‘Burdened with the Need’: Moreland Grad Seeks to Expand Access to Quality Education
| by Hannah Sparling
Plan A for Irene Odei Siaw was to get an important office job that came with a fancy title and fancy high heels.
Plan B, on the advice of her father, was to study law in England after she finished high school in Ghana.
“I didn’t like law because I thought lawyers were liars,” Irene said. “But when I eventually studied and practiced as a lawyer in England, I was amazed at how awesome the profession was, and I loved every minute of it.”
Plan C came after Irene got married, and her husband’s job took the family outside England (and outside the scope of her law license). They lived in various places in Africa, and Irene started to realize that girls there didn’t have access to the same kind of education she’d enjoyed.
“It kind of struck me that I was one of the few privileged to have had that sort of experience, and I became burdened with the need,” she said. “I felt I wanted to do something about it, but I didn’t have the skills. So, I started studying and trying to get myself educated in education.”
A Dream Come True
Irene started by building an English-based educational program in South Africa. She built the program from scratch, and it was doing quite well, she said. But then COVID hit, and the program didn’t survive.
Irene and her family moved to Vietnam, where she started substitute teaching at the same school her children attended. There, she saw other teachers posting on their classroom doors that they’d earned their certifications through Moreland University. When Irene asked about it, she was intrigued.
“One thing led to another,” she said, and in March 2025, Irene graduated from Moreland’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program. In June, she’ll start her M.Ed. program with Moreland, with a focus on teaching multilingual learners.
“Honestly, it’s been a dream come true,” she said. “I didn’t think I could make it this far within a year. It’s really miraculous and exciting for me to have done the course and to say that I’m one of the [Moreland University] alumni.”
Becoming a Teacher
Irene loved learning from the different instructors for each module in the TEACH-NOW program. Each instructor had a unique background and a unique set of strengths, which made for a truly enriching experience.
The material itself was challenging, Irene said, especially at the accelerated pace, but Moreland’s flexibility and support made it feasible.
“I loved the fact I could reach out to someone whenever I needed help,” she said. “That was very encouraging, because there were times when I felt I couldn’t continue. But when I reached out, [my instructor] would guide me step by step, and I would be able to do it.”
TEACH-NOW taught Irene how to manage her classroom and how to differentiate for students, she said. She also made great friends in her cohort, people she keeps up with today. Whenever she thinks back on the program, it brings “good smiles and warm feelings.”
“I wasn’t a teacher when I started,” she said. “If I can call myself a teacher [today], it’s all thanks to Moreland.”
Changing the System
In the short-term, Irene wants to get as much teaching experience as possible. She had an interview with the school in Vietnam where she did her clinical learning (student teaching), and she would love to work there full-time.
In the long term, her dream is to move back to Africa and be the kind of educator she thinks children there, especially young girls, need. That might include being a classroom teacher herself, or it might include setting up a teacher-training school.
“The need is more for well-trained teachers,” she said. “They’re all very willing and hardworking people, but they just don’t have access to the kind of material they need. And what I’ve learned, I think I could share.”
She thinks about her own life and the “what ifs.” What if her dad hadn’t encouraged her to go to England after high school? What if she weren’t able to travel and study like she did? She doesn’t like the word “lucky” — because no one should have to be “lucky” to get an education — but she can’t think of a better way to put it.
And in fact, her goal now is to take luck out of the education system. Every teacher should have the resources they need to be successful, she said. And every student should get the education they need to follow their dreams.
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