Ibu Dorathea

I feel blessed to be a trilingual fully qualified educator with a passion for education and special-education needs. Soon after graduation, I had the opportunity to move to Indonesia from my beautiful country, South Africa to a laid-back little town called Blitar. It was a big culture shock at first as I volunteered teaching in a local school “SMP NEGRI 1”, here is where I realized that as an educator, I want to make a difference in how education is being delivered. A few years later I moved to Surabaya where I was fortunate to work in two international schools during the course of 10 years in leading roles. I was presented with many opportunities that allowed me to explore more of Indonesia and different methods of teaching in preschool, primary and secondary schools, in various subjects such as English, Science, Art and ESL. I realized that my passion in understanding learning delays were growing and that I wanted to know more as I wished to grow in my career to become a SenCo, this drove me to undertake more studies and short courses in a range of studies into occupational therapy, sensory delays, learning disorders and special needs. Now, with over twenty-five years of teaching, in National and International schools, in diverse, multicultural environments, to a wide variety of abilities and age groups in various curricula including Reggio Emilia, IEYC, EYP, PYP (IB Approach) and Cambridge in Indonesia as well as teaching the ASDAN program. I am a firm believer in what I call an “Eclectic Teaching Approach”, understanding differentiation in the classroom to ensure every child learns according to their ability. After working in the leading role in an Academy in Jakarta for 11 years, I felt it was time to spread my wings and pursue my dream of becoming a SenCo; I was fortunate to get the SenCo position in an inclusive International school in Bali. This role required me to build on my knowledge to understand learning needs and the challenges young learners face these days. As the saying goes "life is a learning journey" and we will never know it all, thus shall I always continue to learn and improve myself to be able to help children flourish in life!