Opening doors for new teachers
Students from city environments and larger regional centres are being encouraged to take up placements and continue their careers in the Wimmera.
The Horsham Alliance project is working with Deakin, Federation and Australian Catholic universities on ways to attract more teachers to the region.
The alliance is a collaboration of 13 schools in the Wimmera.
Mentor Cathy Van Dyk said she worked with the three universities and Horsham schools, aiming to bring pre-service teachers to the region for placement and encouraging them to stay once they were qualified.
“While they are here, I mentor them to ensure they are comfortable, that their accommodation is adequate and try to address any hurdles they might be facing in living out of home or being away from a metropolitan area,” she said. “The idea is that some of them will come back in the future.
“We show them the region, see all the beauty the country has to offer and the advantages of living here.”
Pre-service teacher William Norwood, who was teaching mathematics and humanities at St Brigid’s College, said his placement had gone well.
“All of the staff are really welcoming and the students are good – a lot of them being from farms and rural kids,” he said.
“I’ll definitely go into teaching at rural schools. That’s been the goal since I’ve become a teacher.”
Tegan Cross also completed her placement at St Brigid’s, teaching PE, health and outdoor education.
She said it was her second placement, after a public school in a larger regional centre.
“The school I’ve been at in Horsham
has been a lot smaller, which I quite enjoy because it gives you an opportunity to get to know the students one-on-one,” she said.
“When you are at a school with 1200 students, it’s quite hard to get to know them, how they best learn and how to best manage their behaviours. Having smaller class sizes has been something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.”
Ozgur Topcu said he would consider teaching in a regional area, after completing a placement at Horsham West Primary School.
“There’s a lot less traffic here, you are more connected with nature and there’s incentives for Melbourne students to come and move to the country,” he said.
“There’s also cheaper real estate and if you want to start a life here, that’s definitely something to consider.”