Education professional experience

All teacher education courses in VU's College of Arts, Business, Law, Education and IT include professional experience and supervised teaching practice in schools.

Other courses in the college, such as early childhood and youth work courses, also involve placements in professional settings.

VU's Industry Connections - Education - transcript

Courses with professional placement

Students who are pre-service teachers are required to successfully complete placement in a professional setting as part of their course.

This includes pre-service teachers in the following courses:

These placements will take place in one of our 900 partner organisations that include:

childcare centres
pre-school centres
kindergartens
primary schools
secondary schools
alternative or special schools
community organisations.

Professional experience opportunities

Every year the College of Arts, Business, Law, Education and IT offers a range of options for professional experience (including, but not limited to, the below list). Pre-service teachers, if eligible, may express an interest in the following programs:

Country Partnership Program (CPP) - teaching in rural and remote schools
International placement in Asian countries, including: Malaysia, China, Timor Leste and more
Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) - Professional Development and mentoring school students in relation to the AVID Program
Bulldogs Friendly Schools Program - working with primary school students in sport, wellness and leadership initiatives that are explicitly linked to the students’ learning
Essendon Football Club - working with the Essendon Football Club on a football or literacy project
Gallery Sunshine - working on projects related to the creative arts in a gallery
Sports Education & Development Australia (SEDA) - working with young people on literacy and a sporting interest.
Story Writing in Remote Locations (SWIRL) program – pre-service teachers undertake a placement in schools in the Northern Territory, and bring Indigenous perspectives to schools.

: We provide learning opportunities for our pre-service teachers through our partnerships with major sporting bodies.
Our sporting partners include:
Western Bulldogs - Bulldogs Friendly Schools Program (BFSP)
Tennis Australia - delivering Hot Shot Tennis Program in schools
Football Federation of Victoria
Cricket Victoria
Touch Rugby Victoria.
VU education students in schools
As part of their ACP (Applied Curriculum Project), Victoria University pre-service teachers work with our partners to plan and deliver a sports program in a primary school.
It's an opportunity for our students to develop teaching, sportsmanship, and healthy-lifestyles knowledge, as well as organisation, communication and management skills. Our pre-service teachers can also gain a coaching qualification to register with these sporting bodies through the Sporting Schools program.
An induction day is organised with our sporting partners early in Semester 1 to prepare our students to implement the sports programs in a school.
Feedback from participating schools shows that the programs result in several positives for the children involved, including:
improved skills
increased participation
success at interschool sport.
Bulldogs Friendly Schools Program (BFSP)
The Bulldogs Friendly Schools Program (BFSP) creates learning opportunities for school students from diverse backgrounds. As well as providing opportunities for our pre-service teachers in teaching and learning, there are lessons in building community partnerships.
Extras for the participating schools, organised by the pre-service teacher, include:
Bulldogs player appearances
tickets to a Bulldogs game
Bulldog giveaways, mascot “Woofer” visits
the inflatable roadshow.
For more information about these programs please email Trudy Turner in the Partnership Office [email protected]
: Pre-service teachers at VU have the opportunity to support school students as AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) tutors as part of their course.
AVID is a university-readiness system with primary, secondary and tertiary programs. It equips low socio-economic and under-performing students with the academic, social and emotional skills to be successful at university.
It also offers an ongoing professional learning system that builds explicit teaching skills, ensuring teachers are well equipped to help students aspire to university success.
Research project
AVID Australia is conducting a research project with VU investigating how effective, sustainable and transferable the AVID system can be in Australia.
It is interested in discovering:
why students from the participating schools have traditionally had a lower expectation of aspiring to and gaining entry into university
what the implications are for implementing the AVID system more widely in an Australian context.
Contact
For further information contact:
Avid Australia
Phone: +61 3 9919 7832
Email: [email protected]

Project partnerships

Project Partnerships uses collaborative partnerships between the College of Arts, Business, Law, Education and IT at Victoria University and early childhood, primary and secondary schools/sites throughout Victoria.

The key focus of Project Partnerships is enhancing the learning of school/site students in these partnership settings and supporting pre-service teacher and teacher education.

This involves pre-service teachers working on an agreed ‘Applied Curriculum Project’ in a school/setting, developed to improve the learning outcomes of all students, or a targeted group of students, at the setting.

Some of our teacher education courses may take an alternative approach due to course or setting requirements.

International placements

Bachelor of Education students have participated in international placements in China, Malaysia, Timor Leste, and Indonesia.

These programs are subsidised by the Australian Government AsiaBound, and New Colombo Plan schemes.

International placements are demanding, but rewarding. You'll engage in a series of preparatory university classes, and then get support to travel in a group to our partner universities and immerse yourself in a different language and culture for two to three weeks.

You'll study the local language, and complete the elective unit AEB2303 Teaching and Learning in International Contexts while abroad. You'll also complete 10-14 days of placement in a local school, teaching English, while gaining credit towards your professional placement requirements.

Expressions of interest

Opportunities to head overseas on an international placement will be advertised throughout the year via email from the College.

Expressions of interest can be submitted as a response to these emails.

Assessment of professional experience

Teacher Education courses are accredited against the AITSL - Australian National Professional Standards for Teachers by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Students must meet all of the standards, including the professional experience requirements, before they can register as a teacher with the VIT.

For further information regarding Teacher Registration in Victoria, visit the VIT website.