USQ Education students embark on outback teaching adventure

Heading out into the outback for the Isolated Children’s Project are (from left) Lauren Cawthray, Kimberley Nind and Andrea Taylor

Heavy flooding in parts of Western Queensland couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of 13 USQ students who embarked on an outback teaching adventure last week.

The third and fourth year Faculty of Education Bachelor of Education Primary pre-service teachers are participating in the Isolated Children's Project (ICP), a unique three-week professional experience placement program.

The students are giving up three weeks of their summer holiday to live with families in rural and remote Queensland and assist children with their School of Distance Education studies and provide their families with valuable support.

Murgon student Andrea Taylor will spend three weeks on a remote station near Mount Garnet in Far North Queensland.

She said she was attracted to the program because it will give her the chance to give back to country kids.

‘I think it’s a great opportunity for kids to get a teacher in training to come out and teach them for three weeks and give their parents a break, because it’s marvellous what they do,’ she said.

Meantime, Toowoomba student Kimberley Nind has been placed with a family near Einasleigh in Far North Queensland and hopes the experience will give her a start on her dream to teach in the bush.

‘I thought that completing an ICP-style professional experience would give me more employability over other students that may apply for rural/remote placements but have never had a rural/remote professional experience,’ she said.

The Dean of the Faculty of Education, Professor Nita Temmerman, said the Faculty is proud to support the Isolated Children's Project and said the project complimented the USQ Faculty of Education’s goal to prepare its students to become global educators from a wide-range of teaching contexts.

The students have been placed with families from the Cairns, Capricornia, Longreach, Charters Towers and Mt Isa Schools of Distance Education.

The program began on 30 January and will run until February 17.

Contact Details:
Callum Johnson, USQ Media, +61 7 46 31 2559