Media Release
27 September 2019
Download the report here: The Geraldton Universities Centre Report – Partnerships with Communities
Geraldton Universities Centre will hold a celebration Friday evening launching the rebrand of the organisation with the release of a CQUniversity report into the success of both the partnership and delivery of pre-service teacher education in Geraldton.
The report provides key insights into the unique opportunities and inherent challenges of students in Australia’s first community initiated regional universities centre; the GUC.
CQUniversity Dean of Education and the Arts Prof Bill Blayney, will visit GUC with the Reports’ authors headed by Assoc Prof Angelina Ambrosetti.
Professor Blayney said the research highlighted six themes that emerged across interviews with students, graduates, tutors and key community stakeholders.
“These themes included personalised support at GUC, the connection to community and contextual understanding of the region that comes when preparing teachers from the community for the community. Themes also captured changes to community identity, community role models and the strong relationships cultivated by GUC particularly between students, their tutors and local schools.”
GUC Director Natalie Nelmes said CQUniversity was GUC’s largest partner with the Bachelor of Education being a flagship program of the centre’s mixed mode model.
“Our model sees students access online curriculum from our university partners while receiving face-to-face academic, administrative and pastoral support in Geraldton,” she said. “It’s terrific to see these research results from CQUniversity really evidencing the outcomes that are clearly the aim of GUC, to provide that high level of support to enable student success while building the capacity of our region.
“With CQUniversity’ s visit we’re also providing information sessions for potential students to find out more about the Masters of Teaching that GUC will support in 2020 and PhD opportunities for qualified teachers in our region.”
Key findings of the research include:
- Participation rates in initial teacher education are growing within the Geraldton region, meaning that increased professional capabilities will benefit the region’s schools and the children and young people who attend those schools.
- The support structures that are embedded within the Geraldton Universities Centre model enables students to succeed more so than if they were studying via the traditional distance mode.
- The Geraldton Universities Centre is graduating teachers from the community for the community. Graduates are teachers who understand the uniqueness of the region and its people.
- Professional capability within the localised schooling/educational sector is increased in that experienced teachers are being provided with professional opportunities to increase their own teaching knowledge and skills, but also to give back to their profession.
- The Geraldton Universities Centre increases the economic and social benefits of the region. Young people stay local to gain their teaching qualification and contribute to the local economy whilst doing so. The pre-service teachers become role models for other young people in the community, demonstrating that educational aspirations are not out of reach, but instead are an achievable reality.
- The Geraldton Universities model empowers present and future generations and strengthens the community’s identity.
Ends….
For more information, please contact Natalie Nelmes on 9920 4403.
