Personal and professional goals
I am constantly striving to unlock the potential of education and technology as a vehicle for growth and development.
Overview of qualifications, skills and areas of expertise
After completing my BA in Film & Media Production and Psychology at UCT, I completed my postgraduate studies in Psychology (Honours and Masters with distinction) at Rhodes University.
While practicing as a Counselling Psychologist in the areas of sport and performance psychology, I also lectured and supervised the research of postgraduate psychology students. With an increasing number of my teaching experiences transitioning to an online learning environment my focus shifted to enhancing the performance of students through online learning design.
After having learnt in, taught on, and designed online learning experiences I brought this unique skill set to bear on the challenges in training Chartered Accountants. My role brings together the domains of learning experience design, student support and data analysis to enhance students’ learning experience and drive engagement and student success.
Why are you proud to be a part of the CA Connect team?
The team really cares about using education to make a positive impact on the world. That can sound like a cliché, but it’s refreshing to work with a group of people who genuinely believe in that goal.
Which of the CAC Values appeal to you the most and why? (Real, Care, Learn)
You would think with my background in psychology, that Real and Care are the values I’d be most connected to, but it’s actually Learn. I am drawn to the way in which learning can unlock potential and love the opportunities to learn something new.
Explain if and why education has the power to change South Africa?
Yes, education undoubtedly has the power to change South Africa. Education can facilitate a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us, allowing us to make better decisions for ourselves and for our communities. But it is by no means an easy task. The systemic challenges that our country face, make improving our education system difficult. The issues of inequality that influence access to quality educational experiences are at the core of the challenges we face. Online learning is not immune to these problems, and we need to actively work to ensure that the opportunities that online learning provide are realised by ensuring that we don’t end up entrenching the same inequalities we see in traditional modes of education.
What does the CA(SA) qualification represent to you?
This is quite a tricky question for me to answer, as I’ve come into this world from a completely different domain. My experience of the CA(SA) designation is that it carries a lot of status, and is highly sought after. The journey that one goes through to gain the title is a tough one and, in some respects, I think this enhances the status that the title has. For many of our students achieving that designation is a lifelong dream. While it often signals significant rewards in terms of job and financial security, many students appear to benefit from having proven to themselves what they’re capable of, and take that deeply held confidence with them into their careers.
If you think of the word “successful,” who is the first person that comes to mind and why?
To be honest when I think of successful people my initial thoughts are strongly influenced by what we’ve been conditioned to think of as success in our society. I think of successful sportsmen and women, like Serena Williams, or musicians or film stars like Leonardo Di Caprio. We’re taught to believe that success is something that one gains by climbing the steps to the top of a particular field. Often, we celebrate those who do it the fastest, or the most consistently, without any apparent struggle.
As a result of this cultural narrative of success, it requires a conscious effort for me to think of success differently in my life and in the lives of our students. When I think of our most successful students I don’t necessarily think of our top performers. I think of the student who passed the PGDA on their 5th attempt, the student whose marks climbed from 30% to 50%. It’s those students who I believe are truly successful. They’ve done far more to reach their potential, than the few top performers who often benefit more from luck and circumstance than we care to acknowledge.
If you could put up a saying on a banner that was displayed around the country, what would it say and why?
I probably wouldn’t put anything on a banner for everyone to see 🙈 I think my truth, my meaning, is often not the truth for others. I would rather hear what they have to say, than impose my thoughts on them. But since you’re asking, I would probably steal from the Holstee Manifesto:
“This is your life. Do what you want and do it often.
If you don’t like something, change it.
If you don’t like your job, quit.
If you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV.
If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing things you love.
Stop over-analysing, life is simple.
All emotions are beautiful.
When you eat, appreciate every last bite.
Life is simple.
Open your heart, mind and arms to new things and people, we are united in our differences.
Ask the next person you see what their passion is and share your inspiring dream with them.
Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself.
Some opportunities only come once, seize them.
Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating.
Life is short, live your dream and wear your passion.”
What does the future of education look like to you?
Vastly different. My educational experience resembles that of my parents but will be fundamentally different to that of my children. For a long time, education has been an entrenched system. As the problems with the system have become increasingly evident, and as new technologies have unlocked opportunities to do education differently, we have, and will continue to, see change. In higher education I believe work and learning will grow closer together. Good online learning experiences are going to continue to allow people to integrate their studies into their careers. We’re going to have to develop solutions that allow for “life-long learning” as the knowledge and skills we require to navigate the world and our careers are changing at a rapid rate. Educational experiences that are flexible and tailored to the individual will increasingly become the gold standard as we depart from models that have expected everyone to learn the same way, under the same conditions, at the same pace.
If you had to define the role of a “teacher”, what would it say?
Someone who cares first for their students. Someone who can empathise with the struggle that true learning requires. Someone who can see where students need to get to but allow them to find their own route there.
