Using soft skills to build a strong team

The Strengthening, Assisting, Generating, Utilising (SAGU) Foundation team

It was the inclusion of ‘Educational Leadership in Rural Areas’ in her Educational Leadership and Management major that got Diana Kambuaya (MEd(LeaderMgmt) ’13) over the line to Flinders when weighing up her study choices.

“This subject was essential and contextually relevant as an educational leader in rural areas,” she said.

“You play an important role because schools and other educational organisations are really attached to the community around it.”

Diana has taken her learnings back to her home country, thanks to the Australia Awards Scholarship she received, and applied them in her role as program manager and English course content coordinator for the Strengthening, Assisting, Generating, Utilising (SAGU) Foundation – a local independent foundation established in 2015 in the Papua Province of Indonesia.

“My current role allows me to network with other organisations to provide educational programs for the SAGU foundation,” Diana said.

“I love my current job because being an educator is my childhood dream.

“Study at Flinders University changed me a lot in many aspects – professionally, my leadership skills were developed and I really liked the academic and social life. I love Adelaide as it is not a big city, it is a good place to study.”

Diana now assists students in her own organisation to seek out and apply for study-abroad opportunities. As a team leader, she aims to transfer her knowledge to others in professional development training, helping other tutors who are starting out to develop their leadership skills as an educator.

“I am very proud of our accomplishments as an organisation,” Diana said.

“In the five years since 2015, I can see how SAGU Foundation has significantly improved not only the teaching and learning facilities but also human resources.

“It keeps improving to become the best place for people in Papua to develop their employability skills.”

Not wanting to rest on her laurels, Diana has laid out several future goals she hopes to achieve in the coming years while still assisting her community through the SAGU Foundation.

“I want to begin my PhD at Flinders University, where I want to conduct profound research on educational psychology,” she explained.

“I have a dream of my foundation establishing a school where Papuan students can learn and get access to facilities that can help them develop their employability skills.

“I also want to publish a book about contextual teaching – the learning approach and methods to teaching Papuan students.”

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Business College of Education, Psychology and Social Work Education International

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