Frances has an impressive and sustained record of exceptional outcomes for the most disadvantaged people in society.  Having succeeded against all odds, Frances has spent forty years developing innovative teaching practices and learning experiences for those that many would have considered ‘unteachable’, and has given thousands of people the skills and confidence to start their own businesses or find gainful employment.  In all instances Frances has been the inspiration and the source of hope for her students, who have ranged from the most traumatised to those with a history of drug dependency, from refugees to those who are disabled.  A student writes that Frances ‘has given me the reason to live’. 

 

Frances sees every course she teaches as different, every student as unique, and every moment in life as an opportunity to be seized.   Frances has essentially fought for and gained the right for students to be educated at a time when there was no such provision.  Her legendary and ground breaking teaching programmes have changed the educational landscape in this area in New Zealand.