Carly Walsh taps into her dance background to help students find their way forward

Sydney teacher Carly Walsh’s dance mentors inspired her to go into teaching and to help students find alternative pathways into work and study.

A scholarship to study dance performance at university was the catalyst for Carly Walsh to realise she didn’t want to be a professional dancer.

“I thought about why I liked dance so much and it all came back to the teachers I had. I stumbled into this space because of their mentorship,” she says.

“School was hard for me, I wanted to be another person to connect with kids and help them through that time.”

Walsh, 40, worked in department schools for nearly a decade before joining GOAL College, a non-traditional school for students seeking alternate pathways into work and further study.

It follows a core teacher program, where teachers have the same 20 students for two years. In addition to the HSC curriculum, students undertake coaching and work placement days.

“I love the balance between teaching, mentoring and building a connection with kids to get them interested in school,” Walsh says.

Carly Walsh with students Madison Eddie, 16 and Mia Warne, 16 at at GOAL College in Ultimo. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“The majority of our students have had challenges in school. The concept is we get them in with their interest in sport and explore the way they like to learn. It gives us freedom on how we can assess them – rather than deliver written texts, they can demonstrate their learning.”

One of Walsh’s achievements was devising an online HSC curriculum around sporting excellence, so students didn’t have to choose between school or sport.

“After online learning during Covid, I knew we could do this. Students WFH, do videos and send them in so we can see evidence of learning put into practice,” Walsh says.

The original inspiration was regional students who had to leave home for an education, but it’s been embraced by young athletes juggling early morning, midday and evening training with regular school hours.

“They were told they can’t do both. They can, we just need to shift the goalposts,” she says.

“If we can just not put everyone in a box, we can find something even better outside of it.”

Walsh found her teaching career through her love of dance and reminds students that their lives can change course.

Teacher Carly Walsh has devisied an online HSC curriculum around sporting excellence so students don’t have to choose between school and sport Picture: Tim Hunter.

“Telling young people they can only be good at one thing, they have to pick now and that’s the path they’ll travel on travel on is unfair,” she says.

“What I initially thought the program would be is not how it played out. You have to ask the questions; what do we need? How do we pivot? How do we make it work for the kids? I have to be learning along the way with them.”

“A lot of programs are designed with data, but no program should be implemented with the destination in mind, it should be an evolution with the kids. They tell you how it’s going to work, what they need and you ask how to get them to the next stage.”

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Originally published as Carly Walsh taps into her dance background to help students find their way forward