\u201cGrowing up with institutionalised segregation and significant financial hardship, my family understood that education could open doors that society might otherwise keep closed,\u201d Jennet said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mum believed that education was our pathway to a different future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this belief has stayed with Jennet her entire life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mum taught me very early on that circumstances should never be confused with potential.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Today, this philosophy has become pivotal in her work as an educator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than two decades, Jennet has dedicated much of her life to improving the outcomes of Aboriginal students and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the Program Coordinator of the Follow the Dream<\/a> program at Sevenoaks College, she uses her experience to relate to the students\u2019 own experiences of racial and cultural biases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI never want a young person to believe that their background, culture or identity limits what they can become,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt took me many years to understand that the problem was never the colour of my skin, it was the system that told me it was something I needed to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Offered at more than a hundred secondary schools in Australia, Follow the Dream<\/a> provides educational pathways for Aboriginal students to successfully complete their secondary schooling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt Sevenoaks, I often say that Follow the Dream is a community, not just a program,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur students know there are people around them who believe in them and will walk alongside them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than 20 years, Jennet has facilitated Sevenoaks place-based learning initiatives with students, incorporating local ecosystem studies of the Djarlgarro Beelier (Canning River), cultural mapping and historical research in collaboration with local Elders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile my background has given me empathy and a deep belief in equity, I am also very conscious that my experience is not the Aboriginal experience,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy role is to listen, learn, build relationships and create opportunities and most importantly, to stand alongside Elders, Aboriginal students, families and community rather than speaking for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more than 20 years, the biggest lesson Jennet has learned from her students is their unwavering resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have been deeply humbled by the resilience of Aboriginal people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy students have taught me that resilience isn\u2019t about pretending hardship doesn\u2019t exist, it\u2019s about continuing to find strength, connection and hope despite it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Last year, Jennet received the 2025 Director General\u2019s Women of Achievement Award<\/a> for her tireless dedication to improving outcomes for Aboriginal students and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for Jennet, her greatest measure of success isn\u2019t what she has achieved, but what her students have gone onto accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of her former students, Allira Sinclair is a sessional academic at Curtin\u2019s Centre for Aboriginal Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, as an educator herself, Allira is passionate about paving the way forward for the next generation of Aboriginal students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cJennet was like a mother figure and always made us feel like we belonged,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHer empathy and support are something I always try to carry on and show my students.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n To this day, Jennet is still deeply invested in her students\u2019 journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI still celebrate their milestones with them, from securing their first job, starting their own families to buying their first home,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute privilege to still be a part of their lives and watch them grow into the people they were always capable of becoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This World Teachers\u2019 Day, Dr Jennet\u2019s advice for aspiring teachers is simple – don\u2019t lose faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTeaching isn\u2019t always easy, and you won\u2019t always see the impact of what you do straight away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t lose faith in yourself, in your students, and most importantly, in the difference you can make.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jennet Hansen<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,<\/em><\/strong> Follow the Dream<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Program Coordinator at Sevenoaks Senior College<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A passionate educator and advocate for equity in education, Dr Jennet Hansen is the Polly Farmer Foundation Follow the Dream Coordinator at Sevenoaks Senior College. For more than two decades, Jennet has dedicated her career empowering Aboriginal students through culturally responsive education. Through her leadership and dedication, Jennet\u2019s passion for education has led to significant improvements in attendance, achievements and success in post-school pathways for Aboriginal students.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Living in South Africa during the apartheid, Dr Jennet Hansen experienced firsthand what it felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":31018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","wds_primary_category":710,"footnotes":""},"categories":[710],"tags":[363],"class_list":["post-31017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-after-curtin","tag-career-advice"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31017"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31023,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31017\/revisions\/31023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}