Guidance Officer Week: Meet Jennifer

It’s Guidance Officer Week and we’re meeting some of our amazing guidance officers around Queensland. From troubled teen to guidance officer, Jennifer Davies from Kingaroy State School told us how she uses her life experiences to connect with her students in a rural primary school in the Darling Downs South West region.

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“I had some troubled times in my late teens and really struggled to find my feet when I left high school. I lived regionally, and university seemed too far away and way too expensive. I spent many years without direction, feeling unfulfilled, and I moved around a lot.”

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“I wanted to help young people but was also passionate about writing so I was torn between being a social worker or an English teacher. I enrolled in a dual degree in Human Services and Education, and when I was on a teaching practicum I learned about the guidance officer role. It instantly became my goal and felt like the perfect combination of my dream careers.”

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“I love being a guidance officer. It is a unique role in the school, very different to teaching and unlike other leadership positions. No two days are the same and you don’t always know what to expect, so it is an interesting, challenging and rewarding career. I really enjoy working with young people and I care deeply about their success, so I find helping students to be highly motivating work. I feel a strong sense of purpose in this role and I am excited and inspired regularly.”

 “I have highly supportive senior guidance officers and guidance networks around me, and those connections are really important. There is excellent collegiality amongst guidance officers. The connections and trust you get to build with students, families and staff are amazing and a true privilege, I think that’s what I love the most about this job.”

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“I am grateful and proud to be a guidance officer.”

For more, see the Department of Education’s guidance officer page: https://education.qld.gov.au/students/student-health-safety-wellbeing/student-support-services/guidance-officers