EPeeps Jade Cleave | Teacher Consultant

Hi everyone! My name is Jade, and I’ve just stepped out of the classroom to become an EPeep in January 2022. I was born in a not-so-little town called Bendigo in central Victoria, Australia, and then grew up in Perth, Western Australia, before coming back home to Melbourne around 8 years ago. I started studying Japanese in high school, and after continuing my studies all the way through university, it felt natural to step into teaching! I truly loved my time over the past 8 years sharing my passion for Japanese language and culture with my students, but after completing my Master of Education in 2019, I became invested in making a wider-reaching impact on improving education beyond my own classroom. Stepping into the Teacher Consultant role, particularly as a languages specialist, has been such a great way to maintain my connection to schools and to have that positive impact across many classrooms!

Why become an EPeep?
Having used the platform for so many years (all the way back when it was still called ‘Language Perfect’!) I was excited to come on board as an EPeep because I have experienced first-hand the positive impact that the platform can have on teachers and students alike, and had always been so well supported by the EP team every time I had reached out for support. I had always been impressed with how EP continued to make improvements to their platform and resources – and was particularly grateful for this over the last two years of intensive online learning! It feels great to be part of a team who is so invested in supporting schools, teachers and students.

What does a typical day look like for you in your role?
My schedule can look completely different depending on the day! I split my time between my home office, our shared working space in the CBD, and being on the road visiting teachers in person. I’ll normally start the day with a coffee and a walk, clearing out my inbox, and then planning for the meetings and PD sessions I have coming up in the day. I might then head out the door to meet a teacher for coffee to chat about how they’ve been using EP, take a break to write some more emails and make some calls, and then finish the day at a school, where I have the chance to support and connect with teachers directly through PD sessions.

How did you find transitioning from your previous role into an EdTech role?
Certainly a learning curve, but I have felt very well supported every step of the way. As a teacher, you become very accustomed to living your days according to a timetable, whereas I now have a lot more flexibility and variety in my days, so I’ve enjoyed learning to manage my own calendar. It’s also been lovely to be travelling around more from day-to-day by heading out to schools to meet with teachers. Although there have been plenty of new things to learn, what has felt very familiar is having an excellent, supportive team around me to patiently answer all of my questions and to step me through new things!

Tell us your favourite teacher/student story!
I was fortunate to take a number of students across to Japan during my years as a teacher, and there’s nothing more rewarding than getting to experience the country and culture again for the first time through students’ eyes, and to see them using the language in real life!

Favourite feature of the platform?
I love playing around with EP Studio! I became very familiar with the platform across 2020 and 2021, as my team and I transitioned all of our assessments across to Education Perfect while learning online. It was so helpful to have a tool as versatile and flexible as EP Studio to be able to customise our assessments exactly as we’d envisioned. I also really enjoy being able to take pre-made EP content and adapt it to what best suits the needs of teachers and students. Even though I thought I’d learned all of the ins-and-outs of EP Studio when I became an EPeep, I’m learning new tips and tricks all the time to pass on to teachers!