Curiosity builds life-changing career
Sue Osmond still remembers her first encounter with Healthy Harold the giraffe and the Life Education program – a rite of passage for young Australians since 1979, bringing important health and safety lessons to life with technology, fun and an iconic, cheeky mascot.
As a curious 10-year-old, the young Queenslander was fascinated to learn how humans work. Today that curiosity still drives her, helping thousands more children explore and understand healthy bodies and healthy relationships.
As Life Ed Queensland Program Delivery Manager, Ms Osmond oversees a team of 30 statewide educators connecting with more than 180,000 Queensland kids in primary schools every year.
The journey began with her Bachelor of Sociology at CQUniversity Rockhampton, and big questions about social dynamics.
“I’ve always been really curious about understanding people, and why certain circumstances exist, so sociology really fitted well with that,” she explained.
“I loved being able to explore things you didn’t learn about in high school, like Australian history, Indigenous culture, and social issues.
“Career-wise, it made me realise I wanted to work with people, and help them, which led to education.”
Graduating in 2001, Ms Osmond went into teaching, learning support, and curriculum and education leadership, before joining Life Ed Queensland in 2018.
She says it’s a privilege to be empowering a new generation with knowledge, skills and critical thinking - Life Ed steering clear of scare tactics; instead providing age-appropriate facts and evidence.
Educators are well-equipped to address the trickiest of questions, with Life Ed topics in 2024 including healthy habits, vaping, emotional regulation, puberty, relationships and cybersafety - and in the context of the innovative Talk About It program - consent and protective behaviours.
“So often, kids’ questions in classrooms get glossed over, yet they often need more time spent on issues like respectful relationships and body safety, and building friendships, and how we develop social skills,” Ms Osmond explained.
“These are things a teacher might not have learned how to teach, have the time to address in a very crowded curriculum and may not be comfortable teaching… so when our Life Ed teams go into schools and get the kids discussing these concepts, so often the teachers will say, ‘Oh thank goodness!’”
It’s a sentiment echoed by parents, who say the hands-on education from Life Ed equips children with the knowledge to make the right choices rather than relying on Google.
“When it comes to our puberty and consent education for example, Life Ed is very proactive before we visit a school, explaining to parents why it’s important – and reminding communities that to leave young people without information, without knowledge, is really doing them a disservice,” Ms Osmond explains.
In the past year, Ms Osmond is proud to have led the expansion of the Talk About It program to reach Prep, Year One and Year Two audiences.
“It’s tailored to that age group, so we’re talking about safe kids means safe bodies, the difference between public and private parts, body rights and body changes, and recognising safety warning signs, and having trusted adults they can talk to,” she explained.
Ms Osmond is also a mum to four children and said working with whole families was an important aspect of Life Ed, through a partnership with the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program.
And the Life Ed mascot, Healthy Harold, remains a central figure in the program.
“Everyone from babies to adults loves Harold, and for kids he’s a great role model they connect with. When we say, ‘this is how Harold felt,’ for instance if he’s in a running race, and he’s nervous, ‘he needs to do some deep breathing and self-talk!’” she said.
“Just as every child is unique, giraffes all have unique spots, and they’re kind, and so tall that we look up to them - he’s become iconic!”
Ms Osmond says the educational mascot reinforces the primary responsibility of Life Ed educators – helping young people make the right critical choices and reminding kids how special they are.
“We really elevate that child voice from the moment we work with a group of children, and we’re open to their curiosity – that’s my best advice to parents, that we don’t need to fix all of a child’s problems, but just stopping and listening when they want to tell us something; that’s so important for how they approach the world.”
