Page 5 - Education Supplement August 2025

s Letter
Editor’
hen I first sat down to plan this
issue, I knew the theme needed to
Wbe more than a headline. It had to
reflect what’s really happening in education –
not just in schools, but in homes, offices, and
boardrooms where decisions are made about
other people’s children.
Because if we’re honest, the system we’re all
working in wasn’t built for the full range of human
experience. It wasn’t built for every kind of learner,
every kind of mind, or every kind of life.
And that’s why this issue isn’t about keeping
things the way they’ve always been. It’s about
asking better questions.
What would it look like if mainstream education
truly included everyone? Not just in policy
documents, but in classrooms, in corridors, and in
daily practice.
These aren’t abstract ideas. They are real, urgent
conversations happening at kitchen tables, in
staff rooms, and during late-night searches
for solutions. They are questions that matter to
parents, educators, and learners right now.
In this issue, you’ll meet the people trying to
answer them.
From Advanced Assessments, who are breaking
the cycle of learnership-for-survival and building
real career pathways for youth, to the team at
Cub Club, quietly changing what learning feels
like in overcrowded classrooms.
You’ll read about BTEC at EDU360, an
international qualification that offers a different
route for learners who don’t fit the academic
mould, but who thrive when given project-based,
real-world challenges.
You’ll find stories about neurodivergent inclusion,
where parents and teachers are learning to
collaborate rather than collide, and you’ll meet
young adults facing unexpected barriers, like the
learner’s license system that was never designed
for the way their brains work.
Education | August 2025 | 3
Nicola Killops
And then, there’s the piece that brought it all full
circle for me.
When I walked into Broadacres Academy to
interview Colleen Traviss-Lea, I was expecting a
conversation about educational leadership. I wasn’t
expecting to find myself sitting across from my own
high school English teacher – the woman who first
taught me to love words. The woman who, all those
years ago, helped shape the path that eventually
led me here, editing this very magazine.
We talked about the real work of teaching. The kind
you don’t always see on paper – the work of shaping
humans, not just ticking off curriculum outcomes.
Her philosophy hasn’t changed. The tools might be
different now, but the heart of it is the same.
And that’s why this issue matters to me. Because
education is supposed to do more than prepare
students for exams. It’s supposed to prepare them
for life.
It’s time to move beyond one-size-fits-all thinking.
It’s time to build systems that are flexible enough,
human enough, and bold enough to meet learners
where they are – and help them get where they
need to go.
I hope the stories in this edition give you something
to think about, something to challenge, and
something to carry forward.
Because full-circle moments are rare. But
meaningful change? That is something we can
choose to make happen – every day.