Tahlia McGahey: engaging hope for disengaged youth

Southern Cross University graduate Tahlia is Principal at Arcadia, a remarkable education facility improving the lives of, and creating opportunities for, Gold Coast disengaged youth. It is helping vulnerable young people “to dance” in school and in life.

“The traditional education system does not work for them and, unsurprisingly, many struggle in that environment and are then judged within that context,” says Tahlia. “Little wonder so many feel abandoned and lose interest.

“To come to Arcadia College, students are either already disengaged from the traditional school system or deemed at risk of disengagement.

“In other words, they need an alternative education setting, which we are providing by offering learning programs and wrap-around support of a kind many of these students have never known.

“Their lived experience has been one of being put down, isolated and disregarded. Furthermore, their ensuing disengagement is then fed by other negative factors, including troubled home lives, anxiety, depression, bullying and non-attendance at school.

“Our approach is more holistic and attuned, creating education that places the students, not the system, at the heart of everything we do.”

The arts is a major component in this approach and is ideal for Tahlia, who originally came to Southern Cross University to do a Bachelor of Contemporary Music and had real claims to her own music career.

“Country music was my thing,” she says. “Growing up, me and my grandmother would listen to George Jones and Emmylou Harris. I still love the story songs that country music does so well.

“It also influenced the songs I was writing, recording and performing. I imagined living the country music life, in Nashville, making records, touring the world, the whole thing.

“I still write – I must have about 300 songs in a folder at home – but my priorities shifted during my studies when the prospect of teaching really made an impact on me. I transferred into a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education, then dropped the music side altogether to focus on teaching.”

Nevertheless, the education system would have to wait before welcoming Tahlia, thanks to a gap year that ended up lasting nine years.

Not that she ever stopped learning.

“I worked in Early Childhood Education and all the time I was looking for ways to improve service and support. I developed programs that were well-received and I wanted to do more,” she says.

“In particular, I thought there was a way to make a difference in secondary education via programs for young people for whom traditional education models and systems did not work.”

After resuming her studies, Tahlia received her Bachelor of Education from Southern Cross University in 2015 and since then has undertaken doctoral studies in education, also at Southern Cross. She also has a Master of Forensic Mental Health (Griffith University) and a Bachelor of Behavioural Studies (Swinburne).

Following her graduation, Tahlia became an advisor with Southern Cross University’s Shared Services team, complementing her previous involvement with the CoastRs Student Association. Both roles provided insight into student issues, university pathways and general support.

That is when the telephone rang.

“It was Arcadia College,” says Tahlia. “They were seeking graduates with a combination of education, music and psychology. I told them they were talking to one. I joined Arcadia to teach English, with an additional music component, for Year 11s.

“I felt immediately at home. Arcadia was the perfect fit for me, personally and professionally. I felt I could make a positive difference.”

After becoming Head of Senior Campus in 2018, Tahlia became Principal of Arcadia College in 2020. Since then, she has led a program of student and program growth, including supporting the implementation of the UniStart pathway-to-university program between Arcadia College and Southern Cross University.

With almost 300 students at Arcadia’s Robina campus, 230 more within the college’s Distance Education (online learning) program, and demand for spaces only increasing, Tahlia is keen to expand the Arcadia education model. Her Southern Cross University degree remains influential.

“My studies at Southern Cross University have given me the skills and confidence to be nimble in my thinking and adaptable in my actions,” she says. “My degree and doctoral studies are living and breathing in my professional life.

“The young people I talk to every day need kindness, care and nurturing. They respond to different ways of thinking, different activities, different approaches to teaching and learning. Ultimately, these students need to be given an opportunity, an education and a soft place to land.

“By embracing difference, encouraging adaptability, and committing to placing the needs of students at the centre of everything, education can go so much further and be so much fairer.

“No one will be set aside or left behind. Everyone can dance.”

If you’re interested in becoming a teacher, now is the time to chat to Southern Cross University.

Applications for Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships are now open.

The Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships Program provides up to $40,000 to new undergraduate and up to $20,000 to new postgraduate teacher education students.

In return for a scholarship, recipients need to teach in government schools or government-run early learning settings after finishing their degree.

Scholarships are available over five rounds from 2024 to 2028 with up to 1,000 scholarships per year to be offered.

For more information visit Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships - Department of Education, Australian Government