When most people would be thinking about winding down on the way to retirement, Catherine Lampe has taken her career in a completely new direction.
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The former public servant is now an English teacher at the Finigan School of Distance Education in Queanbeyan amid a national teacher shortage.
"I have experience in adult learning and development in the public service and I like building capability," Mrs Lampe said.
"I decided that I wanted a new career that both stimulated and challenged me and so that's why I enrolled in the double degree at the University of Canberra to become a high school teacher."
She completed a double degree in writing and secondary education at the University of Canberra in 2021 after eight years of mostly part-time study. She did a work placement at the Finigan School and landed a job there upon graduation.
The school caters for a diverse range of students who are living around the country and the world. It involves doing live video lessons in studios as well as one-on-one sessions with students, teaching to the NSW curriculum.
Technology is the key to creating human connections with students she may never meet in person.
"I'm actually really passionate about preparing my students for life outside of school because I want them to be independent. I want them to find their own pathway and be able to contribute positively to the chosen workplace or any further studies or relationships with others.
"So if my students can communicate their ideas to those around them, they enter their adult lives with lifelong skills and competence."
The 53-year-old said there were other students in her course who had also decided to make the leap into education.
"It's nice to see that people had the courage to be able to do that. It's always easy to just sit back and just keep doing what you're doing because that's easy.
"Feel the fear and do it anyway, I say."
State and territories are coming to grips with a widespread shortfall of teachers, from early childhood through to high school.
Education ministers will be discussing how to address the national shortage at a roundtable discussion in Canberra on Friday.
It will also include principals, teachers and education experts and will feed into the jobs summit in September.
There's plenty of work available for people towards the end of their teaching degrees.
Australian Catholic University deputy head of the school of education in Canberra, Dr Kate Highfield, said almost all of their teaching students were working in schools through the permission to teach scheme in the ACT or the NSW conditional teaching approval.
"More than half of ACU's final year teaching students across New South Wales are filling workforce gaps after receiving conditional teaching approval and they are expected to be offered continuing roles into 2023," she said.
"Also, final year students on their final placements are highly likely to secure jobs afterwards."
Dr Highfield said often people heard the bad news stories about issues schools and teachers were facing.
"Teaching changes lives and we need to remind society of this and encourage students who are considering education to join this amazing profession.
"We particularly welcome people who are considering re-training. Post graduate education, is a great way to bring your current expertise to the classroom."
Joss Kirk found his way to a master of secondary teaching after some travel in Africa, working in landscaping for a couple of years and working as a science communicator at Questacon.
This term he has started working as a science teacher at Telopea Park School and is keen to inspire his students have a curiosity about the world.
"I'm just glad I'm teaching and not digging holes anymore," Mr Kirk said.
"You get paid to be a nerd. It's pretty cool."
Mr Kirk enjoyed being a science communicator but thought he could make more of a long-term difference as a classroom teacher.
"Everyone remembers something from science. So just recently we're doing burning magnesium. You're seeing this cool flare, making sure no one's looking at it, stuff like that's memorable."
The 28-year-old worked hard during his placement at Telopea Park School and was pleased to accept a role for the second semester this year.
He's still navigating the challenges of developing his teaching style and digital resources for his year 7 to 10 classes while ensuring he ticks the registration requirements of the Teacher Quality Institute.
"I think doing relief teaching was a good way of easing into it because you can develop your style and your behaviour management approach."
Mrs Lampe said the support from colleagues and other graduates helped to overcome challenges of starting out in a new career.
"At this stage, there is plenty of work out there if anyone decides that this is a path that they want to go down," she said.
Sarah Lansdown
Sarah covers all stages of education in the capital, from early childhood to higher education. Previously she was a general news reporter at The Advocate in North West Tasmania. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2019 Tasmanian Media Awards for a series on paramedic shortages. Email: sarah.lansdown@canberratimes.com.au
Sarah covers all stages of education in the capital, from early childhood to higher education. Previously she was a general news reporter at The Advocate in North West Tasmania. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2019 Tasmanian Media Awards for a series on paramedic shortages. Email: sarah.lansdown@canberratimes.com.au
