“Something was missing:” From public sector to teacher

Wednesday 26 August 2026

After completing her Bachelor of Science majoring in psychology and economics – followed by a Masters in industrial and organisational psychology - Siobhan found herself working for the government in human resources and policy.

She enjoyed the public sector, but coming up on five years in the job and looking at what a senior role might entail, she found herself asking whether she wanted another five years of the same.

Part of the problem, she says, was that she couldn’t see the impact of her work.

"I found it difficult putting in a lot of effort and not seeing exactly where your work was going. Writing reports you're not sure anyone was going to read. When you write a school report, you can be guaranteed that someone's going to read it!"

Siobhan went to an Information Session at the TTI campus in Parnell, Auckland and says three things settled it for her: in-person workshops rather than online study, being placed in a school from day one rather than doing shorter practicums through the year, and a bursary that made the whole thing financially possible.

"I really enjoy coming to the workshops and meeting with other like-minded trainees, learning from them and sharing stories, and then going back to school and implementing straight away what we’ve learnt. I don't think I would have done it any other way."

Siobhan is now training to teach Year 9 Social Studies and Year 11 Commerce and has already found herself teaching a Social Studies class on how the government actually works. "Having the background and the credibility to bring into the classroom made it a really fun lesson.”

At the mid-way point of her training, she’s glad she made the change.

“I really wanted a job that was based in the community where I’d be working with

people. I wanted something that was in person, every day. I also wanted something

that would give me more variety – not just showing up to do the same thing each

day.

Teaching has ticked all those boxes for me, and I’m really happy I decided to go for

it.”