From Child Refugee to Thriving Primary Teacher - Vivian's Story

Teach Starter

During the pandemic, as a profession, teachers have been concerned about our students’ learning. We've been putting intervention strategies in place to prevent learning loss, whilst remediating knowledge gaps caused by periods of remote teaching and learning.

Today I’m joined by Sydney teacher primary Vivian Roszkowski. As a teenager, Vivian was one of many students around the world who, even before the Covid19 pandemic, encountered enormous challenges to learning, and disruption to their education. Vivian, at age 14, became a refugee. The obstacles Vivian faced, and overcame, when trying to complete her own education, give her daily inspiration, empathy and connection to the children she’s taught though the pandemic.

You’ll hear about how Vivian’s family fled war-torn Iraq in 2003, made it to Syria, also in conflict, and undocumented refugees like Vivian and her family were not allowed to work or attend school. She’ll take us through her family’s desperate attempts in applying to many countries seeking asylum, and her journey to Australia, where she had no English, was eighteen years old and had to catch up on her schooling in order to make it into her teaching course at uni.

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