Karen Lindsay

Educator, farmer and lifelong-learning contributor

Karen Lindsay spent thirty years as a schoolteacher in Australia before moving in a different direction. Her contribution to From Potential To Prosperity recounts developing an interest in goats and cheesemaking while still teaching, and gradually considering a life beyond the classroom.

Life's Classroom follows the practical learning involved in farming and the challenges that came with changing an established role. Karen also discusses home education and the curiosity she notices in children, including her grandchildren.

Her account places formal experience alongside learning through doing. Animals, food, small business and the questions that arise in ordinary life all become opportunities to build knowledge. The chapter reflects her concern that a rigid approach can overlook different interests and abilities.

Karen's contribution is a personal argument for remaining engaged with learning throughout life. It introduces an educator who chose to test new ideas in a very different environment, while carrying forward the interest in discovery that first drew her towards teaching.