New Albany teachers keen to change lives for the better as they kick off careers in education

There are always plenty of first-day jitters at the start of a new school year. Parents are nervous about sending their children off for their first days and students are worried about how they might fit in at new schools or a bigger school. And teachers can feel nerves too. However carefully they have prepared for the year ahead, unexpected challenges can soon arrive when students walk in to their classrooms after the first siren. Two Albany teachers facing that experience for the first time this year are Albany Senior High School maths teacher Nick McBeath and Flinders Park Primary School’s Timothy Maisey. The two teachers each bring experience from workplaces outside the education sector. Mr McBeath is already a familiar face at the school. He has worked there part-time for the past two years while completing an online master of education course through Australian Catholic University. He is also a former ASHS student, having graduated in 2011, who has worked as an engineer and then went on to open a bike store in the South West. He completed his masters as part of the Teach for Australia program, which is designed to get university-trained people with specialist skills from other industries into teaching. He said he decided to become a teacher because he knew the impact quality teachers could have. “I was lucky enough to have a teacher who changed my mindset around education and made me really value the importance of being an inquisitive and lifelong learner,” Mr McBeath said. “It is great to be teaching back at my old school. “When I started Teach for Australia, it was 10 years since I had graduated from school, and I found myself teaching with a number of my old high school teachers which was a surreal experience.” He said he wanted to return to the school because its values still resonated with him. “We have a fantastic leadership, teaching and administration team and I’ve found it really rewarding being able to contribute to a positive school culture and community that I have such fond memories of,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to getting our upper-school engineering studies program off the ground in 2023. It’ll be great to be able to take what I have learnt in my career and distil it into a course that is accessible to our Year 11s and 12s.” Mr Maisey is a mature-age teaching graduate who has left behind a career as an architect, most recently working with the WA Country Health Service. He also said he completed his masters in primary education course because he wanted to make a positive difference in people’s lives, which stemmed from time working as an education assistant and disability support worker. “Everyone needs to follow their heart, passion and what they are drawn to,” he said. “I would encourage anyone to consider teaching. “There are very few professions where you can make a positive lasting impact — teachers can change lives. “I am looking forward to getting to know the students and helping them on their learning journey.” Mr Maisey made a move from London to Denmark with his family 16 years ago. He said the region’s natural beauty was the “main attraction” that led to the move. “My work life outside the region has taken me from London to Melbourne and Auckland, including working for banks, publishing companies and media companies in software development and project consultancy,” he said. “Outside work I am an active member of the Denmark Surf Life Saving Club and am involved in the junior nippers program on Sundays.” Mr McBeath also highlighted the natural landscape as a big drawcard, describing it as “the best place in the world”. “It makes it easy to live an active outdoors lifestyle,” he said. “I’ve also loved being back close to my family and friends and watching everyone move into the next chapters of their lives.”