Peggy McKenzie is more familiar than many with the content of the New Zealand Certificate in Adult and Tertiary Teaching.
Once a student of the course, Peggy is now a facilitator at levels 4 and 5, as well as for the New Zealand Certificate in Adult Literacy and Numeracy Education (Vocational/Workplace).
Originally from Otago, Peggy spent most of her childhood in Wingatui, where her father was a race horse trainer and breeder, the family living right opposite the main racecourse entrance.
“These days I live in rural Bay of Plenty, up in the hills between Rotorua and Tauranga on a lifestyle block where ... we breed horses! We currently breed Norwegian Fjord horses and occasionally, miniature horses.”
Peggy joined the Royal New Zealand Navy straight from school and spent “an enjoyable decade doing some exciting things and having some very cool postings”.
She left to raise her daughters and to pursue a civilian career, which led to working in corporate accounting, administration management and volunteer budget advising.
“That decision [to leave the Navy] led me, in a roundabout way, to my current role as a facilitator for SIT2LRN. I took an opportunity to deliver a course called Certificate in Money Management for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (TWoA) here in Tauranga.
“I loved being part of TWoA and I discovered a love for helping people learn more about money, investing and business.”
Teaching adults meant she needed to become a qualified educator, so Peggy did that through SIT2LRN by completing the necessary Adult Literacy and Numeracy Teaching qualification.
“Then, via TWoA, I came to SIT2LRN, to facilitate some papers in the very qualification I had studied.”
Of the papers she facilitates, Peggy’s favourite is unit standard 7091, which encourages educators to look at the cultural needs of themselves and of their learners in order to create a culturally safe and inclusive learning and teaching environment.
“I love it because it includes educators as well as learners in the consideration of culture and cultural needs.”
Being able to work from home works well for the family.
“I absolutely love working from home and it means that I can do the school run. My husband and I have two adult daughters and one teenage son and, because we live in the country, a vast array of pets including a duck, a donkey and a diabetic Burmese cat.”
When she’s not busy keeping an eye on the family, travel is Peggy’s passion, and she says she’s lucky enough to be able to accompany her husband when he heads overseas for his voluntary work as a specialist engineer for a large NGO.
“It is my intention to be semi-nomadic for a few years once I have an empty nest.”
Peggy also spends some time supporting women who are going through life-stage transitions, with legal meetings, decision making and goal setting.
“This is something I really enjoy and will continue to do and I'm planning to do some study in 2020 that is related to this aspect of my work.”