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2008 winner - The Phillips Prize

This prize is awarded to the graduand with the most outstanding academic and professional record in the vocational education field of practice, in the Bachelor of Education in Adult Education.

1. What is your current occupation?
I am employed as a full time teacher by TAFE NSW, Western Sydney Institute. I work at the Nepean College Kingswood Campus where I teach Hairdressing to Trade Apprentices, TVET and Certificate II students.

2. What student achievements helped you win the award?
I firmly believe that the support and friendship of my colleagues from Western Sydney Institute (Team WSI) with whom I studied the BEd, contributed to my achievements, as too did the patience and understanding of my family, friends and work colleagues.

On my part, dedication, hard work, commitment, stubbornness and a strong determination to always do my best helped me to win this award. I completed additional reading and research, took copious amounts of notes in lectures, asked questions, and listened to what the lecturers and other students had to say; the value of peer learning should not be underestimated. 

I could not have achieved this award without the wealth of knowledge, experience, professionalism, dedication, encouragement and support provided by the UTS lecturers. In particular: Ian Cornford, David Taylor, Anne Bartlett-Bragg, Shirley Saunders, Peter Russell, Jim Athanasou, Keiko Yasukawa, Rick Flowers, Nicky Soloman, Sue Knights, Leanne King, Don Gillies, and Ron Brooker. Thankyou all for providing me with the inspiration, drive, knowledge and skills required to achieve this award. 

3. How have you used the content of the BEd in your occupation?
Where do I start? I honestly cannot think of a single thing I learned at UTS which has not yet been implemented some form in my work. From the first day I stepped into a lecture room at UTS I began using what I was being taught. The bonus of concurrent employment as an educator with TAFE whilst studying the BEd provided the perfect workplace in which to utilise the theoretical concepts I was learning. It also gave me the opportunity to implement these in practice, enabling the further development and fine-tuning of my teaching skills.

4. Where do you see your career and lifelong learning heading?
Having always been a lifelong learner, and someone that is constantly seeking to better oneself I cannot imagine giving up studying any time soon.

My current goal is to complete the TAA04 by RPL through UTS in 2008. After taking a well earned rest and spending some quality time with my family, I would dearly love to return to UTS in the future to complete a Masters in Adult Education. Beyond that who knows; I am fairly certain though that there will be something else to study.

 As for my career, we will have to wait and see. Predications are that there will be many changes in the role of educators and in the way we do things in the future. E-learning and the implementation of more flexible delivery practices meeting all stakeholder needs, especially industry in my field of Hairdressing, will be the major challenges ahead.

I would like to one day become a Head Teacher in TAFE. For now though, I am content to put what I have learned at UTS into action. Utilising my newly developed knowledge and skills to be the best teacher that I can be, for the benefit of those whom it is really all about; the students! They are my priority, and without them I would not be able to do what I do. The future is very bright indeed.