Teacher Education Scholarship thriving at Trinity
Committed to supporting educators at key career transition points, Trinity’s Teacher Education Scholarship is providing university students from The University of Sydney and Notre Dame University the opportunity to complement their tertiary education with the time and space to apply their learning in a practical context.
Each year, Trinity Grammar School welcomes a selection of students from the University of Sydney and the University of Notre Dame through the Teacher Education Scholarship programme.
The programme has been accepting participants since 2019, giving Education students in their final year at these universities the opportunity to build their skills as educators one day a week at Trinity.
While many internships require significant sacrifice from participants in order to have a whole day available each week to engage in an internship, the Teacher Education Scholarship provides financial support to participants to remove any financial barrier that may prevent them from taking up such an opportunity.
“The money is not the focus of the scholarship,” Ms Alison Boyd-Boland (Trinity’s Director of Professional Practice) says. “It is the means by which these emerging teachers can afford to prioritise their teaching practice and build their capacity as capable and informed educators in a sustained programme. Trinity is committed to investing in the profession by giving these students time and opportunity to be working alongside experienced staff.”
Throughout the programme, students work with Trinity educators in the area(s) they’re training in, observing, shadowing, and having conversations about their practice. The programme is designed to build their capabilities as graduate teachers, ensuring they enter the workforce as highly effective educators. Trinity sees it as a significant responsibility to contribute to the training and development of the next generations of teachers.
The partnership with each university means that Trinity’s Teacher Education Scholarship programme complements and extends what the participants are already experiencing through their tertiary education, with new opportunities to apply their learning in real-world contexts. And the programme is designed to provide more support than participants may get through typical placement programmes.
“We work with students on an ongoing basis – it’s not a short-term prac,” Ms Boyd-Boland explains. “The structure can vary depending on the qualification the students are pursuing, but generally participants intern one day a week with Trinity for two terms and spend the third term completing their practical placement.”
The programme has been steadily growing. The first year only had one university student participating but, now in its fourth year, Trinity is hosting a cohort of five and Ms Boyd-Boland says its testament to the support Trinity is providing.
“Trinity is committed to supporting educators at key career transition points, and helping to bridge the gap between university and the classroom is a key step in this process. In those moments when your job is feeling really new, Trinity places great value on providing this kind of support to help educators thrive.”
