Two women in central Victoria are among those making a career change and taking up a graduate teaching course at La Trobe University this year.
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Kelly Fenton, from Echuca, and Rochester resident Madeleine McCarty were offered positions in the first round of graduate teaching offers released this month.
“I was pretty excited,” Miss McCarty said.
“I liked going to uni the first time around.”
Miss McCarty already has a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in communication studies, from La Trobe University, finishing her studies in 2012.
Since then she said she had done “a few different things”, including a business certificate through the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme.
But with some teachers in her family, including a brother who graduated a couple of years ago, she thought teaching might be a good career for her.
Miss McCarty said she liked being around kids and wanted to become a primary school teacher.
“(I want to) inspire them, and do the best I can to prepare them in their early years,” she said.
She said the first time she went to university she had no concrete plans as to what she would do at the end, but she was excited this time around she had a clear pathway into a career.
For Miss Fenton, the decision to study teaching was a natural progression from her current roles.
A naturopath, she also works at the Campaspe College of Adult Education, and has found she likes teaching.
“I just enjoy it, and I feel like it’s something I’ve been quite good at when I’ve had to do it in clinics and now as a trainer,” she said.
Miss Fenton said she was also looking for more continuity in her career, and teaching offered the added bonus of a timetable more in line with the needs of her children.
She has applied to study teaching in biology and human health development, because of her background.
She said she felt her different experiences, including teaching people, and her passion for health had led her to this point.
Round two offers for graduate entry teaching courses will be released tomorrow.