Developing Your Career at Gowrie
Learning and development is a core part of Gowrie’s culture. Gowrie is known as the place where generations of teachers and educators have come to learn and we have a broad approach to professional development by providing our people with opportunities for formal learning, collaboration and new experiences.
Professional learning for our team includes:
Coaching Programs / Leadership Development / Traineeships / Accelerated Degrees / Communities of Practice / Annual Staff Conference
Investing in our people’s careers includes encouraging study and providing opportunities for career progression. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and there are many different career pathways. Have a look at some of these examples of our people who’ve developed their career at Gowrie.
Nicole, Executive Manager
Nicole is the Executive Manager, Early Learning and a member of the Executive Team at Gowrie Victoria. Nicole has extensive experience as both a teacher and leader in early childhood settings as well as in adult learning. Her current role focuses on building the capability of teachers and educators through mentoring and coaching programs.
Leslie, Early Childhood Teacher
When he first left high school, Leslie started studying business. It didn’t take long to realise business was not for him. A part-time job in a before and after-school program revealed a passion for helping children. Growing up in a family of seven with parents who migrated from Samoa to New Zealand and then to Australia gave Leslie a strong foundation for working in early childhood education.
Molly, Early Childhood Teacher
Molly always knew she wanted to work in early childhood education and so soon after finishing school, decided to complete her Certificate III, quickly followed by her Diploma and then finally completing her Bachelor of Education. Molly now works as an Early Childhood Teacher at Carlton North, where she enjoys the spontaneous learning which stems from the natural curiosities of children.
Nicky, Kitchen Assistant
Lunch marks Nicky’s favourite time of day – it’s the moment a group of young faces will appear at the open kitchen window and ask “What’s for lunch, today Nicky”. Nicky has been working with Carlton Learning Precinct educators to involve the children in the kitchen with regular baking sessions to build a strong community connection at the service.
Rukmini, Early Learning Manager
Rukmini takes great pride in her identity as a female leader of colour at Gowrie Victoria. Her pathway to Early Learning Manager at The Harbour has been long and varied, but Rukmini says her strengths and development have been well supported along the way. As a leader, she enjoys working with people and has a keen interest in diversity and inclusion.
Liz, Educational Leader
Initially starting out as an Educator at Carlton North, Liz is now an Educational Leader at Carlton Learning Precinct and has just resumed her career after returning from maternity leave. Whilst every day is different, you’ll often find Liz doing tours for families at CLP and being immersed in the children’s program with the Educators and children.
Bassima, Early Childhood Educator
Leading Broadmeadows Valley’s Arabic language program, Bassima is a highly respected leader in the local community. The program, delivered twice a week, allows children to explore the Arabic language and culture through songs, puppet shows, stories and books, games, cooking, gardening and flash cards.
Megan, Assistant Manager
Megan is hugely passionate about working with children and began her Gowrie journey in 2018 as a trainee. She now has her Diploma in Early Childhood Education and works as the Assistant Manager at Broadmeadows Valley. As a visual learner, one thing Megan loves about working at Gowrie is the hands-on aspect of the learning, as seeing everything in action is a lot different to theory on paper.
Kelly, Lead Facilitator
Kelly completed her Certificate III and Diploma attending night classes whilst caring for family. She has worked across various roles at Gowrie until finding her place in adult education training educators studying for their Cert III and Diploma with Gowrie’s RTO. Kelly’s role involves training and assessing students to deliver high quality education and care to children and providing mentoring and guidance to educators and facilitators.
Amanda, Early Childhood Teacher
Amanda absolutely loves working as an Early Childhood Teacher at Clare Court in Yarraville. Her favourite aspect of working at Clare Court is taking the children to learn at the nearby creek every day as part of the Out and About program. She is also thankful for the creative freedom she has to run education programs without relying on strict frameworks or guides.
Ashley, Early Years Leader
As a father of two grown-up children and an early childhood educator with almost 20 years’ experience, Ashley knows a thing or two about children. Ashley is aiming to establish a father’s group in the Broadmeadows Valley community, with the focus on helping fathers engage with their children from birth.
Julie, Consultant & Coach
Julie has 37 years’ experience working in the Early Childhood sector in a wide variety of settings including kindergarten, long day care, schools, and a major paediatric hospital. As part of Gowrie’s Coaching & Mentoring team she supports teachers and educators across Victoria as part of the School Readiness Funding program and mentors provisionally registered teachers through the process to full registration.
