About Nisha
I became a teacher almost by accident.
What wasn't accidental was choosing to stay on, and choosing every day to understand it better, question what I was doing, and find ways to make teaching more joyful and meaningful.
Over the last two decades, I have been a teacher, teacher educator, curriculum developer, school leader, play facilitator and researcher. I have worked across different classrooms and contexts, and have learnt that there is no one right way to teach.
For me, it always is about the person in front of me.
What is alive in this child?
What does this learner need?
What will honour their dignity and still work for them?
Sometimes structure has enormous value. Sometimes we need to create more freedom. Something that works beautifully for one teacher or group of children may not work for another. A strong attachment to one position can limit the range of possibilities available to us and some of those possibilities may be exactly what this person needs.
So my work is not about giving teachers another formula to follow. It is about helping them build the understanding, skills and confidence to find solutions that work in their own context.
I have changed along the way.
The more I have worked with children and teachers, the more compassion I have developed for the developmental work that all of us are doing, children as learners, and teachers as learners too.
I have come to believe that when people can do better, they do better. All of us are doing our best with what we have, in the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Becoming a mother changed my perspective too. It helped me understand children and families differently, and truly understand how much of a child's life happens outside the classroom.
Growth looks different for different people.
One of the most practical lessons in my own journey came when I became a Principal. It was a natural next step after being a teacher, teacher educator and curriculum developer. And then I realised that it didn't fulfil me.
I wanted to stay closer to facilitating learning and supporting people to create meaningful learning opportunities.
That experience taught me something I now hold very strongly:
For some, becoming a Principal is exactly the growth they are looking for. For someone else, always staying in the classroom may be the most meaningful path they could choose.
This is Why I created Thriving Teachers Collective.
I don't want teachers to simply get through the day or settle for merely doing the job.
I have experienced teaching as intensely joyful, fulfilling, and fun. It has helped me grow and transform as a person, and I believe
every teacher deserves the possibility of experiencing that too.
For me, contribution, growth and joy are non-negotiable.
My role is to bring my experience, research, knowledge and lived understanding of classrooms to the table, and use that expertise to help teachers find solutions that are meaningful, practical and right for their context.
If contribution, growth and joy are values you want to move towards, Thriving Teachers Collective is a place for you.
And financial circumstances should not be the thing that keeps a teacher who genuinely wants to learn and grow from reaching out. Whatever your school, context or resources, if you have the drive to learn, reach out.