Senior Teacher at Starship Children's Hospital

Cushla Brown says teaching methods have to be imaginative in order to stimulate her students. Picture / Graeme Sedal

Name: Cushla Brown
Role: Senior Teacher at Starship Children's Hospital
Hours: 40 hours per week, 8am to 5pm.
Qualifications: BA (English) and Post graduate Diploma in Education (University of Auckland). Advanced Commercial Teachers Diploma (Christchurch Teacher's College)
Salary: approximately $60,000 pa plus special allowances

Describe what your job involves

As senior teacher at Starship Children's Hospital I am in charge of the day-to-day running of the school in Starship.

I also teach secondary oncology students and secondary students in Auckland Hospital.

The students in Auckland Hospital are taught while in their beds but occasionally they come over to Starship and work with me and maybe another student.

There are five teachers in Starship and two teacher aides. In 2005, a total of 340 individual students went through the Starship unit, some fairly short term. Some, of course, return as re-admits.

We're part of Northern Health School which has teachers working with high health need students in hospital or their homes from the top of the North Island down to New Plymouth and across to Gisborne. There is also a Central Health School and Southern Regional Health School.

What is involved in setting study up for children at the hospital?

We visit students on their third day in hospital and discuss their schooling with them. We enrol them if they are going to be in hospital or recovering at home for more than 10 days. We contact their school to find out what they would be studying, then give them work that corresponds to that. The students who are medically able to do so attend our classroom with other students. We work at the bedside of students unable to attend the classroom.

Long term students could be having chemotherapy, heart or lung transplants, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis etcetera. Students off school for a long period often go on to study by correspondence.

How much planning goes into each student?

Once we've contacted the student's school we find out what the student's class is working on and will be working on while the student is with us. We then prepare the resources required to continue the student's programme so that it matches what they would be doing if they were at school. This involves us finding the most appropriate resources we have available to us. We need to be creative and inventive in delivering the programme so that students out of their usual environment continue to feel motivated and engaged.

What sort of training or experience do you need to do the job?

You need to be a qualified teacher with several years experience, preferably with experience teaching across several levels.

Your history behind getting this role?

I taught in secondary schools in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.

I was then a careers adviser for The Correspondence School working with students in Waikato, Wellington and the Wairarapa.

I have also held the role of liaison officer at Auckland College of Education.

Why did you choose this line of work?

Initially I was asked if I would work with secondary students who were at home because of ill health and therefore unable to attend school. It was a new service and I was keen to be involved in something new and worthwhile. After I had been in the role for a year, the position of senior teacher at Starship became available and I thought it was a good opportunity to experience the hospital side of our teaching service.

What skills or qualities do you need?

You need to be a teacher who relates well to students and their families, be flexible, compassionate and have a sense of humour and of fun.

Best part of the job?

The students and wonderful colleagues.

Most challenging part?

When students die. It is not something that happens all the time but there are periods when two or three students die around the same time. Generally though, students recover and return to school.

How would you define success in this job?

Seeing students succeed. Seeing students return to school and achieve after being off school for a long period of time. Students returning to catch up after they have left and you can see they are doing well.

Advice to someone wanting to do the same thing?

Work in a variety of schools and teach across many levels.

What next for you?

I've been awarded a Woolf Fisher Fellowship in 2007 to visit hospital schools in the United States and possibly London.

I've also received study award to complete my Masters in Education. This includes research into the benefits of education for students while they are undergoing treatment for cancer.