard work and involves a lot of planning, research, meetings, marking, student consultations, among many other responsibilities. Like many other professions it is easy to lose sight of what the endgame of all that research and planning is, it becomes as with many jobs just another job.
This post however exists to tell everyone associated with Education two things, never underestimate your influence upon peoples lives and why I am so passionate about wanting the best for the future direction of both our Higher and Vocational Education.
My life has had within it various circumstances which initially limited the number of Educational opportunities available to me. This did not impede me from holding down a job for over half a decade within the concreting industry, although it did have a certain crushing effect upon my sense of morale.
Some years later after I did eventually enter Higher Education to study within it the discipline of Welfare, suffice to say various subjects and ideas opened my eyes to a completely different way of seeing both the world and myself. It would not be a stretch to say that it and subsequent study which followed at other universities served to give me a reason to live.
This ability of Education to constantly surprise with new ideas and to peek curiosity as to where when and how they can be applied, has never gone away. Its ultimate achievement however has been to foster a passion within me for the transformational power of teaching and Education, as well as to want to work within an industry that is able to invest so much within people beyond just a certificate here or a degree there.
It is an attribute of our Education that should be both fostered and protected, as it is not overstating things to say that Education can quite literally save peoples lives. No it is not meant to be Lifeline or Beyondblue but Education gives people a focus and a reason for being here, in some instances if my life experience is anything to go by it will be what drives them to be their best for the rest of their lives.
Yes there will always be challenges and life will never be problem free, however if we can succeed in giving people a dream which says to them "this is why you are here!", then Education will have done more than just develop the next generation of workers. It will have developed people who have a deeply rooted reason for being who they are and practicing the skill set that they possess.
There are so many dimensions to the Educational industry and some of which have been greatly challenged in recent years gone by, next however to convincing politicians of the merit for which Education exists is a more important goal of convincing those that participate within it that there is a dream and a vision that they can grab hold of.
Get this right and a lot else will follow. People after all come into Education not to buy a degree diploma or certificate, they come into Education to buy a dream. Funding dilemmas will always continue to exist as will philosophical debates about what to teach and to this end, papers and reviews will continue to compare the merits of different models in the search for the "silver bullet" to innovate Education.
However if we always hold onto the truth that at the end of the day our mission is to inspire people beyond their wildest expectations, then we will never lose sight of why we are putting ourselves through so much to try and to resolve such issues.