For teacher Kathleen Becker, a HealthCarePlus Grant for Good meant a year of full-time study, renewed energy and a mission to keep struggling students in school.
After 23 years in the classroom, Kathleen Becker knew something had to give. The Kelston Boys High School teacher had spent more than two decades teaching Photography and Visual Arts, with a dual role in pastoral leadership as a Dean since 2012. It’s rewarding work, but relentless.
“Teaching is a high-intensity, heavy-workload profession and it can take over your life,” she says. So this year the 48-year-old did something she’d always wanted to do: she went back to university to study full-time towards a Master’s in Secondary School Leadership through Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.
“I knew I needed a change of pace,” says Kathleen. With her two sons now 16 and 19 and largely self-sufficient, the timing was right.
“I wanted to challenge myself to do something hard, and they say a change is as good as a rest.”
Kathleen’s research project, which forms the final part of her Master’s, tackles an investigation into the issues facing students with chronic absenteeism in single-sex boys’ schools in low-decile communities. She is working with five similar schools to identify what strategies work to re-engage students.
“It’s a problem I have experienced with my own children, and I support numerous other whānau through my school to deal with this issue. I hope to return to my school with a full kete of tools and strategies that our team can use to support our young men to get the best out of school,” she says.
For Kathleen, the grant from HealthCarePlus was a great help when a large student loan simply wasn’t an option for her. When a colleague who’d heard about the Grants for Good program through the PPTA pointed her toward applying, she did so, and found the process refreshingly straightforward.
“The grant has cut my student loan in half,” says Kathleen. “This has meant a significant reduction in stress for me while I cover the mortgage and all the costs associated with parenting two teenagers on a single income.”
The grant also changed what was possible for Kathleen with regards to her balance of work and study. “Without it, I dare say I would be completely burnt out at school and not giving it my best.” Six months into the study and her colleagues are noticing the change in Kathleen when she pops in for visits. “It’s such a gift to be supported to be a lifelong learner.”
For anyone hesitating over an application to Grants for Good, Kathleen advises people to go for it. The process, she says, was very straightforward, and she has felt well supported.
Kathleen will finish her Master’s early next year and return to her school with renewed energy and a clear goal of stepping into senior pastoral leadership and shaping the policies that lift attendance and outcomes for students and staff at her kura.
“I aim to put the research and learning I’ve done into practice and enhance outcomes for everyone. I feel truly refreshed and ready to go back.”
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