Staff writers
Driven in his work for equity, a Latrobe Valley educator has been recognised with a major accolade ahead of Victorian Education Week.
Keita Matsumoto is an alumni of Teach For Australia’s Leadership Development Program, who began his teaching career at Traralgon College.
Mr Matsumoto, now partnership manager with Our Place in Morwell, has just been named on Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list for social impact.
“The theme of Victorian Education Week is ‘Building Connections’, and Teach For Australia is so proud of the work Keita is doing alongside fellow educators in the Latrobe Valley to build strong connections in service of the children and young people of this region,” Teach For Australia (TFA) chief executive officer Melodie Potts Rosevear said.
Mr Matsumoto was motivated towards a career in education knowing it had been so important for his own family.
“As far back as I know, exceptional education and in particular, exceptional teachers, have played a critical role in my family’s history. And I think this would be the same for many of those lucky enough to be born into fortunate backgrounds,” he said.
“For me, the clearest way to honour this history was to give back to the education system which gave so much to me, and of course the most direct way to do this was to teach.”
Now at Our Place in Morwell, Keita said he hoped the Forbes listing would help him showcase the world-class social impact work happening in Victoria, and motivate more people to see that positive, significant change is possible.
“I hope the platform highlights to others the tremendous opportunities for impact that exist right here in Gippsland, and that it attracts even more talent to our region to help advance the critical social and economic progress that must be achieved in the coming decades,” he said.
“We often hear about the problems of education inequity. But one benefit of working at the ‘coal-face’ is your exposure to the inspiring stories that don’t make headlines: the student who topped their class despite caring for siblings and juggling a part-time job; the teacher who quietly but consistently outperforms the state in their VCE subject scores. These are the anecdotes that demonstrate that progress is possible, and are the anecdotes that one falls back on during difficult times.”
