More than 1,000 pre-service teachers participated in ‘Primary Connections Ready’ two-day primary science and literacy professional learning workshops this year. The workshops are supported by the Australian Government Department of Education and Training through the Mathematics and Science Participation Program.
One of the workshops, in September, was held for students at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Toowoomba. Laureena Todd, who is currently completing her teaching degree at USQ, brought her four-month-old Aaden along—the youngest ever workshop attendee. Laureena said she would recommend the workshop to other pre-service teachers.
Dr Karen Spence, Senior Lecturer (Science Education) at USQ, said her favourite part of the workshop was seeing pre-service teachers genuinely involved in science education in a supportive and non-competitive environment. She appreciated the fact that Primary Connections was travelling to regional universities.
Primary Connections is planning to more than double the number of pre-service teachers trained in these two-day courses next year.
I believe the Primary Connections workshop is an extremely valuable professional learning opportunity. I gained so much information, which extended and transformed my thinking … Even though Primary Connections focuses on science and connecting to literacy, many of the learning strategies and teaching methods could be applied to any subject across the curriculum. Mary Oliver, USQ distance education student
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