Last weekend I helped celebrate my grandfather John’s 90th birthday. He is blessed with his seven sons and daughters, twenty seven grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren (with another four in the womb). A constant theme that runs through the Fyfield family is education, physical performance and nursing, but there is something more than that. There is a deep commitment to change.

John Adrian Fyfield was a student teacher in country Victoria at the age of 16 and worked his way through high school to become a headmaster during the Second World War. In 1967 he became a senior lecturer at Monash University and was appointed Associate Professor in 1994. He has authored several dictionaries, research volumes on education, and a book on Re-educating Chinese Anti-communists. At 88 he embarked upon a weight training program for the first time, and enjoys deep philosophical discussions with several of his close friends.

His sons and daughters have all worked in health and education. Not in ways that you might expect however. One of my uncles has spent years in the Middle East implementing information systems for hospitals. Another trains kick-boxers and is employed at a sporting school for boys with behavioural problems. Yet another built a career in nursing, and then a business in importing, building and restoring violins.

Amongst my cousins I am encouraged to hear that the tradition continues. Wether it is in the pool, on the dance floor or netball court there is a Fyfield striving for a personal best. There is also a sense of giving your best for others. One of my cousins recently returned from Tanzania where he assisted a catholic order of nuns, set up schools and taught English. Is it any wonder I am drawn to education?

My undergraduate degree was in Human Movements, yet I chose the Exercise Management stream over Education as I wanted to work with elite athletes. When I began work as a web developer and course facilitator at I was offered a position in training, but elected instead to stay in production because I wanted to work on international projects. When I taught English in Japan I saw it as a vehicle for my own learning, both physical and intellectual. What have I been afraid of?

I commit myself to change education. The Internet offers an unprecedented opportunity to bring education to the benefit of the largest number of people. Today mobile technology delivers courses into our hands at almost zero cost. The time for breaking free of an industrial model of education and recognising learning as a human birthright is now.