We all have that one teacher who we’ll never forget, who helped shape us into who we are today. For Yasmin Atwani, it was remembering how much her Year 2 teacher Miss Milne changed her life that made her want to become a teacher herself.
“I believe every child deserves a teacher that believes in them and their capacity to be extraordinary,” she says. “I feel so fortunate to have the rare privilege of being part of young people’s lives every day.”
When Yasmin started school, she only spoke Arabic at home. Her parents, children of Palestinian refugees who fled to Lebanon in 1948, arrived in Australia knowing no one after her father was given a skilled migrant visa for engineering. They wanted their family to remain connected to their culture despite the distance, so they never spoke English to Yasmin, which made it hard to make friends at school and keep up in class. But Miss Milne was kind and gentle, and provided the encouragement she needed. “On a day I was really struggling, I remember her telling me, ‘Where you start doesn’t have to decide where you finish.’ Those words have stuck with me.”
Yasmin is now a secondary teacher and aims to make an impact just like Miss Milne, knowing how important it’s been in shaping her own life. “As a young person going through school whilst experiencing a number of barriers, I came to realise that all it often took to change someone’s life was a single person — and for me that person was a teacher,” she says.
“In looking back at my own journey having entered school not knowing English to completing Year 12 with an OP 1 [Note: Queensland’s pre-2019 tertiary entry system equivalent before switching over to the Australia-wide ATAR. One is the highest mark, go off Yasmin!], I couldn’t help but feel immense gratitude for the incredible teachers who believed in me and unrelentingly invested in my growth.”
After high school, Yasmin completed an education degree at Griffith University, where she found herself having to grow up from student to teacher.
“I would describe my time at Griffith University as being one that truly shaped my identity — particularly in my understanding of who I am, what I value, and in what unique ways I could use my skills and experiences to contribute to my community,” she says. “Having entered the program directly after finishing high school, my focus was really on personal growth that allowed me to transition from the role of student to that of a teacher.”
That’s not to say it was easy, though she felt supported throughout the degree and made connections that continue to offer career and interpersonal support, as she works to make teaching better.
“Establishing a new identity as a high school teacher whilst still being in my early 20s was a challenging aspect of my teaching journey,” she admits. “Particularly in the early parts of the degree, I really needed to be introspective and open myself up to the significant growth that would be really important to helping me achieve my goal of being a teacher.
“I also had a lot of fun at university! I met a lot of wonderful people and made new friends, many of whom I now lean on as my professional network. A lot of the fun of university also came from it being a space where experimentation is encouraged. It provided a supportive space to explore and establish who I am as a teacher.”
The experimentation came through Griffith’s unique emphasis on placements, which Yasmin says equipped her with practical skills she found immeasurably helpful when she became a teacher — and helped her land a gig right after graduating.
“Through the opportunities on offer through the Griffith Honours College, I developed the confidence to contribute to my field as well as a curiosity for life-long learning. I also look back fondly on the rich and frequent professional placements unique to the Griffith Education program. These industry learning opportunities connected me with the right people.”
At the same time, Yasmin says it was a sense of passion and knowledge itself that she treasures most fondly from her uni years.
“I walked away from Griffith University with an unquestionable passion for teaching that only grew from year to year throughout the degree,” she says. “And my experience would not have been the same without the amazing community that Griffith University is, be it staff or students. I take away from these last 4 years not only a degree, but a network of colleagues and mentors that will continue to shape my identity for years to come.”
For anyone considering studying teaching, Yasmin says it’s super important to get to the heart of ‘why’, as that’s what she continually comes back to. For her, it’s a matter of connecting with each and every student, and giving them the confidence to be “unapologetically themselves”.
‘I encourage you to explore your ‘why?’,” she says, “and really establish what matters to you as a leader in young people’s lives. What is motivating you to work with young people? How do you hope to impact and influence their lives and outlooks?… [For me], It really matters that every student feels valued, recognised and limitless in my classroom. I feel I have a significant responsibility in equipping our next generation of leaders with these traits.”
It’s a hefty responsibility, but one that comes with hefty rewards: talking to Yasmin, it’s pretty clear she loves her work, and takes a lot of pride and sense of self from it. Sorry to get a little cliché, but each day is a new opportunity to make her students’ lives better — can you say that about many other jobs? After learning about all kinds of pedagogical practices in her studies, Yasmin also plans to shape how teaching works in Australia, looking beyond just her own classroom to make a difference to the profession as a whole.
“I envision teaching progressing towards a more holistic approach that targets all aspects of the individual,” she says. “I feel it is particularly important for the education industry to continue developing its focus on mental health and wellbeing as well as resilience as these, I believe, now more than ever, are the foundation for a generation of healthy, happy and empowered human beings that are positively able to contribute to society in unique ways.”
If you’re feeling inspired to be someone’s Miss Milne (or Miss Atwani!), make your career matter with Griffith University. If you need a little more inspo, try taking this custom quiz to see what study paths would suit you.
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