A global approach to teaching

Monash Faculty of Education teaching students have been undertaking rounds with a difference in the Cook Islands. The experience is designed to give students a greater insight into different cultures and education systems around the world. DIANE SQUIRES reports.

Monash student Ms Kate Worrad in the Cook Islands.

Teaching rounds are an invaluable part of education training. They teach future educators the practical aspects of interacting with students and provide first-hand experience of issues that may arise in the classroom.

And while most teaching students only experience classroom culture in the country in which they are studying, a Monash University program is encouraging education students to broaden their skills by undertaking placements in the Cook Islands.

This year, 25 primary education students took part in the Cook Islands Teaching Practicum. The students undertook rounds for three weeks at one of seven schools, from the government and independent sectors, on the island of Rarotonga.

Program coordinator and senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education Dr Julie Edwards said the program reflected Monash's push toward internationalisation. She said it gave the students a greater understanding of multi-culturalism and the issues arising in schools in other parts of the world.

"The Cook Islands teaching experience is not seen as merely a replication of the practicum experiences within Victorian schools," she said. "Students are challenged in a number of ways, including coming to terms with a different culture and teaching with limited resources.

"In some schools in the Cook Islands they are lucky to have a pencil for every pupil, the range of books is very limited and there are very few maps and teaching guides, so teachers have to be creative and flexible in their approaches to classes."

Dr Edwards says the students benefit from the exposure to a different culture on these teaching rounds. "Obviously when you are immersed in a different culture it gives you a greater acceptance and understanding of many other cultures.

"Students come away with the knowledge that schools around the world do things differently and teachers have to adapt to that. The result is a global approach to teaching."

The Cook Islands Teaching Practicum was established in 1995 under Associate Professor Tony Townsend. Initially it involved primary teaching students from the Peninsula campus, but in 2002 it was extended to include primary education students from the Gippsland campus as well.

Next year it is planned to extend the program to include secondary education students.

The Monash lecturers who supervise the teaching students also have an arrangement with the Cook Islands Ministry of Education and the Cook Islands Teachers' Training College to plan and deliver professional development workshops across a range of curriculum areas to practising teachers and student teachers at the college.

Action: For more information, contact Dr Julie Edwards at julie.edwards@education.monash.edu.au.