Academic high-flyers Cassandra Fuit and Mel Chabert are case studies in strength, determination and the power of learning to change lives.
Earlier in life Cassandra left high school without an ATAR, having been told she didn't have the smarts to go to university.
Mel had been working in her dream job for more than a year and settling into a new promotion two months before she had even received her Graduate Diploma of Education (Early Childhood) .
The truly remarkable thing about these inspiring stories is that they are – in some respects – unremarkable.
"There is a focus on the challenges facing the national education sector and for good reason," according to Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Executive Dean of Southern Cross University's Faculty of Education.
"But in many ways, there has never been a better time, or more opportunity for people to make their mark as teachers.
"Employment outcomes for our graduates run around 100% and many of our students in are in jobs, making a contribution from quite early on in their studies."
Graduating this year, Cassandra proved her high school detractor wrong, completing a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education (Primary/Early Childhood) with a GPA of 6.1 (out of 7).
Her studies were punctuated by the arrival of three daughters and the COVID years, during which she banded together with other parents to establish a home-school co-operative.
Having left school with no plans for higher education, she completed a TAFE qualification and worked in childcare for a number of years before returning to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher.
"I struggled when I was younger," she said. "School and I were not a good fit.
"But that changed as I got older and I came back to uni a different person with a different world view.
"I love it. It feels like it's what I'm meant to be doing.
Mel is a French national, having studied business and marketing there and in the United States, before moving to Byron Bay.
Yearning for a career change, she developed a love of teaching while tutoring friends' children in French.
"I discovered this new interest and I could see it being in my future," she said. "I took time and looked at different universities and their curricula.
"What I really liked about Southern Cross is the curriculum really seemed to be focussed around students and their experiences.
"And the teachers weren't just teachers, they had experience in the profession."
Mel's observations were astute. Southern Cross is ranked among the world's top 100 young universities (Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2024) and has long-standing education research strengths nested in three centres of excellence:
"Our researchers are breaking new ground in how to respond the sort of themes that were unpacked by the Teacher Education Expert Panel ," Professor Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles said.
"This then informs our courses and curriculum, producing graduates who we believe are distinctive and especially well equipped for the contemporary classroom.
"We see the high quality of our graduates as an important part of our mission to help the sector deal with the related issues of increasingly complex classroom environments, questions about graduate preparedness and teachers leaving the profession at unsustainable levels."
It accords with Mel's experience, who was offered work at the child care centre where she undertook her first practical placement.
"They were really happy with me and I really liked the place I was given - they kept me on pretty much full time," she said.
"Whenever I had assignments, I could drop back and focus on them, and at term breaks I could increase my hours."
Two months before she graduated with her Graduate Diploma (GPA 6.38), Mel was offered a more senior role as a teacher, supervisor and educational leader at a long day care centre in Billinudgel.
"It is amazing," she says. "I love it. The community feeling is so strong."
As for Cass, she has been working at Kempsey South Public School – where she went to school herself. And with a principal who had been her teacher in Year 6.
"Kempsey is part of the NSW Government's Connected Communities program," Cass said.
"One of the things I find really satisfying about my job is not just teaching the academic side, but making relationships and supporting students in their development as people."
