Daniel Kelly – Bachelor of Education (Teaching)
After graduating from the Bachelor of Education (Teaching), Daniel had some reservations about going straight into teaching. When he was offered a non-teaching role working with children, he realised how many transferable skills he had gained from his degree.
“I was planning on going into teaching when InZone offered me a job supporting hostel Maori and Pasifika students. It’s similar to teaching in that I’m managing the day to day academic stuff with the boarding kids so I decided to take it and run with it.
“I love the flexibility of my role. You can’t get that in teaching. Plus, I partly didn’t want to have a class of 30 kids at the age of 21 – but I still live with 50 of them!
“What I do love is being around kids. They give me life and the willingness to get up in the morning.
“I could never have coped with this role without the degree. I go back to the simple papers, like the first-year psychology paper that’s still so relevant – especially living with kids in a boarding environment. I tend to forget they are teenagers going through developmental changes so it’s great to have that theoretical knowledge and be able to apply it.
“I didn’t think I would leave university and go straight into a non-teaching role. I thought maybe 10 or 20 years down the track I could branch out once I had teaching experience, but I didn’t realise how much a person with education experience and a degree in Education can actually be quite in demand.
“I’ve just signed a contract with Te Wananga O Aotearoa to teach the Manaaki Tāngata course. It’s teaching adults, which is completely different. Who thought a primary trained teacher would be able to teach adults?
“The whole reason they got me in there and why they want me to teach on it this year, is because of my education experience and my passion for education. Hopefully I’ll fill my class up with either student teachers or beginning teachers who want to learn a bit more about biculturalism.
“If there’s one thing that the Bachelor of Education taught me, it’s that it’s about
relationships and that’s the key to it.”