Message from the

Director

Dear colleagues,

Last Friday, August 25, I had the privilege of being invited to speak to the Conference of Deans of Education and their teams from the 15 universities in NSW that provide initial teacher education for our future teacher workforce. Responding to another Federal Government review into teacher education degrees, the deans are conscious of the drop in the number of applications for teacher education degrees and are as concerned as we in the school sector are about the status of the teaching profession and the incorrect portrayal of school education in the media. 

I was asked to speak about efforts to support teacher education in a rural and regional setting, and our three high-level priorities. The following is a brief reflection on my presentation of the relevant key ideas which are influencing the work of our system of schools: 

1. Understanding the context of a regional and rural educational setting  for teacher educators.

Our school and local communities are extremely welcoming environments that embrace the passion and enthusiasm of new graduates who are willing to learn and adopt new evidence-informed approaches in the classroom.

We only have just over 6,000 students enrolled across 24 small primary, secondary and K-10 schools. Our system of school has the second-lowest average ICSEA of any Catholic system in NSW. Our population is made up of 25% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and 25% students with a disability. This is an important consideration for several schools with an enrolment of under 100 students. The small enrolment numbers mean that many class groups are stage based, with some schools teaching students of mixed age and ability groups in class groupings such as K-3 and/or 4-6 in primary schools. 

Our small secondary schools range in size from 400 to 900 students which has implications for the breadth of the curriculum that can be offered, and the availability of specialist teaching staff in the regional setting. As is the case in metropolitan areas, the availability of casual teachers is limited. In our more remote locations, our school leadership team members are often unable to access their relief entitlement because of a shortage of teaching staff which requires them to be in class on almost a full-time basis.

Some of these realities mean that our teachers in small schools have to be particularly skilled in supporting positive student behaviour needs, differentiation, and the use of data to determine the next best instructional step for a range of ages, abilities and grades. When almost 20% of our teachers are early career teachers (ECTs) in their first 3 years of teaching, this is a very real challenge and one for which we must provide significant support.

2. The Catholic Schools Office and school leaders see the student teacher practicum as an important recruitment strategy. 

Our system of Catholic schools has a positive partnership with both ACU and Notre Dame. At the local level we have good access to UNE in Armidale and Tamworth. We recently signed an MOU with Notre Dame University to ensure regional and rural placements for practicum students. This has resulted in 6 student teachers undertaking a 10-week practicum across our 3 primary schools in Tamworth. The CSO found and provided accommodation for these students, and is paying them a $75 per day allowance during the practicum to support them while living away from home. We aim to place students in pairs to reduce their isolation during the internship. These strategies build on the teacher education scholarships provided by the CSO for undergraduate students undertaking teacher education courses.

3. Recruitment that is supported by deliberate retention strategies for new graduates.

Our system of schools provides a very supportive professional learning community in a Catholic context. Therefore, our ECTs enjoy the very positive and important experience of consistency of practice within and between our schools. This practice includes an uninterrupted literacy block in each primary school with the same expectations and routines for reading, writing, and the use of Macquarie University’s Initial Lit and MiniLit. In the primary setting, ECTs are supported by teachers working in strong teams that collaborate within and between schools. Importantly, this incorporates explicit instruction using a phonics-based approach, and phonics testing and reading benchmarking as consistent practices. Our student literacy results continue to show both growth and achievement beyond the national trends.  

Similarly, the mathematics block uses the gradual release of responsibility model that is employed in literacy instruction. Learning and teaching in the mathematics block has benefited from teacher professional development which is the major component of the MaST project. Each primary school is now supported by a mathematics specialist teacher, and the MaST project has received national recognition for its impact on teacher confidence and student learning.

The Catholic Schools Office has employed a team of four ECT coaches. These coaches are outstanding classroom practitioners who complement the in-school support for ECTs. These coaches develop relationships with beginning teachers as they provide coaching in classroom instruction and the support of student wellbeing. The coaches are invaluable to ECTs with regard to their own social and emotional wellbeing during their practicum. This is an important teacher retention strategy in our region. 

As this important work indicates, we are committed to supporting young teachers entering the profession, and working in partnership with universities to provide teacher practicums and the promotion of  the status of the teaching profession to ensure the future of the education workforce in rural, regional and remote communities.

Thank you for your contribution to this important work, and for your ongoing commitment to high-quality learning and teaching in our system of schools.

Chris Smyth