Change agents

Thursday, October 27, 2011

New VP’s classroom challenge

Sarah-Jo Huber
Public relations editorial intern
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Avondale College of Higher Education’s new vice-president (learning and teaching) began her teaching career in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a principal at a school for underprivileged children.

“A greater vision:” Dr Jane Fernandez-Goldborough encourages students to learn from the world and bring that knowledge back to the classroom. Credit: Aaron Bellette.

Dr Jane Fernandez-Goldborough’s latest research project is a return to these roots—she is collaborating with colleagues at the University of Malaya on a project critiquing and cataloguing the social artefacts of the Malayalee diaspora. Her focus: possibilities. “It’s about hope, enthusiasm and positivity; it’s about believing in making the best of what we have right now, a kind of celebrating the present.”

Impressed with Avondale’s Christian ethos, Jane came to Avondale in 1985 to study secondary education with a major in English, graduating in 1988. She subsequently completed a Bachelor of Arts with honours and a Doctor of Philosophy through Macquarie University. She joined the staff in 2001. Since then, among other research, she has written a book, The Second Skin: A Critique of Violence, about the sacral violence in the fiction of Indian Malaysian novelist and playwright K S Maniam.

Jane describes literature as the great influence of her life. Left fatherless at eight, she says: “I grew up quickly, and I found a lot of comfort in reading. . . . Engaging with the minds of the great philosophers, scholars and writers has given me some insight into their wisdom, and you try to engage with that and hopefully own it for a little while.”

The challenge of Jane’s new role is to bring that sense of engagement to learning and teaching. She reflects on Avondale’s motto, “A greater vision of world needs.” “It defines who we are, so our learning and teaching has to be not only dynamic and instructive but also meaningful.” Asks Jane: How can learning and teaching at Avondale change lives?

The inaugural Undergraduate Conference, which returns on November 11 this year, is part of the answer. Jane organised the conference to challenge students “to become active participants of learning.” “I want to show students their ideas can change the world if they have the courage to share them.”

Jane speaks of broadening the concept of the classroom. Take yourself out to learn from the world and bring that knowledge back, she says. “It’s about discovering what people need and addressing those needs instead of just saying, ‘I’m writing an essay.’”