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Our Advanced Diploma of Education provides the opportunity for you to broaden your skills and knowledge in educational support.

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Here’s a story from two of our recent graduates, Sheryl Holmes and Leonie Dixon, from Alekarenge (NT).

Their journey in education began as assistant teachers at their local primary school in the mid-2000s.

To provide a quality education for the children in their community, they enrolled in a certificate course at Batchelor Institute to improve their job opportunities and learn new skills to better support teachers.

Neither of them imagined they would go on to study for a total of five years and graduate from an Advanced Diploma of Education (Paraprofessional Education worker) and become important role models for their family, community and the children of Alekarenge school.

When asked what has kept them going all this time? They told us, the love and support of their family and supportive and inspiring Batchelor staff.

Here are their personal thoughts.

Sheryl: I have learned a lot during my studies, it’s been great. It’s taken a long time, but it’s been worth it. Our Lecturer Lawrie really helped us to keep going. Sometimes it is hard when you have a family to support and issues to attend to, but Lawrie would call us and email us and keep us on track. And Evelyn the senior lecturer helped us negotiate with our work to get a study day on Friday’s and Lawrie would skype us and we would go through all the things we needed to do. He even came out and did a week in our community that really helped, and it was good for the community to meet him and get to know what this study was about.

Leonie: We both wanted to do it for the kids, to be role models for the kids. Both of us became grandmothers during the time we have been studying with Batchelor, she laughs and working full time at the school. It’s important for us to show our community if we can do it, they can do it too. Lawrie has been our most consistent lecturer since 2017, so we have really got to know him, and he has got to know us too and that has been great. In the beginning, we had a few different lecturers that came and went and that was hard but since Lawrie started, we have been on track and that’s what made the difference, all the support and engagement with us and our community. We are really looking forward to graduating in Alice Springs in October this year at the Community Graduation and all our family will come down to be a part of the ceremony, it will be a very proud moment for us all.

Batchelor Institute lecturer, Lawrie Webster said, “Having been a teacher and principal in remote schools and now a lecturer of assistant teachers I am fully aware of the hurdles that educators in communities must negotiate to enable them to complete even the most basic of study. For the advanced diploma students to have come so far and completed their qualification is an enormous achievement.”

Batchelor Institute lecturer, Evelyn Schaber said, “We are very proud of the students. With the success of this 2020 graduating group from Advanced Diploma in Education, we are now discussing with the Department of Education new pathways for students to progress through to degree level, to become fully qualified teachers, which is very exciting indeed.”