Pre-Service Teacher Placements – Rainbow

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Sarah, pre-service teacher:

I am from Melbourne originally and I wanted to do a placement here just to get the experience of a rural town.

Jacinta, pre-service teacher:

I wasn’t really sure where I’d end up, but I just thought it’d be a bit of an adventure and pretty fun.

Colleen, Principal:

Working in a small country town community is so important and the school is a kind of a community within the community.

Jacinta:

When I first got to the school, we’re just welcomed with open arms and you can tell the staff care about each other and they care about the students.

Veronica, teacher:

They’ve got to know the children really quickly, their interests and their names. They learn within the first couple of days.

Jonah, pre-service teacher:

All the teachers know every single student by name, they all know their families.

Colleen:

It’s building that rapport with students that you’d never get in a bigger school. We offer smaller classroom, so the ability to actually understand the student on so many levels is huge, and I think that then benefits a person’s teaching. We’re giving the student teachers the best experience that they can get and that’s by making sure that they know they’re supported and can reach out whenever.

Jacinta:

My mentor teacher has been just very supportive from the first day I walked in.

Steph, mentor teacher:

My role as a mentor, I feel like I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to help mould these young people into becoming the future teachers.

Jonah:

She’s kind of given me the reins to control the class, take lessons, plan lessons, which I couldn’t ask for much more to be honest, because that’s the best way to learn at the end of the day.

Steph:

I know I’m gaining a lot from it as well, like I’m getting new ideas from them.

Jonah:

With the programme, accommodation is all paid for. You get some meals provided as well and you also get some funding to come out here, which is great.

Jacinta:

Everything’s been taken care of. I haven’t really had to think about much. It’s just all been done for me.

Colleen:

They can experience things that they may not be able to experience in the city, like we’ve got national parks that surround most of Rainbow. The sky at night. It is awesome how many stars that you can see. It is just something that you’ll never forget and you can get so involved in the community.

Jacinta:

You often run into the same people when you are going into town, but everyone’s always really lovely.

Colleen:

A teacher starting out could use a country placement as a brilliant stepping stone to set up a wonderful career in teaching

Jonah:

This placement’s definitely built my confidence as a teacher, even though it’s only been a short amount of time. I can definitely see myself teaching in a rural setting.

Sarah:

I’ve had a really good experience and it’s definitely influenced me wanting to be a teacher.

Jacinta:

It’s been wonderful to figure out like, oh yeah, cool. Like, no, I love doing this and this is exactly the kind of place I wanna be.

[End of transcript]

Updated 11 March 2025

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Pre-Service Teacher Placements – Rainbow

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