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Photo caption:��Professor Joce Nuttall, Amo Matua | Executive Dean of Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | ������Ƶapp���� Te Kaupeka Ako | Faculty of Education.

After an extensive career as a leader, educator, and researcher in Australian universities, Professor Nuttall returned to Ōtautahi Christchurch last year to serve as Amo Matua | Executive Dean of Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha�� ������Ƶapp���� Te Kaupeka Ako | Faculty of Education. Her aim in this role is to give back to the University and the education sector.�� ��

“The ������Ƶapp���� holds a special place in my heart. It is where I began my journey when I gave my first lecture while doing my master’s. As I approach the latter stages of my career, I feel a strong desire to make a significant contribution, investing my experience and passion into the profession and institution that gave me my start,” Professor Nuttall says.����

Passionate about education, Professor Nuttall wanted to be a teacher before she even went to school.����

“My maternal grandparents were inheritors of the strong Scottish tradition of prioritising education for girls, which encouraged me to see education as a portal to a world of opportunity from an early age.”��

After starting in primary teaching, Professor Nuttall fell in love with early childhood education, building her career in research and teacher education in the sector.��

“I'm a teacher education researcher, particularly interested in practicing teachers— how they think, learn, and develop their practice. I want to know how they do things differently, how they cope with change, and how they interpret the curriculum.”��

Through her leadership role as Executive Dean, Professor Nuttall is focused on developing research and working with the community.��

“Teacher education shouldn’t be a transactional relationship between universities and the sector, where we’re exchanging ideas, data or funding. It’s actually about standing shoulder to shoulder and saying, ‘What are the problems of mutual interest that we need to work together to counter’.�� ��

“The impact of this approach not only makes an educational change but builds solidarity in the community, which is a distinctive feature of our research—a practical application in real-world settings.”��

Professor Nuttall says this approach could involve working with colleagues in China to explore digital transformation in education, or with young children in South Canterbury to understand how they feel about waterways.����

“We’ve got some really fine researchers in the faculty as well as the highest proportion of Māori staff of any Faculty of Education in the country, a lot of whom are early career researchers. Seeing their career development flourish is something I’m incredibly excited about.��

“Within the faculty, there are also sites of resource-intensive research such as the Child Well-being Research Institute. With growing political interest in structured literacy, the institute has been very good at developing its relationships with the Government and schools,” Professor Nuttall says.��

Professor Nuttall says teacher education in New ������Ƶapp����is currently facing numerous challenges and changes related to budget constraints, strategic planning, and maintaining the quality of programmes amidst decreasing enrolments.��

“As a faculty, we are continuously seeking ways to best serve the sector by preparing confident and competent teachers.����

“The question I’m always asking myself is, ‘What does this look like from the student’s point of view and how will this enhance their learning and give them a better experience at university?’”��

With a focus on renewing, refreshing, and reinvigorating the teaching profession, Professor Nuttall says the student experience must guide the faculty.��

Despite the challenges, she believes that education is an incredibly rich and rewarding sector.��

“Our students are diverse, and that’s one of the things I love about working in education. It’s the diversity that makes it so much fun, so we must be prepared to understand diversity and draw on the life experiences of our students,” she says.��

“Teaching is a demanding yet joyful and satisfying profession. It is a unique profession where individuals—having already been students themselves—have observed 15,000 hours of teaching by the time they enter the field. They have found joy in education.”��

The integration of new technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), in education, is also having major implications, not only for faculty staff and preparing students, but also for schools and early childhood centres. “It is our role to explore ways to equip schools and early childhood centres to be adept users and discerning consumers of AI, fostering a critical conscience of its implications across all parts of the education sector.”����

Outside of work, learning is also a large part of Professor Nuttall’s personal life.����

“I have spent the last five-or-six years learning Korean. I always wanted to learn another language, but I just didn’t think it would be Korean,” she says.����

Through several coincidences, she became interested in Korean history and culture. “Once I started to understand more about it, I just went down a rabbit hole and I’ve never come out again.��

“It’s not just the language itself; I’m also interested in the textiles, history, literature, films, and music. It’s a fascinating country, really fascinating. I’ve really enjoyed that experience and now I have mastered a kind of basic to intermediate level of the language. It makes the whole cultural and travel experience so much more fun being able to speak the language.”��

This passion for learning extends to seeing others learn. “Knowing you have been a part of someone’s learning, whether it’s adult education, postgraduate education, schools, or early childhood, is extraordinarily satisfying. My hope for any of our graduates is that they encounter that satisfaction and joy.”