Seeing students lives changed

Seeing students’ lives changed every day inspires former primary school teacher Heather Daly in her work as an Education and Employment (E&E) tutor.

I was working as a primary school teacher three years ago, when I saw the advert in the Ashburton Guardian. I liked the idea of working in a supportive, church-based environment and I wanted to make a difference.

I went from teaching five-year-olds to teenagers and adults. It was a sole-charge position and was scary at first. On my first day, a young man would bang his head on the wall to get my attention, and when he got angry, he threw his things around the room.

Early on, three students stole money from my bag. Straight away I suspended them and then met with them and their families and set down the rules. As a consequence, I had them working in gardens for six weeks during their lunch breaks. All three protested, because they were not used to consequences. I found the respect came in quite fast after that, because they realised they couldn’t push me around.

My classroom is a place where my students and I treat each other with respect, where students feel positive about learning, and where their learning is purposeful and they feel they belong. I try to help students see their potential.

What keeps me here are the kids. If I’m sick, I come in, because if I don’t no one else is going to be there for them. When they first enrol at the centre I say to them, ‘Sorry, but as soon as you come in my door you’ve got me, because I care’—I can’t help but care.

I’ve got a student who’s moved here to live with her grandparents. She’s 15, she’d been brought up in a Mongrel Mob family, so she’d done it all, drugs and everything, by the time she was 13. She said she doesn’t want to do that anymore. She was kicked out of school and told there was no point being there. Now, every day, she comes and talks to me about what she’s achieved that day. She’s great.

This year, a student succeeded in getting his NCEA level 1 and 2, where school and his parents told him he never would. He got the job of his dreams, working with machines and computers in an apprenticeship that will take him around the world.   

Coming here, his world turned from bullying, hatred and failure. His learning abilities grew, he exceeded what he thought he could do, and his views on the world changed to reflect hope and success.  

From last year’s learners, one went on to further study and three are full time at Dick Smiths. One is a full-time construction worker, another a painter and one an engineer. Three ladies are full-time mums. They had all been told they had failed at school and would not succeed. They proved society wrong.

They say students learn from their teachers, but I have learned from them to persevere through any obstacle and see the positive in everything. They are resilient and an inspiration.

The students do make me cry sometimes, because of the extra effort they make to get where they’re going. This job is who I am, my passion, my calling, my place in the world.

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by Heather Daly (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 22 August 2015, pp9.
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