“I’ve said to many people - my friends, family and co-workers - that enrolling in the maths Leap course was the best decision I ever made.”
Joshua was a primary school teacher when he decided to look at retraining through the Leap Program, “I started my education career mainly working with kids in Years 5, 6 and 7. At the time a colleague suggested that I have a look at switching to high school maths, because Year 7 was transitioning upwards at that time, and it seemed like a no brainer to do.”
Josh is now a maths teacher at Melville Senior High School and believes that specialising in one subject area has allowed him to hone in on different teaching techniques, classroom management and cooperative learning strategies that really help the students focus on maths. “Maths can be really exciting, really fun, really hands on and engaging! My previous experience of mathematics mainly came from my own education, so I went into the Leap course essentially knowing what I had learnt at high school myself.”
“I love being a high school teacher. I love where my career has taken me. I love where my career is headed. I would definitely make the same decision if I had to again, and I would certainly recommend it to other teachers as well.”
Joshua Barker is the 2017 WA Education Awards People's Pick winner.
