Lifelong Learner Stories
#ALW2023 Learning Ambassador Sunil Abbott
Sunil Abbott, aged 69, migrated to Australia from India in 2011 with the equivalent of a Year 12 education. He struggled to adapt and had little or no knowledge of…
#ALW2023 Learning Ambassador Belinda Flavel
Belinda Flavel, now 42 years old and a single mum to her 6 year old daughter started university at the age of 35. She didn’t finish year 10, because a…
#ALW2023 Learning Ambassador Grahame Neville
51-year-old Grahame Neville has worked in the same job in the laundry department of his local hospital for almost 30 years. It wasn’t that he lacked ambition. Grahame had been…
#ALW2023 Learning Ambassador Deanie De Boer
Deanie 46, struggled throughout her school years. She found it hard to keep up with her peers and her teachers labelled her as below average academically. She never dreamed she…
From school drop out to dreams of uni
In 2019, at age 15, Mikayla was disengaged from school, and started Certificate II in Career Pathways at Deniliquin TAFE. She proved to be a good student, and completed several…
Lillie means business
Lillie had struggled with the mainstream school education system and was looking for a change, so she could enter a career in business studies. She began studying at TAFE NSW…
Annette is a mentor and role model
Annette was a participant in one of the basic gardening courses run as part of an outreach program of the Sydney Botanic Gardens. When the course funding expired Annette, who…
Learning to read opens a new chapter
Kim has always wanted to learn how to read, but thought she would never be able to. She has found reading and writing difficult since she was a child, and…
Nuk is making a better life
Nuk and her family fled to Thailand from Myanmar when Nuk was around five. She had little access to education and growing up she was discriminated against and excluded because…
Harrison’s determined to make a difference
Harrison enrolled in an adult education program at Moss Vale TAFE Campus after overcoming significant life challenges, including homelessness, Cerebral Palsy and generational poverty. His determination to rise above his…
English helps Alena settle in
Alena moved to a regional community in Tasmania from Poland for her husband’s work, without knowing anyone in the area, and with limited English. Alena is from Belarus and speaks…
Mary rebuilds her life through study
In February 2019 Mary and her family lost their home in the Tingha Plateau fire. On that day Mary and her two children fled with only the clothes on their…