Quality placements
Watch a professional learning coordinator meet pre-service teachers weekly to discuss their progress and provides opportunities for them to raise issues of concern that she attempts to resolve collaboratively.
Resource information
A professional learning co-ordinator has responsibility for interviewing, selecting and placing pre-service teachers with teacher supervisors at Darwin High School. She meets the pre-service teachers weekly to discuss their progress and provides opportunities for them to raise issues of concern that she attempts to resolve collaboratively. Core teaching and learning issues such as behaviour management and information and communication technologies (ICT) are also discussed. She also supports pre-service teachers' participation within innovative ICT professional learning and teaching projects.
Darwin High School is one of only two government schools in Darwin that cater purely for senior students at years 10–12. The school is relatively large in comparison with other Territory schools. The student population is comprised of many different cultural backgrounds, with a large number of overseas students. The school is a teaching school with a relationship with Charles Darwin University. The school interviews pre-service students to see whether it can provide an appropriate supervising teacher. The co-ordinator advises students about the kinds of evidence they must collect to demonstrate that they have achieved a graduate standard at the end of their pre-service year.
Discussion questions:
- What would be the main features of a 'quality placement' for a pre-service teacher at a school?
- How effective is the program offered to pre-service teachers at your school?
