A passion for travel and understanding the ways of the world has underpinned Liz Harris’ love for learning.
URIOUS about the world and recently graduated with majors in literature and journalism, Liz Harris spent five years travelling to Fiji, Japan and Sri Lanka, among other places, to indulge her passion for education at the same time as exploring the world.
Now the chief executive of the Challenger Institute (formerly Tafe), Mrs Harris says as a ‘‘child of the ’70s’’, getting a job wasn’t her number one priority when she left university; there was too much else to do.
Her experiences teaching English in Japan and working at a teachers’ college in Sri Lanka were formative and helped her develop an understanding of the ways of the developing world, as well as leading her down an educational pathway.
“When I worked in Sri Lanka I used to see the teachers in the training colleges be told by treasury, ‘we haven’t got enough money to pay you this fortnight, you will have to wait,” she recalls.
Returning home, the lack of supplies and facilities available to teachers overseas was brought into sharp relief when compared with those supplied by the Australian system.
“I felt like saying to people who complained, ‘you have got no idea’. Can you imagine being told there is not enough money in treasury to pay you?,” Mrs Harris says.
Her experiences overseas helped her form an understanding of what she believes is needed for educational success – a diverse, dynamic, resourceful workforce and inclusive educational facilities focused on enterprising development and innovation.
For the past four years as chief executive of the Fremantle-based organisation, Mrs Harris has worked to put this into place, turning the organisation into one that is progressive and meeting the demands of the market by way of tailoring its offerings to industry.
Tracking Mrs Harris’ career shows a broad background in, and understanding of, the educational system. After returning home from her early travels she worked for the Australian National Training Authority, then gained experience in the university system at Murdoch (she remains a board member of the university senate).
Looking to her list of credentials it is clear Mrs Harris values the university system, having gained a graduate level education in linguistics and adult tertiary education, and a masters in educational management.
“I was very interested in learning organisations, what is it in organisations that not only helps individuals to learn but helps an organisation to move forward and become a better, more innovative, more responsive organisation,” she says.
The practical approach and relationships with industry the Tafe system allowed won her over, and Mrs harris was drawn to working in the applied learning field 10 years ago.
It is something she says keeps her interested; in her four years as chief executive she has focused on changing the culture within the organisation and has driven it to now generate 35 per cent of its revenues from non-government sources.
Mrs Harris has also extended industry partnerships – there are now more than 300 – and has driven international affiliations (Challenger now has eight international industry partnerships).
“I am very passionate about developing a more enterprising approach within an organisation,” she says.
All this makes for a busy leader.
Mrs Harris remembers her days with the National Training Authority as being particularly hectic, but says she has been fortunate, having had the constant support of her husband throughout her career.
“At that point I was married with a child I was travelling a lot, I relied heavily on my husband to go to all the gymnastics and the orchestra performances and all those sorts of things,” she says.
Mrs Harris thinks fondly of the example this set for her young daughter at the time.
“My daughter was only young then and she used to say to me if I apologised for always having to go away, ‘Oh no, Mum, I think it’s great, all the boys in my class say their dads are away on business and I get to say, actually my mum is away on business’,” she says.
‘‘She was only about eight or nine then; it was good role modelling I think.”
The couple has the added benefit of mutual understanding, with Mrs Harris’ husband sitting in a high-profile position within government.
“It gives you great insight and understanding into the pressures and the commitments you have to have in the workplace,” she says. “We share strategies and approaches, we discuss issues that have come up and we are trying to resolve within our organisations. He steals some of my ideas and I steal some of his. It works well.”
Her family values underscore Mrs Harris’ life stories from her childhood as a clergyman’s daughter in rural England to her current supportive home environment and her passion for travel.
These aspects are evident in her musings from her time in India.
“I just really enjoy the energy there, the life and the fact that while there is great poverty the fundamentals are still in place; there is a great sense of community, people supporting one another and really focusing on the things that have a lot of meaning in life – family relationships, community relationships and realising you don’t have to have a lot to be pretty happy in those environments,” Mrs Harris says.
