How Tanya Marty is helping students find their voice and future

Tanya Marty, a Senior School teacher at Melbourne Montessori College, is passionate about guiding students to find their voice, embrace challenges and discover their pathway beyond school.

What prompted you to decide to enter teaching?

I’ve always been drawn to roles where I could help people grow. In my early career, I worked in teaching, training, human resources and account management and even ran my own business. But what I kept coming back to was the sense of fulfilment that comes from supporting young people. I love those moments when a student realises, “I can do this.” Sometimes that moment comes from breaking down a piece of literacy work, sometimes from solving a workplace challenge, and sometimes from just listening. For me, teaching is about more than delivering content — it’s about giving students a voice, helping them feel heard and guiding them as they prepare to step out into the world.

How long have you worked at Melbourne Montessori College (MMC)?

I’ve been part of the Senior School team for several years, most recently in the role of VCE Vocational Major (VCE VM) coordinator and careers practitioner. In that time, I’ve had the privilege of helping to develop MMC’s VCE VM program as an alternative to the International Baccalaureate. It’s been rewarding to see it take shape into a program that blends academic work with practical experiences such as TAFE studies, apprenticeships and structured workplace learning.

What are your areas of specialty?

I specialise in literacy, personal development and work-related skills. Because our students all learn differently, I prepare class content from scratch and tailor resources so that lessons feel relevant and engaging. One student might be preparing a report for a business, another might be working on persuasive writing about climate change, and another might be reflecting on a personal challenge they’ve overcome.

As careers practitioner, I also coordinated work experience placements. I’ve built relationships with local businesses and MMC families so that students can try everything from working in a radio station to shadowing a personal trainer or even a watchmaker. I love seeing how a week in a real workplace can spark a passion a student didn’t know they had.

What attracted you to Melbourne Montessori College?

What drew me to MMC is the ethos of Montessori education. Respect for self, respect for others and respect for the environment — those values are woven into everything we do here and they align with how I believe education should look. I also value the design of our school: small class sizes and multi-age groups. It means I really know each student, I can see where they need encouragement, and I can create learning experiences that stretch them. The multi-age classrooms allow younger students to learn from the example of older peers, while older students develop leadership and mentoring skills. That kind of environment just isn’t possible in a one-size-fits-all system.

What do you love about teaching today, especially at MMC?

No two days are ever the same. One morning I might be discussing workplace communication with my class, the next I’ll be accompanying students on a careers expo, and later I’ll be meeting a student and their family to map out a pathway after school. I thrive on those one-to-one conversations — asking the right questions, listening carefully, and helping young people see possibilities they might not have considered.

I also love the energy students bring to projects. For example, in a Humanities unit on the 1920s, I asked groups to create a live “news broadcast” as if they were reporting on the onset of the Great Depression. They had to research, script, assign roles and produce the broadcast. The creativity and collaboration were incredible, and it embedded their understanding of history far more deeply than a textbook ever could.

Do you have a teaching motto or advice for students?

My advice is always: be curious, be resilient and know that your voice matters. Challenges are part of learning — and of life. I encourage students not to say “it’s too hard”, but instead to say, “this is hard, but I’ll give it a go”. I want them to leave school knowing how to face difficulties with confidence and to see themselves as contributors, not just participants.

How has teaching changed for you over the years?

The biggest change has been the recognition of wellbeing as central to learning. At MMC, I helped refresh our wellbeing program, which now ranges from informal coffee chats to structured mentoring, and even includes weekly personal training sessions for Years 9–12 students and staff. That program has been transformative — students see that we value balance and mental health as much as academic performance. Teaching today is about supporting the whole person, and that’s what keeps students engaged and motivated.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

The most rewarding moments are when students discover their path. It might be the student who thought they weren’t “academic enough” and then flourished during a workplace placement. Or the student who doubted themselves but gained confidence through a project or a presentation. Seeing them leave with a sense of who they are and where they’re going — that’s the best reward.

What special achievements of your students are you most proud of?

I’m proud of the diversity of student outcomes. Some graduates have gone on to apprenticeships, some to university and others straight into work. What makes me proud is not the specific path, but the fact that they’ve chosen it with confidence. I think back to students who once said, “I’m not sure I can do this,” and then watch them graduate with clarity and direction. That’s what inspires me to keep going.