Ben Goris.
August 26, 2014.
Auckland based Ben Goris is swapping computers for children as he embarks on his new career in early childhood teaching.
Ben has been working as a self-employed I.T. technician, but has always had an interest in working with children.
He began by volunteering at a holiday club and for the last two years has been volunteering at a local kindy for two days each week.
Ben says his volunteer work has been hugely rewarding and he is hoping that by training as an ECE teacher he can further his commitment to working with young children.
“I found it to be inspiring and more sociable than my IT job,” he says. “I love being able to teach, share knowledge and work with teachers and parents to help their children to shine and get a great start in their education, as well as helping to give them great life skills”.
Encouraged by the reactions of the children he looked after, their parents, and teachers at the kindy Ben has enrolled in a Bachelors degree in ECE at UNITEC.
So far, he says, the course has been extremely interesting and he is looking forward to using his newly learnt theory and skills to benefit children.
He has used his prize from the Men in ECE Invitation Award to buy text books needed for his course and says he is grateful for his grant, which has helped remove some of the financial pressure of studying.
Once he has completed his course, Ben intends to become a registered teacher and will be looking for work in an ECE service, where he says he hopes to be an “effective, positive role model for the children”.
