Two career changers have brought decades of professional experience into the classroom, with Rochester Secondary College teachers Emma Rigney and Andrew Cassin finding an unexpected home in regional education.
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Both teachers relocated from Sydney to Rochester through Teach For Australia, making the move from established careers in television production and corporate advisory to teaching.
For Ms Rigney, the decision to become a teacher followed a career in TV production that had taken her overseas. Having grown up in small country towns, she wanted to give regional students greater exposure to arts and culture.
She discovered Teach For Australia while looking into pathways into teaching and was attracted to the program’s regional placements and support.
“I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that when I got older I’d be a teacher, I just didn’t quite know how to get there,” Ms Rigney said.
“I’d love to pay a little of that back, because regional kids don’t often get exposed to a lot of the cultural stuff you see in the cities.”
She had never heard of Rochester before being placed at the school, but said the town had quickly made an impression.
“I’m very happy in Rochester, it’s such a welcoming town,” she said.
“The community’s much closer, especially having been through floods together, so there’s a real closeness there.”
Now teaching visual arts and media arts, Ms Rigney said the transition from television production to teaching had been more challenging and stimulating than she expected.
“Teaching has literally blown my mind,” she said.
“The masters study and the actual teaching has re-wired my mid-50s ageing brain.”
She said the biggest surprise had been how demanding teaching was, but also how reinvigorating the career had become.
“I feel younger and really challenged,” she said.
Ms Rigney said her previous career had also given her skills she could bring into the classroom, particularly for students interested in creative careers.
“Rochester is full of amazing young people with all sorts of skills and talents,” she said.
“If it’s a creative path, I can help with that, and I see those kids already with the drive, talent and the curiosity to try something different.”
Mr Cassin also arrived in Rochester after deciding his previous career no longer provided the satisfaction he was looking for.
After 20 years in corporate advisory, mostly as a self-employed consultant, he turned to teaching through Teach For Australia and relocated from Sydney.
“I found it just wasn’t satisfying anymore, and I wanted a change, so I moved into teaching through the TFA program,” Mr Cassin said.
Like Ms Rigney, he had never heard of Rochester before being placed there, and said having other Teach For Australia associates in the town helped ease the transition.
“It’s a long way from my family, who’ve stayed in Sydney,” he said.
“But there are a number of other Teach For Australia associates in Rochester too, which helps.”
Mr Cassin now teaches humanities to students from Years 7 to 10, with one of his biggest highlights being watching students who struggle academically discover an area where they can excel.
“There was one kid who struggled, but we were doing a task he really connected with, and all of a sudden he was completely in his element,” he said.
“It was just really nice to see him shining in an activity.”
The transition has also challenged Mr Cassin in unexpected ways, with teaching requiring constant attention and quick decisions in the classroom.
“I didn’t expect it to be so full-on,” he said.
“As a teacher, you’re ‘on’ all the time.”
Despite the demands, he said he intended to continue teaching in a regional or rural community after completing the Teach For Australia program.
“The primary reason I got into the program at the outset was to be a difference-maker in the lives of kids who wouldn’t otherwise have access to a teacher, and that remains my primary motivation,” he said.
For both teachers, their experiences in Rochester have challenged expectations about what their next careers would look like.
Ms Rigney said she had expected to remain in NSW but had been surprised by how much she enjoyed regional Victoria.
“I thought I would always live in NSW but regional Victoria has been a pleasant surprise and there’s no reason not to continue living here,” she said.
Mr Cassin encouraged other experienced professionals considering a career change not to assume it is too late to enter teaching.
“It’s never too late, and the kids really appreciate someone coming along from a different walk of life,” he said.
“It can expand their worldview and help them realise what is possible if they work hard enough.”
For both teachers, the move to Rochester has provided more than a new career, with the close-knit community and shared experience of flood recovery helping them settle into a town they had previously never known.
Their experiences also highlight the role regional schools can play in attracting people with professional experience from outside the education sector and bringing new skills and perspectives into local classrooms.