Student Highlights
Ciaran Quinn
Once a freelance designer, Ciaran then trained as a TAS teacher. It was after he retrained in Mathematics at Newcastle, where his passion for teaching was multiplied.
“I worked as a TAS teacher in a variety of temporary roles and had the opportunity to teach a few maths classes in that time. I wasn’t an amazing maths student, but always enjoyed the work. Teaching it brought that enjoyment back,” he said.
After teaching in a variety of temporary roles, Ciaran was determined to secure a permanent position. He told himself he needed to do at least a year of postgraduate study to have the codes to apply for a permanent position.
When Ciaran realised he could do the Mathematics Retraining Program at the University of Newcastle within a year, the decision was made.
“I devoted myself to the retraining program. I completed the full-time online program, while also teaching full time. To add to that, my first child was due to be born 2 weeks before my final exams in the Extension 2 & beyond Calculus course.
“That year was incredibly hard, but I was so engaged in the content it never felt like it was an uncomfortable effort. I did it because I really wanted to be a maths teacher. I did it because I enjoyed it,” he said.
Flexibility was one of the program highlights for Ciaran.
“The flexibility was excellent and being able to do my practicum placement at my current school was fantastic. I wouldn’t have been able to complete the program without the flexibility it offered,” he said.
It wasn’t just the flexibility of the program that made Ciaran have the positive study experience he had; it was also the supportive staff.
“My teachers' passion for tertiary education as it applies to maths was excellent. They knew how to foster a love of teaching and learning in their students and send them off into schools ready to be effective educators.
“Their ability to communicate mathematically stuck with me. How to know the content but talk about it in a way that made it possible for anyone to understand and become excited about. That is so important as a teacher of Mathematics,” he said.
Now the Head Teacher of Mathematics at Asquith Girls High School, Ciaran offers a piece of advice to future students.
“If you have an interest in maths, and want an amazing and rewarding career pathway, consider retraining as a maths teacher at the University of Newcastle. We are a unique subset of the teaching community, and we need more people to love maths and show the students why they should love it too!
“I have had so many students say that they never really enjoyed maths until they saw how it could be made to be fun, playful, and presented in a way that made it accessible. Maths can be such a creative field, you just need to find a way to show students how to harness the abilities they have.
If you told the high school version of me I would love being a maths teacher I would have laughed, but I am so glad that’s the pathway I chose,” he said.
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Ciaran Quinn
Learn how the Mathematics Retraining Program prepared Ciaran for a successful and rewarding career.
If you told the high school version of me, I would love being a maths teacher, I would have laughed, but I am so glad that's the pathway I chose.
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