Here we go.

As of tomorrow? I'm a full time evidence-informed education consultant running my own business. Squee!

I have had the privilege of being employed in many educational roles and settings over the last few years: instructional coach, leading teacher, literacy learning specialist, Grade 1 classroom teacher, education consultant at SPELD Victoria and an academic tutor and subject co-ordinator at La Trobe University. This year, I was one of eight fabulous, intelligent women to co-convene a sold out Sharing Best Practice day in Melbourne’s outer Northern suburbs where over 200 educators and allied health support staff gathered to share what they know about teaching and learning.

It was a genuine delight to work with The Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership to support their roll out of evidence-aligned professional literacy development and also publish a piece about cognitive load theory with them here, and in April I was featured in an article by The Age representing the large percentage of teachers who are angry about not being taught evidence-informed practices in our initial teacher education - you can read that piece, here. As a result, many teachers have gone back to university, of which I was one, to learn the knowledge required for successful teaching. In December 2024, I graduated from La Trobe University with a Masters of Education specialising in Language and Literacy. It is no exaggeration to say this specialisation, run by Professors Pamela Snow and Tanya Serry, changed my life. In June 2024, I sat about 1 metre away from the current Education Minister Ben Carroll at The Age Summit and shed a few tears as he announced a phonics mandate across Victorian schools. Alongside this, the department rolled out the new Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0 (VTLM 2.0) that acknowledges and references the science behind how students learn. If you had told me this was going to happen at the start of 2024, I would not have believed you. It was a truly historical day, not only for those who had been at the forefront, fighting and advocating for these changes for years but for the students of Victoria, too. In the words of my La Trobe students: slay, queen.

I have thrown myself head first into all of these roles by reading every paper, book and article published about best practice. I have turned up with an almost untameable enthusiasm and encouragement for all around me. Throughout these busy years, I have wondered if this inextinguishable passion for educational equity and social justice will ever waver, but it never has.

Throughout it all, I have of course been managing life in the background: my father died. I had my heart broken by people and systems. I felt like I was too much and not enough, all at the same time. I battled health issues that left me with terrible anxiety that are now successfully managed thanks to medical science. Managing imposter syndrome in the science of learning world has felt like a concurrent full time job alongside all my learning and I don’t think I’ll ever truly overcome it. However, throughout all of the turbulent ups and downs of life, research and my unwavering dedication to understanding what’s best for our students has remained a consistent anchor.

In 2023, I began a side hustle. Learning with Leah. Cute alliteration, right? I started with 100 followers on instagram (comprised mostly of my good friends). This was a consulting business where I supported parents, teachers and schools while still working full time in my other various roles. I cried alongside parents battling the system. I was an advocate for parents and their children in meetings with principals. I zoomed with teachers across the country trying to implement change in their own small ways - the true, unsung heroes of most system change. I presented to schools who had never heard of the science of reading or evidence-based practices. I’ve stood in front of rooms full of teachers frowning back at me—only to hear at the end, ‘Wow. I had no idea about any of this.’” I worked with small regional schools and their leaders to support their development of a knowledge rich curriculum. I worked with big metropolitan schools on assessment. Throughout it all, I always spoke my business down. I even felt ridiculous calling it a business. I’d say, “It’s just a little thing I do…” never fully stepping into the role or acknowledging how much support I was providing, despite the ongoing, rapturous feedback I would receive.

My instagram has now grown into 2.3k of the most engaged, interested, passionate followers. They have my back. I have theirs. Many of them are teachers or middle leaders doing god’s work in their schools. If I miss something in the education sphere they are the first to alert me to it, often with an outraged “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?!” When they are exhausted or overwhelmed by the system they will slide into my DMs for a debrief. My La Trobe students, infant teachers learning to navigate the system, will often message asking for my advice. “Do you know this school? Should I apply?” When I recently announced I was leaving my department role and moving into full time consulting, I had over 50 messages of encouragement. It might sound silly but my instagram community mean so much to me. I love that it is so niche. Only a very specific type of person wants to follow an account that explains MTSS, EDI and Cognitive Load Theory, but they are very much my kind of person.

So now, it’s time to lean into what I have always suspected might be headed my way: being my own boss and giving my educational consultancy a real go of it. I still don’t quite know what my title is. A founder? An owner? I’ve been working with an excellent creative design group (shout out to Brigid at Paul Kelly Creative in Geelong), and my rebranding is almost complete. Learning with Leah? She’s had a glow up. She is now Leah Myers Consulting (LMC) and this will be my full time role beginning tomorrow. After over a decade, I am no longer an employee of the department and the umbilical cord of safety has been cut. As I leap into the unknown seas as a sole trader, research will be my rudder.

I’m going to have to get over the ick the consultant label gives me (it’s giving sleazy car salesman) and remember to stand strong in my convictions and knowledge. The best part about being my own boss? I get to design what this consultancy looks like and let me tell you, she’s looking pretty gorgeous. I’ve already begun to establish long term, ongoing partnerships with schools who have invited me to sit at their tables and discuss implementation and evidence-informed practices - a privilege I do not take for granted. I’m going into classrooms and teaching, explicitly and responsively (with my trusty document camera under my arm). I’ve been running professional development days that leave people excited, not tired (me and every teacher have sat through enough of those PDs for a lifetime, thx). I’ve been having open, honest and vulnerable conversations with teachers. It’s been such a joy to lean into my role and an honour to be invited to these discussions.

I’m excited for this next chapter and shocked to find I’m almost completely booked for this next term. I’m also terrified by all of this but hey, if you’re not a bit scared you’re probably not growing, right? As I move forward, I know there’ll be challenges (looking at you, BAS statements,) but I’m all in. Do I have all the answers? Definitely not. Am I done learning? Never. But I will show up fully— committed and ready to give my best to the schools, teachers, and students I work alongside.

Thanks for being here. I’ll keep you posted as the story unfolds.