Olivia Firmin and her son Austin.
Olivia Firmin always thought she would love to be a teacher but after a tough time at school and a late dyslexia diagnosis she was worried she didn’t have the skill set. Then at aged 20, she had her son, Austin.
After Olivia (31), and her son’s father split up nine years ago, she realised that she wanted to show her son that women - and especially mothers - can do anything.
“Austin was doing really well and I wanted to put myself first for once, which felt so foreign.
“I didn’t want to just be Austin’s mum, I wanted to be Olivia too, and I had been doing so well in my jobs it gave me the confidence to try.”
Her successes at work made her realise she was more capable than she had thought, and gave her the confidence to apply as a mature student to do a Bachelor of Teaching endorsed in early childhood, to teach tamariki aged 0-6.
“I always wanted to be a teacher but as I going through the school system I didn’t have a lot of encouragement and always though there was something wrong with me, especially because I wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until I was 18.”
When you have this discourse all your life though, about not writing articulately, always getting things wrong or being a slow learner, it’s hard to change that narrative, Olivia says.
That’s why graduating this week is such an important moment for her.
“For me getting this degree hasn’t just been part of the journey, it has really been the biggest confidence boost. I’ve realised I truly am capable.
“It’s been a real labour of love, and a lot of hard, hard mahi and sacrifice but it’s also just been amazing.”
At first Olivia was just thrilled to be at university, on the path to becoming a teacher, but there was another unexpected outcome.
She began discovering things about herself, and her culture.
Her nana is Māori and being at university gave her the opportunity to make cultural connections she didn’t know she needed.
“I made these lovely spiritual connections to my culture and realised that as a teacher I really wanted to practice biculturalism, te ao Māori and tikanga Māori.
“At first I was just happy to be able to pass a paper, and then it progressed so much. The connection that my studies have given me to my culture has been really life changing; I know that’s cheesy.”
For her placement, Olivia worked in a bilingual centre and says it was one of the happiest experiences of her life.
“I told my lecturer, ‘you’ve given me a gift that will go on through my children. My son is now using the te ao Māori practices you’ve taught, like caring for resources and the land and I am so proud of him’.”
Austin, and Olivia’s parents will be at her graduation. Their support - including looking after Austin on many nights while she was in the library - means she couldn’t imagine graduating without them by her side.
Kōrero by internal communications adviser Alice Billington