Australia’s Best Teachers: Offering a second chance at education

Compass Catholic Community learning facilitator Roshanna Bull helps young South Australians find a way forward.

Roshanna Bull doesn’t know what each day will bring.

A learning facilitator at Compass Catholic Community in Davoren Park, SA, her role is to work with young people aged 17-24 to help them discover something meaningful for their lives and futures.

Compass – an alternative learning environment – opened in January 2022 with the aim of supporting young people aged 17-24 who have previously disengaged from traditional learning, whether through mental health challenges, family or money issues, not connecting with formal educational models or other reasons.

After a teaching career that started in Balaklava, SA, before moving to the Northern Territory to work as a home tutor and then teacher in an Indigenous Community School, Ms Bull joined Compass as part of the foundation staff before its official opening.

“I love that it’s really different and meaningful,” she says. “It is hard and challenging but excellent at the same time.

“I can’t ever plan my day. Previously it would be, “Lesson one, I’m teaching such and such, lesson two is this’. Whereas now it depends on when the young person walks in and how their time at home has been, what their night before has been like, whether or not they’ve had breakfast. It depends on what they’re able to do for the day, but also what they want to do.”

The diversity of her students’ interests – and challenges – means Ms Bull has to work hard to stay up-to-date and relevant to keep up.

Compass Catholic Community learning facilitator Roshanna Bull with students. Picture: Russell Millard

“Some of my young people are doing things about graffiti, some are doing cooking and others are diving deep and exploring pathways into future careers and university,” she says. The secret to success? “I find the one thing that young person loves or wants to talk about. That gives me an in and then I google or research it and start conversations with the young people.

“I don’t do graffiti but now I talk with my young person all the time about graffiti – where I’ve noticed it, what’s cool and what’s trending. I start following things on Instagram they like just to keep relevant.”

Aside from teaching, Ms Bull’s role at Compass also encompasses that of student mentor. “We’re often the consistent person in their life,” she says. “I know lots of my own young people appreciate if they’re not here the ‘just-to-check-in’ text message to say, ‘Hey, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you’.

“They don’t often have people in their lives who do that, so having someone at Compass to be that non-judgmental, safe person, is so important.”

For Ms Bull, her students’ success is her joy. “For them to be able to see what their future could be like is the best. To show them there is opportunity for everyone is exciting.”

Follow our Australia’s Best Teachers advocacy series, in partnership with Officeworks, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, Education Perfect and BigAss Fans, via this link.