A demanding year re-training now offers greater opportunities for St Barnabas parishioner Becca Sewell

Young Adult Leader Jo Cotton spoke with Becca Sewell recently who is about to complete her Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care from ARA, about her experience this year and why she decided to do it.

What made you decide to go back to school and study for a diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care?

I decided to go and study for my diploma, after losing two jobs to Covid19 in 2020. I looked at the different options around and found that the Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Care was the best option for me. It is offered at Ara Institute of Canterbury, which was a good fit for me. After looking at the options, I believe that becoming a kaiako (teacher) in early childhood education was something that I believe to be hugely important. It's an area that I believe I can do great things in and set children up with a strong foundation for all their education.

What have you found to be most challenging?

The biggest challenges for me about going to study this year have been the fact that I left high school at 7th form (Year 13 now) at the end of 2000 and haven't been in a classroom or learning environment since. So having to get my mind back into that was a challenge. Also being someone with dyslexia, was a challenge and having to learn at a tertiary level presented its own challenges - but Ara has a great range of help available to students and that made it easier. Having a lockdown early into the second semester and having to learn online was also a challenge, especially when it came to making sure I understood what I was learning. Again, our tutors were great in helping us with what we needed.

What have been some of the highlights?

The highlights from going back to study have been meeting new people and making new friends. Having other people know how stressful it is and being able to support each other through this has been great. Also realising that being dyslexic is a blessing and comes with more benefits than I realised - gives me the opportunity to look at education both as an adult student and from the children's perspective as learners.

What are your plans for next year?

My plans for next year - 2022 - is to find a job in a preschool, Kindy or other early learning centre and put my qualification into action. My qualification also gives me the chance to go for jobs as a nanny. I am currently in the process of trying to find a job in a centre.