A Principal, a PhD and the courage to keep learning
For once, our Principal was on the other side of the stage.
More accustomed to celebrating the achievements of others, Dr Kalea Haran recently donned the academic gown herself, graduating with a PhD following four years of research into the career journeys of Australian women leaders in STEM.
It is a significant personal and professional achievement, but also one that carries a powerful message for our students and wider Penrhos community: learning never stops.
At Penrhos, we encourage our students to be curious, ask questions, explore their interests and have the courage to blaze their own trail. There are no ceilings on where that curiosity might take them, nor is there one prescribed path to success. Our Principal’s own journey is a wonderful example of those values in action – demonstrating that education and growth continue well beyond the school gates, at every age and every stage of a career.
So, what did returning to study teach Dr Haran about women, leadership, education and her own journey? And what might her research mean for the girls we are preparing for a future still being written?
She reflects on the experience below.
When I finally put on the doctoral gown and hat to graduate with my PhD - feeling both incredibly proud and slightly strange in full academic regalia - it marked the end of a four-year journey that taught me far more than I ever imagined.
I first began my doctoral study with curiosity and a question about women and leadership: what is the ‘secret sauce’ behind a successful career journey for women? What strengths and attributes help women succeed? What challenges do they encounter along the way, and what skills and support help them navigate those challenges?
Importantly, I wanted to understand what this might mean for girls’ education. If I could better understand what women need to build successful, sustainable careers, perhaps we could better understand what we should be doing now to prepare girls for their future.
I was equally fascinated by the role organisations play. What can workplaces do differently to enable women to thrive, progress and lead? My particular interest in STEM came from seeing both the enormous opportunities in these fields and the persistent underrepresentation of women, particularly in leadership.
And so, I started the journey.
My research explored the career journeys of 30 Australian women leaders in STEM across three generations. I listened to their stories of opportunity and challenge, mentors and sponsors, career changes, family, bias, resilience, confidence and leadership.
One of the strongest messages to emerge was that successful careers rarely look like a straight line. They are much more like a lattice. These women moved sideways, stepped forward, changed direction, paused, returned, learnt new skills and took opportunities they had not necessarily planned for.
There was something wonderfully reassuring about discovering that through research while living it myself.
Completing a PhD while working as a Principal and being a mum was certainly not always easy. There were weekends spent writing, countless revisions and moments when the finish line seemed a very long way away. It required discipline, persistence and a willingness to keep learning — to accept feedback, rethink ideas and, occasionally, start all over again.
Perhaps that is the part of the experience I most hope our Penrhos girls take from my journey.
Education does not finish when you leave school or university. You are never too old, too established in your career or too busy to remain curious and keep learning. Nor does success need to happen according to somebody else’s timeline.
It was also very special to have my mum travel across to be there for my graduation. Apparently, you are never too old to be happy to have your mum watching as you walk across the stage! Growing up, there was a quote strategically placed in our kitchen that read: “A woman’s place is anywhere she wants to go.” I saw this every day and believed it. To have Mum there as I completed a PhD focused on women’s career journeys felt like a rather fitting full-circle moment.
At Penrhos, we talk about having the courage to blaze your own trail. My PhD reinforced for me that a trail is rarely perfectly straight. Sometimes you change direction. Sometimes you pause. Sometimes you discover an entirely different path.
What matters is continuing to be curious, backing yourself to grow and having the courage to keep going.
And sometimes, at the end of it, you find yourself standing in full academic regalia, wondering quite how you got there - and feeling very proud that you did.
Dr Kalea Haran
Principal
