Last year, Claire successfully completed her Bachelor of Education (Teaching) Early Childhood Education specialisation (BEd(Tchg)ECE) at the Faculty of Education and Social Work. She had been a consistent high achiever throughout the programme. This year, because of her high grades, Claire starts the new Master of Education programme that allows entry direct from a bachelors degree.
“I never really liked school as a child. My attitude through high school was ‘get enough to pass’. I had no intention of going to university, nothing like that. My sister was very much a high achiever and … I thought, ‘Oh, I could never do that!'
“I lived overseas for ten years and worked in London for six (of those) years as a nanny. I have always been interested in early childhood and children. So (three years ago) I decided it was time to do something a bit more official — and that’s how I ended up in early childhood (education).
“I didn’t really know enough about early childhood (education) but I knew that the early childhood age group was the group I knew well and enjoyed working with. When I started doing my BEd(Tchg)ECE studies, I felt like I had found my thing.
“I work really hard and am quite committed but I couldn't have achieved as I did without the support of my sister and my friends (from my cohort). My friends and I all wanted to do really well and we made each other better.
“I liked coming onto (Epsom) campus, being in lectures and engaging with people. I found that a lot of my experiences as a nanny informed the things that I was learning at university. Everything started to click in my mind and I was just really enjoying my studies.”