Cavalli College may be a relatively new name in New Zealand tertiary education, but the experience behind it runs deep.
Cavalli was founded by a passionate team whose careers have been shaped by a commitment to outstanding teaching and learning, student wellbeing, support and success. The Board includes Selena Fox, Glennie Oborn QSM and Kaye McKean, alongside General Manager Nicole Robins, together bringing decades of experience across education, health and wellbeing, programme development and leadership.
At the heart of Cavalli is Founding Director Selena Fox, who brings more than 20 years of tertiary education leadership across programme development, quality assurance, flexible learning and student success.
Alongside Selena is Glennie Oborn QSM, whose contribution to early childhood education spans more than five decades. Glennie founded Kindercare Learning Centres and was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal for services to children.
Kaye McKean brings experience across early childhood and secondary education, with particular interests in critical thinking, leadership, innovation and neuroscience.
“There is an incredible depth of experience behind Cavalli, but we are also always asking what we can do better,” says Robins. “We want the education we provide to genuinely reflect what learners and the sectors we serve need.”
For Selena and Glennie, Cavalli’s move into Initial Teacher Education began with conversations.
At early childhood conferences, workshops and gatherings, teachers and leaders kept raising the same thing: they wanted more choice in teacher education with flexible, student-supportive programmes more closely connected to the realities of the sector.
With many years of experience in early childhood and teacher education, Selena and Glennie were increasingly approached, and the groundswell prompted discussions around both the need and the possibility. As those conversations continued, a question emerged: if we were designing teacher education today, what should it look like?
That question, followed by extensive sector consultation, helped shape Cavalli’s Bachelor of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) and Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Early Childhood Education).
The programmes come at a time of renewed national focus on how well Initial Teacher Education prepares graduates for the realities of teaching.
For Cavalli, the focus is simple: graduates need to know how children learn and know how to teach.
The curriculum brings together strong professional knowledge, the science of learning, intentional teaching and extensive practical experience.
“Our responsibility is to support and graduate teachers who have a disposition to love, care for and educate children, and who are ready to teach” says Fox.
“There was a genuine willingness to listen to what the sector needs from future teachers,” says Michelle Pratt, Director of New Shoots Children’s Centres. “Graduates need strong professional knowledge, the confidence to apply it in practice, and the capability to meet the realities of teaching.”
While Cavalli is new, Selena and Glennie’s working relationship in teacher education is not.
They worked together at New Zealand Tertiary College for around 25 years, with Glennie as Founder and Director and Selena ultimately serving as Chief Executive. The College moved into new ownership six years ago.
Years later, the conversations happening across early childhood communities brought their experience together again, this time to build something new.
For Cavalli, a great curriculum is only part of a great education.
Learners have access to experienced lecturers, pastoral support, teacher mentors and face-to-face connection through regional Learning Hubs.
“We want our learners to have access to an outstanding curriculum and exceptional teaching, but equally, we want them to feel known and supported,” says Robins. “Study often sits alongside work, family and life. Having people around you who know who you are and are there when you need them can make an enormous difference.”
Cavalli now delivers education across Early Childhood Education, Health and Wellbeing, Mental Health and Addiction, and Foundation Skills, but the philosophy is the same:
Quality curriculum. Practical learning. Individual care. Graduates loving learning, ready to make a difference.
