Thirty years ago Ruth Williams and Helen Dixon taught juniors in adjoining classrooms at May Road School in Mt Roskill. On Thursday, 25 September the lifelong friends will graduate side-by-side with Doctor of Education degrees from The University of Auckland.
Ruth and Helen are both Acting Associate Deans in the Faculty of Education and admit their careers have followed spookily similar paths.
"We became friends at May Road where Ruth was a beginning teacher and I was an early career teacher. We both became Deputy Principals at the same time, and we both started teaching at the Auckland College of Education (now the Faculty of Education) in 1991," Helen says. "We started our doctorates together and now we are graduating together."
But Ruth and Helen’s closest similarity is a shared passion to see primary teachers furthering their careers and professional development through higher education.
Ruth and Helen were among the first wave of teachers to return to University to pursue high-level academic qualifications above their initial teacher education diploma. Between them, they have also taught many of Auckland’s teachers who have upgraded from the diploma to a degree
Their doctorates both explored areas where they perceived a gap in our understanding of teacher knowledge and experience. Ruth’s doctorate looked at the impact on practising primary teachers’ professional identity when upgrading to a degree from a diploma. Helen’s doctorate investigated teachers’ beliefs, understandings and use of feedback in the classroom.
Completing their doctorates at the same time meant they could always call on each other for advice and support.
"There are always times when you are completing a doctorate when you think it’s all too much and you can’t do it - but we were able to keep each other going when we doubted our abilities. Graduating together is very special for us and for our families," Helen says.
