My path to this work wasn't straightforward.
I can still see the faces of my friends and fellow teachers in Papua New Guinea. It wasn't the curriculum we'd developed or the IT lab we'd set up that mattered most. It was watching them come alive. They had a new lease of life, a spark that hadn't been there before. They were excited to teach, excited to try new ways of reaching their students. That moment stayed with me. It still does.
My path to this work wasn't straightforward. I trained as an accountant, earned a first class honours degree, and realised by the end of it that I couldn't face being stuck in an office all day. So I retrained as a teacher and spent more than a decade in classrooms. There was lots to love, the teaching, the learning, and connecting with students. Challenging, yes, but deeply rewarding.
Where that path led
Then my wife's role at Volunteer Service Abroad saw us move to Papua New Guinea for three years. I was privileged to work as a volunteer teacher trainer, working alongside local staff to support the development of their skills and confidence with both technology and new teaching strategies. We set up a new IT curriculum, worked on reading programmes, and helped teachers see how technology could genuinely change their practice. Being with them and watching them discover that was something else.
When we returned to New Zealand in 2013, I went back to my former school as deputy principal. Then a new opportunity came along. For the next eleven years, I enjoyed leading the education team at Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, creating social justice resources for teachers and students grounded in Catholic values. It was important and rewarding work. It was about forming not just minds but character, helping young people understand their place in the world and their responsibility to others.
That belief has never left me. Education isn't just about what goes into students' heads. It's about who they become. It's about helping them grow into people who are caring, curious, and grounded in something real. Because I believe that so deeply, I also understand what's at stake when teachers are struggling to do that work well because of all the tasks that they are juggling.
I've been that teacher. The one waking at three in the morning thinking about tomorrow's lesson. The one drowning under planning, assessment, report writing, behaviour management, and a hundred other demands. I know that juggle intimately. And I know how it feels when you feel overwhelmed.
I've been that teacher.
The one waking at three in the morning thinking about tomorrow's lesson.
It's a human one.
That's what brought me to Fambirai. I joined earlier this year as an educator and strategist, and the work feels like a natural extension of everything I've done before. I'm helping teachers understand AI and use it responsibly and effectively, to save time and to get back to what they love about teaching.
Through our course, Practical AI for Busy Teachers, we walk educators through concrete skills they can apply straight away. Planning, learning intentions, lesson ideas, resource creation, quizzes, rubrics.
Real tools for the real work of teaching. And when a teacher puts together a detailed prompt and sees a genuinely useful result for tomorrow's lesson, something shifts. The unknown becomes manageable.
I see that spark again. Teachers arrive uncertain, sometimes having tried AI before without guidance and come away frustrated.
But when they work through real examples and realise this is something they can actually do, the energy changes. They're excited again. They feel like they're on top.
I use AI this way myself. At work, I run my presentations and drafts through it to find gaps and sharpen my thinking.
At home, my daughter and I spent the holidays building a board game together and used AI to create interactive instructions. She loved it. That creativity and joy, that's what I want teachers and their students to experience too.
As for where AI is heading, I'll be honest, I don't have a crystal ball. The pace of change is extraordinary and models will keep improving. What I do believe is that the faster AI evolves, the more important it becomes to stay grounded in what matters. Human dignity must come first. Truth and transparency must always be the goal. That's not a technical question. It's a human one.
Outside work, life is full. I have a wonderful wife, two energetic daughters, and a household that runs somewhere between a family home and a small zoo with dogs, cats, guinea pigs and fish. We love spending time together and having a good laugh. When I find the time, I enjoy watching sport and immersing myself in fantasy novels and movies. The spark I saw in my friends in Papua New Guinea, I'm still chasing it. And I'm still finding it.
Work with Michael
Michael runs live AI training workshops for teachers across New Zealand. Sessions are practical, built around the tasks teachers actually do, planning, marking, resources, reports, and designed to save real time from week one.
If your school is looking for hands-on AI professional development led by someone who understands the classroom, get in touch.
planning
marking
resources
reports