- Posted on 16 Apr 2025
- 3-minute read
UTS School of International Studies and Education’s (SoISE) beginner teacher conferences continue to grow from strength to strength.
How can we best prepare our preservice teachers for the teaching profession? This question led SoISE staff to collaborate with their fantastic school partners to deliver a fourth jam-packed beginner teacher conference. What better form of professional learning exists than to bring some of NSW’s finest teachers and school leaders into one space to share their passion and knowledge?
Can you make a difference?
The morning kicked off with the Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Murat Dizdar, who gave a keynote on how to thrive in the teaching profession. Not only is Murat a dedicated practitioner and leader, but he is also a consummate storyteller, who regaled us with stories from the classroom.
Believing education to be a “ticket for prosperity”, he continues to pursue excellence in teaching and learning to make public education the “best education that money can’t buy”.
In Murat’s tenure as the Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, he has worked tirelessly with his team to reduce teacher workload for mandatory professional learning, to ensure NSW public school teachers are properly remunerated and to build a lesson library to deliver quality teaching across NSW schools.
The day also included powerful talks on how to thrive as a beginner teacher by Lila Mularczyk, a Tertiary Educator at UTS, and Lauren Pitt, a Director for Attraction and Engagement at the Department of Education.
This was followed by a panel of expert teachers, as well as presentations by Belinda Guidice (Principal of Gledswood Hills High School) and Dr Tammy So (HT Secondary Studies Gledswood Hills HS), John Goh (Principal of Merrylands East Public School), Alice Leung (HT Secondary Studies Concord HS), Casey Johnson (HT Teaching and Learning Northmead CAPA HS), Jo Gray (NSW DoE Director, HPGE NSW Dept of Education) and Nancy Morvillo (COE Lead, NSW DoE HPGE NSW Dept of Education).
They covered topics such as: ‘What I wish I had known’, ‘Finding the potential’, ‘Developing the talent and making the difference – High Potential Gifted Education (HPGE) implementation in NSW schools’, ‘Engaging teaching to manage/enhance student engagement’, ‘Technology to transform learning: tips and tricks for beginning teachers’, ‘The joy of teaching’ and ‘Demystifying teaching’.
UTS preservice teachers were inspired by these passionate educators and bolstered by practical strategies on how to close the gap by giving their students an educational passport that could open doors to new opportunities.
They were challenged to step into the corner of the most disengaged child to help them reach their potential. And lastly, they were made aware of the importance of lifelong learning and encouraged to lean on the strength of a supportive professional community.
“You are never alone” was the invaluable message imparted by Lila Mularczyk, who reminded UTS preservice teachers that help is always available.
Reminded that they would be waking up each day to make a difference in the lives of young people, UTS preservice teachers could affirm their calling to ‘step into’ one of the most rewarding professions.
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