Daniel   Science Teacher             Who do you work for? Education Queensland What does your job involve? Teaching science and helping students to develop thinking skills, problem solving techniques and rational decision-making abilities by studying the world around them. My job involves engaging students with worldly phenomenon, encouraging students to question worldly occurrences, and assisting students to seek answers and explanations for these occurrences via scientific methods of inquiry, experimental and non-experimental research. What do you like most about your job? Being able to interact and communicate with young people, knowing that I’m assisting them to make a brighter future for themselves and a brighter future for our community. What are the perks of your job? Being around young people all the time, I believe that my job keeps my mind and attitude “youthful”. What is the most unusual or fun thing you’ve done in your job? The most fun thing is being invited to go on the school ski trip to New Zealand. The most unusual thing happened on a field study trip at Heron Island. I had to orchestrate a team of students to systematically count ALL the sea cucumbers around the Heron Island Coastline. What inspired you to choose a career in this area? Teaching is about helping young people develop thinking skills, often independent of the content being taught. I get so disheartened when I hear young people express negative views about science, especially physics. Science often gets stigmatised as being too hard or boring. I guess I wanted to change young people’s minds by showing them that science is fun, relevant and crucial in their development into being young adults. How did you get to where you are now? I completed my Bachelors of Applied Science first, and after working a few years, I re-enrolled to do my post-graduate Diploma in Teaching. I applied for a job with Education Queensland and was fortunate to be given this teaching position since 1999. Who or what has been an inspiration to you? When I first came to Australia from Viet Nam, I didn’t know much about anything. At 9 years old, I met a friend who unconditionally helped me with anything and everything. He never made me feel stupid or dumb for not knowing something. I guess he planted the teaching seed in my heart. Thank you to Mirek Cech. Furthermore, my Father and my high school physics teacher both inspired me to finally choose this career path. What’s the best advice you’ve been given? If you can make a positive difference in just one child’s life, then none of the effort you’ve put in was futile. What training/qualifications do you have/need? I have a Bachelors degree in Applied Science majoring in Optometry. After that, I completed a post-graduate Diploma in Teaching majoring in Physics. Today, to be a teacher you can do a four-year Bachelor of Teaching degree, or you can do what I did with an Undergraduate Degree followed by a post-graduate Diploma/Degree in teaching. What subjects did you study at school? In my senior years, it was pretty much Mathematics and Science. I did English, Maths 1, Maths 2 (equivalent to Maths B and Maths C today), Physics, Chemistry and Senior Graphics. What are your career goals/plans for the future? I’m quite happy with my current role as a science teacher. Teaching does offer people a variety of future career goals. You can pursue more “teaching style/content development”, or “administrative management”. Because I like to have the daily interactions with student learning, I’d like to be more involved in curriculum and work program writing. Perhaps in the future I may consider roles involving counselling and guidance. What career opportunities are there for people in your field? The career opportunities are varied. Teachers can specialise into specific areas, including computing and technology, special needs education, resources management, student services and welfare, and administration. Not only that but the skills obtained from teaching go towards bettering one’s opportunities in any other career path. What is the average starting salary for a graduate? $25-35K I have yet to meet a teacher who was in teaching for the financial reward. The primary reason why teachers continue to teach is the fact that they enjoy spending time and interacting with youth.
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