Laughter, Dirt and Education

While I may be the host of the podcast and I have to listen to my voice each week, it is definitely strange being on the other side. My beautiful friend, Lauren, from last week’s episode, kindly offered to interview me. I share my journey from teaching to governessing and how it has shaped me as a person. I hope you enjoy getting to know a little bit more about me!

The year 2020 definitely had an impact on us all, but imagine being a student nurse and being thrown into a pandemic. This is exactly what happened to this week’s guest, Lauren Baguley. However, while it threw out her original life pathway, she is now on an amazing adventure and is thriving. To follow Lauren’s adventures of governessing, you can find her on Instagram @literallylifeloz

From completing a course in Zoology, to now living and working in western Queensland, Lily Cronin has definitely had some big changes in her life. We chat about her quick decision to start governessing and how she hasn’t looked back. It is clear that Lily was meant for station life and she has taken on all the adventures and challenges that she had to take!

This week I get to chat with the amazing Tanya Heaslip. Having grown up on a remote cattle station in the Northern Territory, Tanya has gone on to publish three books (Alice to Prague, An Alice Girl, and Beyond Alice) about her life. In our chat we discuss what School of the Air looked like from a student’s point of view and how she transitioned to boarding school, thousands of kilometres away from her family. Tanya’s devotion to the bush is so evident in our chat and I feel so privileged that she was able to come onto the podcast. To find out where to buy any of her books, head to her website, https://www.tanyaheaslip.com.au/ 

Tanya can also be found on Facebook @TanyaHeaslipAuthor or on Instagram @tanyaheaslipauthor

Once again I have had the privilege of speaking with another passionate educator. This week’s guest, Mindy Petersen, knows first hand the struggles that rural and remote children face. After her family moved to another farm, she had to face the daunting move to boarding school. These struggles have truly shaped her into the wonderful person she is today, with it leading to her governessing. Now she works as a teacher aide, while juggling study, and it is clear that she will do amazing things for the education of our rural and remote kids. You can also find Mindy over on Instagram, @learningwithmindy . 

After growing up in Adelaide, Lucy Gower now calls a small town in South-Eastern South Australia home. While Lucy never pictured herself working and living in a rural town, she now loves it. We have a great chat about how she implements the Walker Learning Approach into her classroom, and some of the struggles that she first had as a beginning teacher. After the interview, make sure you jump over to her Instagram page @miss_gower_adventures to see her amazing classroom and all the fantastic ideas that she implements!

In this week’s episode I chat with governess, Kiralee Fuller. After spending part of her childhood in remote New South Wales, she moved to America, before coming back to Australia in her teens. After spending a few years nannying in various area of Australia, this year Kiralee calls a cattle station in remote Queensland home. We have a great discussion around the stereotypes that are present for rural and remote areas, and how we can break these. Make sure you head over to her Instagram @life.of.missk to follow all of her adventures!

This week I catch up with deputy principal, Sarah Taylor. Although she is now in a leadership role, and has been since relatively early on in her career, she speaks about the worries she has and proves that leaders can still doubt themselves. Since moving into her role as deputy principal at a distance education school, she has been exposed to a new way of teaching and is open to continued learning. If you are ever passing through Charleville, it is definitely worth popping into the school for a tour to see how distance education is run. To find out more about the tours that Charleville SDE offers, please see their website: https://charlevillesde.eq.edu.au/tourist-information 

Were you (or maybe you currently are) someone who wasn’t really sure what they wanted to do after they left high school? That was the predicament that this week’s guest, Brittanay Purtell, found herself in. After a few years, she went governessing, and it’s clear in our chat that the life experiences she has had over the past couple of years has shaped her life and allowed her to work out her career path!