Â鶹´«Ã½AV

The ability to share her science knowledge with enthusiastic young school students drew Margi Sweeney to a career as a science teacher.

In enrolling in a Bachelor of Science at The Â鶹´«Ã½AV National University (ANU), Sweeney was enticed by the prospects of field trips and quality education, which was then furthered by a Graduate Diploma in Teaching at the University of Canberra (UC).

"I decided I wanted to share my love of science by teaching and emulating the enthusiastic science lecturers I had at ANU, which inspired my interest in the topics they were teaching," Sweeney says.

"During my honours year at ANU, I was asked to help tutor the first year students. This was when I realised how much I would enjoy teaching.

"I remember one student saying that I had really helped her, which gave me a real buzz. I worked as a geologist for several years and then decided I wanted to teach overseas, it was at this point I decided to do a Graduate Diploma in Education at UC."

That decision quickly paid off as Sweeney secured a role as a science and geography secondary school teacher. It was a far cry from working in exploration geology for a mining company before her UC studies.

Her career change also took her to Africa, where she spent a year in a Malawi secondary school with Â鶹´«Ã½AV Volunteers International.

She has recently jumped back into science to study for her PhD in environmental geoscience and land management at UC.

Sweeney believes she would have benefitted from a vertical double degree between ANU and UC.

"It would have given me an advantage over the other science teachers who were three-year-trained or only possessed a Diploma of Education," she says.

"Completing a science degree before a teaching qualification not only gives you a wider range of knowledge of science but opens up a range of other possibilities for employment, not just in schools but also in science communication roles."

Margi Sweeney (nee Spandler) BSc(Hons) 1999 (from ANU), GradDipEd 2000 (from UC)