What do you do? I teach natural area restoration / applied environmental management at TAFE (currently on maternity leave).

How long have you been doing it? I’ve been in the industry for 12 years, 6 years at TAFE. (I’ve got a BSc.Environmental Science).

How did you get into it? I was in local government for a few years, first as a bush regenerator then as a bushcare volunteer coordinator. I applied for a permanent teaching job at TAFE not thinking I’d get it because I had no formal teaching qualifications or experience. But I did get it!

Do you enjoy it? I LOVE the teaching and I love being out in the bush with students. But.... the amount of stupid, inefficient administration I have to do and working for a big, clunky, resource-strapped bureaucracy really, really gets me down sometimes.

If you could do any job in the world would you still do it? Hmmmm.... yes for now, but in the future I’d really like to be working to protect endangered ecological communities more directly.