Victoria University will participate in one of the State Government's new Teaching Academies to support up-and-coming teachers boost their classroom skills through school-university partnerships.
VU will collaborate with six primary schools and one secondary college in the Hume/Moreland regions of Melbourne under the Victorian Government’s $1.6 million Teaching Academies of Professional Practice (TAPP) program.
The program will see VU College of Education students learning two days a week for up to 30 weeks in one or more of VU’s TAPP partner schools:
- Campbellfield Heights Primary School
- Roxburgh Park Primary School
- Roxburgh Rise Primary School
- Coburg North Primary School
- Moomba Park Primary School
- Oak Park Primary School
- Roxburgh College
VU College of Education teaching and learning director Associate Professor Bill Eckersley said the TAPP program extends the considerable classroom immersion that VU already offers its pre-service teachers.
“By bringing together a cluster of schools into a single hub with a partner university, our pre-service teachers can blend theory and practice; build strong and sustained relationships with teachers, children and parents; and increase their employment prospects upon graduation,” he said.
The program is also designed to support and expand the skills of the established teachers who work alongside pre-service teachers, with VU providing them with on-site professional development in mentoring.
“A crucial part of TAPP is enhancing the capacity of teacher-mentors and providing them with consistent interpretations of behaviours and skills pre-service teachers need to demonstrate,” he said.
“Mentors will be encouraged to document their practices and gain credit for them in VU postgraduate programs,” he said.
