7 May 2019

According to the Australian Government’s Job Outlook, the number of registered nurses grew very strongly over the past five years with a continued high demand growth rate projected for the next five years, from 279,600 in 2018 to 330,900 by 2023. This equates to 29,400 job openings a year.

With a burning ambition to pursue a career as a registered nurse, Rebecca Bowyer completed a Certificate IV in Tertiary Preparation with TAFE Digital and scored an outstanding tertiary entrance result of 292/300, to secure a spot at university.

Mrs Bowyer, a Cromer Heights resident said, “I had completed my secondary studies 27 years ago so I wanted to improve my chances of acceptance as entry to become a registered nurse is extremely competitive. My skill-set desperately needed updating!”

While studying for the Tertiary Preparation Certificate (TPC) online, Mrs Bowyer also ran a retail business from home and took care of her family. “The flexibility of setting my own schedule was very important to me. I was able to attend all virtual classes, set up Skype chat groups with other students and liaised with very supportive TAFE NSW teachers when I encountered difficulties,” she said.

Initially Mrs Bowyer was terrified to study again and was very doubtful of her abilities. “To be honest, the day of my first TAFE NSW exam – mathematics - I was almost frozen with fear,” she said.

While waiting for the invigilator at TAFE NSW Brookvale’s reception, Mrs Bowyer read a sign that quoted Layne Beachley ‘There are so many people put there who will tell you that you can't. What you've got to do is turn around and say "Watch me”. Reading this sign was profound and timely. “I took a photo of it and will try to always remember this moment when fear and doubt creeps in, knowing that it can be conquered,” she said.

Mrs Bowyer never imagined she’d achieve the excellent results she scored. “I am very proud that I was able to achieve perfect scores in all my assessments for English (both 1 and 2), Human Rights, Biology and Legal Studies and I also performed very well in the final exams for English (raw mark 77/80 - scaled mark 100%) and Legal Studies (raw mark 50/50 - scaled mark 95%). Mathematics does not come easily to me and I had the mindset that I was ‘bad at maths’, so I’m especially proud to have obtained the highest score for online students in both the major-assessment test and the final exam with a raw mark of 57.9/60 or a scaled mark of 97%).”

Having started her nursing studies at the beginning of this year, Mrs Bowyer is already planning to specialise in midwifery or to become a paediatric nurse in two and a half years’ time.

Media contact: Bonny Gunn, TAFE Digital Media and Communications Business Partner. M: 0417 134 048