Thinking about postgraduate study?

This is Annalise’s experience at Avondale

Meet Annalise Vaovasa, a Master of Teaching (Secondary) student at Avondale. She came to the university college having previously completed a Bachelor of Medical Science majoring in research, anatomy and physiology at another higher education provider. What prompted the move into teaching as a postgraduate and why at Avondale?

The answers: a plan and the personal learning environment.

Annalise had planned to study teaching after completing her first degree. “I was going to work, get a bit of life experience, travel the world, then go back and study to become a teacher.” She chose Avondale because of its reputation for building community in class. “I went to a big university for my bachelor’s and there was no sense of community there,” she explains. Her parents studied at Avondale, so Annalise also wanted to experience what they had.

Returning to study has been challenging. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Annalise laughs. Still, she is considering doing further research at Avondale after completing her coursework “because I will get to explore the spiritual component of my field with a more open mind.” Annalise hopes to combine her degrees and focus her research on cultural communities and their quality of life and wellbeing. For now, she is enjoying the close-knit campus life.

While she has yet to travel the world, Annalise is looking forward to being a “cool, fun and fashionable” biology and chemistry teacher and working as a researcher and social worker in cultural communities (and, perhaps, producing films about those communities).