Agile engagement

A message from the Executive Dean of Education and Arts Professor Mary Ryan.

Our agile engagement with communities and partners is enabling ACU to remain at the cutting edge of teacher education, build our reputation for community learning, and develop recognition of our profile as a leader in arts and humanities. As a faculty, we are pursuing many partnerships that align with our mission and open educational opportunities for more people in our communities.

Widening participation

Government tenders provide valuable opportunities for universities to extend the quality provision of programs across the sector. In turn they also provide opportunities for a new cohort of students to partake in higher education where this opportunity may have not been afforded to them. Some of the programs we have been able to secure in the National School of Education include:

• The Education Early Childhood (Birth to Five) tender with the Victorian Government. In partnership with the Department of Education and Training we provide an 18-month accelerated Bachelor of Early Childhood Education (Birth to Five Years) program to diploma qualified early childhood educators. This fully-funded online course enables students to graduate and be able to teach three and four-year-old kinder students.
• Our partnership with Teach for Australia (TFA), thanks to the backing of the Federal Government funding, is expanding into NSW. This expansion will strengthen and scale-up an already effective partnership to bring high quality, sustainable professional experience opportunities to rural and regional centres in NSW.

Programs like these are close to my heart as I am very passionate about social justice in education and accessibility for diverse communities. We have recently appointed a Partnerships Operations Manager who will work closely with our Associate Dean, Partnerships to identify, drive and put our best foot forward to ensure our success in future tender process and collaboration with partners.

Expansion and diversification

Expansion and diversification of existing partnerships and opportunities is inevitable when planning for growth. In the National School of Arts and Humanities we are sponsoring the upcoming Australian Academy of the Humanities symposium ‘Citizenship, Diaspora and Belonging’. To be held in Ballarat, Victoria on 17 and18 November, this national conference facilitates the intersection of scholars, early-career researchers and representatives from government, education, peak bodies, industry, media and the community. Participating in this event is an opportunity for us to raise our profile not only in Arts and Humanities but also in this regional hub. We are also exploring bespoke Arts learning opportunities we can provide the community, thereby diversifying our product delivery.