Sit-down with Senior Adviser to the Federal Minister of Education and Training, Mr Scott Prasser

Last week our St Philip’s Christian College Principals journeyed to Canberra for the annual Christian School’s National Policy Forum. This event was of great value to me and to our leadership team. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet with other Christian educators from across the nation along with Government officials, to discuss the current climate of Christian Education today. The future is certainly bright for Christian Education in Australia.  

While attending this forum, Dr David Hastie from Alphacrucis College, and myself had the valuable opportunity of sitting down with Senior Adviser to the Federal Minister of Education and Training, Mr Scott Prasser, to share with him our vision for the Teaching School Model. 

To be afforded this opportunity was an exciting step in the journey of the Teaching School. We whole-heartedly believe in the benefits of educating future teachers and leaders in education through the Teaching School and we have been eager to share this passion with the Department of Education and Training.

We were able to share our ideas around our cadetship program, with our first cohort one term in now, we could communicate its success in these early days. We were able to show the beneficial partnership between St Philip’s Christian College and Alphacrucis College and the outworking of the hub model. And express our desire to continue to upskill our staff through on-campus postgraduate study. 

We were pleased just to have the opportunity to share our vision, we weren’t expecting the overwhelming positive response we received. Mr Prasser was immediately on-board with our vision for the Teaching School, he emphatically encouraged us in what he believes will be a new wave in training for educators and told us he would be watching our progress with a keen eye. 

Dr Hastie and I came away from this encounter very encouraged. It has been a remarkable journey to see all of the pieces of the Teaching School come together and I continue to thank God that he has chosen to use us as vessels to deliver Christ-centred education in this manner.