A job that changed me: teaching in a juvenile detention centre

I spent 25 years as a sports reporter and producer in Australia, London and New York, then moved back to Melbourne in 2017 and set up a media production company with an old friend. The company folded after 18 months and, at 51 with two young children and a mortgage, my wife suggested I revisit the idea of teaching.

I had volunteered at Harlem Village Academies in New York and helped students with college essays, so I returned to university for two years to retrain as a high school teacher. My first interview was at the maximum-security Parkville Youth Justice Precinct. The interviewers spoke with passion about the school and I wanted to be part of the team, but my first day was terrifying.

A young person threatened me from a locked cell and the precinct’s general manager told us things had been very unsettled, with staff and young people recovering from serious facial fractures. My attempt to start a poetry lesson was met with derision and the class closed down almost immediately.

Australia, Melbourne

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