Rebecca Leech

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) 2004 and
Bachelor of Arts (Professional Writing) 2002

FOR JOURNALIST REBECCA LEECH, winning professional awards is not the only highlight of her work with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

"I currently work as a journalist for ACER in Melbourne and one of the great things about my job is that I get to travel, meet new people and learn new things every day.There’s a great deal of autonomy and variety in my work."

"I research, write and edit articles about education for a range of publications. These include magazines produced by ACER, such as Teacher and Professional Educator; in-house newsletters and corporate publications, such as our Research Developments and external media such as newspapers, education magazines and journals," she said.

Since graduating in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) majoring in Professional Writing and Literary Studies, Rebecca has won two prestigious awards for her writing; Writer of the Year in 2007 at the Australian Business and Specialist Publishers’ Bell Awards and Best Print-Media Feature in 2006 at the Australian Council of Deans of Education’s Excellence in Education Journalism Awards.

However, Rebecca explained that her success to date would not have been possible without her Deakin degree and the practical experience offered as part of the course.

"Having a tertiary degree is essential to anyone looking to pursue and succeed in a professional career such as journalism."

"I had a great time at Deakin and met some fantastic lecturers and fellow students and my course was interesting and fun. I enjoyed the fact that my lecturers were experts in their fields and many were still practicising writers and editors."

"The course exposed me to a range of writing styles and different genres. There were also opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom. The course at the Melbourne Campus at Burwood has its own literary journal called Verandah, which I helped to produce and I also worked on the student newspaper, Crossfire, as editor-in-chief, which was great practical experience for my career now," she said.

Over the next few years, Rebecca plans to continue her career in journalism and study for her doctorate.

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