The team behind the UTS Master of Teaching in Secondary Education course have taken the Professional Experience Hub Partnership model to new heights, creating synergies between theory and practice to provide authentic learning experiences at a ‘whole of course’ level.
UTS M/Teach in Secondary Ed students visit Macquarie Fields High School. Photo by Joanne Yoo.
What could go wrong when 100 UTS Master of Teaching in Secondary Education students go on a field trip to Macquarie Fields High School in the second week of class?
UTS Master of Teaching in Secondary Education Team
"You are going to do what? Are you serious?!"
Yes we are.
Mutually beneficial industry partnerships with NSW secondary schools are at the heart of UTS’s Master of Teaching in Secondary Education (MTeach) course.
The team behind the MTeach course seek ways to go beyond the typical partnership models, which focus simply on professional experience, by intensifying impact and engagement at all levels of course design and delivery.
Building Industry Partnerships in Teacher Education
UTS MTeach staff are passionate about the practical nature of their courses. Work-integrated learning is a key part a successful teacher education model and vital for teacher education students (aka preservice teachers).
When the MTeach team were developing first semester subject ‘Professional Learning’ they asked; “Why can’t we take our teacher education students out to Macquarie Fields High School (MFHS) to do some authentic professional learning in a school?”
Macquarie Fields High School responded with; “Why not?"
Making Teacher Education Distinctive at UTS
UTS and MFHS staff collaborated on the content, activities and other relevant resources to orchestrate an invaluable learning experience for the UTS students. They connected the visits to two core MTeach subjects ‘Professional Learning’ and ‘Literacy and Numeracy across the Curriculum.’
Macquarie Fields High School Future Teachers Club students working with UTS Preservice Teachers.
One MTeach student was thrilled to have this opportunity so early in her degree, commenting; “When I told my sister, who is already a teacher, that we were going out to a school in the second week of our degree she was shocked. Her first visit occurred in her third year. All her work up till then was purely conceptual, which meant that nothing really made any sense.”
Literacy and Numeracy
The jam-packed day at MFHS kicked off with a Literacy and Numeracy information session. The UTS preservice teachers learned about MFHS's whole-school approach to cultivating these fundamental skills.
Sangeeta Hegde, MFHS’s PEX Coordinator, covered the strategies adopted by the school, commenting; “Writing is our students’ weakest area”.
Katherine Bates is the MTeach team's literacy expert with decades of experience providing professional learning in literacy to teachers. She asked; "Can we find out what are the five most significant writing needs, so our students can develop resources to match them?” already thinking about how our UTS preservice teachers could help support these time-poor teachers.
Professional Experience Insight Panel
Next was a Professional Experience Insight Panel delivered by the Principal Karyn O’Brien, Geoff Plowes (Maths Head Teacher), Troy Neale (Head Teacher of Human Society and its Environment - HSIE), Mabel Truong and Inara Iftekar (two final year preservice teachers and former MFHS students), and a few MFHS Future Teachers Club students.
Professional Experience Insight Panel at MFHS
Our preservice teachers were inspired by words of wisdom and experience.
“Be natural!”
“Seek help from experienced staff!”
“Listen, trust and build relationships”
“Shift if something is not working.”
“It is okay to have a bad day.”
These nuggets of advice and insight were invaluable to our preservice teachers and highlighted the support available to them from the community around them.
The afternoon was filled with observations of experienced teachers practising their craft and unpacking its mysteries. Preservice teachers took pictures of samples of student works and teaching resources for their teacher education tool kits. They also dabbled in teaching three extremely hands-on and engaging learning tasks to a cohort of inquisitive year 7 and 8 MFHS students.
The day could not have worked so well without the preservice teachers, Mabel and Inara, actioning Sangeeta’s big vision. Why did they work so hard when they themselves were only preservice teachers?
“This is a bit of passion project for us. We wanted to create the best experience possible. We organised everything that we wished we had when we were in our first year,” they explain.
Clockwise starting from the left: Numeracy Art Activity, Geography and Numeracy Treasure Hunt Activity, and Literacy Science Bingo Activity
Reflection:
“It is passion, not magic,” Geoff Plowes had declared in the Professional Experience Panel. His life is a testament to his words. Having dedicated himself to his teaching craft for over thirty years, he acknowledges that there is no other profession more compelling than safeguarding the future of the next generation.
I am struck by his passion and deep sense of purpose.
The sight of our smiling preservice teachers draws my attention. I wonder about how we can protect their passion so that they can lead long and satisfying careers. Passion calls teachers to a life of service, but it must be nurtured and protected.
Passion is what motivates teachers to help other teachers. It drives individuals to join what constitutes one of the noblest professions. It keeps experienced teachers on the gruelling path of shaping tomorrow’s leaders. Although it takes hard work and dedication, rather than ‘magic,’ to make learning happen, the result is undoubtedly magical as teachers transform the lives of their students.
We found ourselves at the top of a huge mountain peak as our visit ended. Despite our exhaustion, the organising team felt fulfilled beyond measure. It was an experience that we could not have provided without our incredible school partner- Macquarie Fields High School. Together, we have worked tirelessly to provide our preservice teachers with a strong start, hoping to keep their passion for teaching burning brightly for years to come.
Left to right: Katherine Bates (UTS), Sangeeta Hegde (MFHS), Joanne Yoo (UTS) and Pauline Kohlhoff (UTS).
Thank you to Macquarie Fields High School, to our own MTeach team and to our first year preservice teachers.