The Andrew Thyne Reid Scholarship (Education)

Description:

The Andrew Thyne Reid Scholarship (Education) has been established to encourage high-achieving pre-service teachers to complete professional experience placements in regional, rural and remote locations.

Exceptional teachers are critical to ensuring there is high quality education in country areas, and essential for the vibrant, productive rural, regional and remote communities needed for Australia to prosper and remain sustainable into the future.

It is recognised that pre-service teachers undertaking placements in rural or remote areas can encounter significant expenses. This program therefore aims to reduce this financial burden and enable students to develop their teaching skills whilst enjoying living in and contributing to a country or remote community.

The scholarship will be offered initially over three years commencing in 2021 with at least 10 scholarships available per annum.

The scholarship is offered twice annually.

Benefits:

The scholarship value will vary depending on the location and length of the placement. Recipients will receive a payment of $300 per week to contribute towards costs, up to a maximum of $3000 for a 10-week placement. Students undertaking their placement in RA5 areas will be eligible for an additional payment of $500 to help offset the higher cost of undertaking a placement in these areas.

The scholarship is intended to contribute to accommodation, travel, and general living expenses, associated with the placement. It may also provide some compensation for the loss of income and / or the expenses associated with maintaining a home base in Adelaide.

The scholarship will be paid in a single instalment prior to the commencement of the placement.

Recipients who do not proceed with the rural or remote placement will be liable to repay the scholarship monies.

An applicant must:

• be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, permanent humanitarian visa holder or New Zealand Citizen; and
• be enrolled in an initial teacher education degree at Flinders University; and
• be in the third or fourth year of study in a Bachelor level course or enrolled in a Masters course; and
• have a minimum GPA of 5.0 in their course; and
• be enrolled in a topic that has a continuous placement component of at least 4 weeks; and
• have satisfied all the compliance requirements for placement eligibility; and
• be undertaking the placement in a rural venue as defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Remoteness Areas 2-5; and
• be undertaking the placement in a location more than 90 mins travel time from both the student’s semester and permanent -home address;
• be relocating to undertake the placement; and
• have not received this scholarship previously.

Applications will not be accepted from students who have already undertaken their placement.

It is expected that recipients will provide feedback regarding their experience.

Recipients will not be eligible for further expense reimbursement from the University and /or College for this placement.

Selection Criteria:

The number of scholarships will be determined by the number of students undertaking country placement, their locations and durations.

The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of:

• Academic merit
• The extent to which the scholarships will alleviate financial hardship caused by the placement
• The commitment of the student to undertaking a country placement as demonstrated by their responses to selection criteria questions
• The extent to which the applicant can contribute to the school and the wider community as a result of this placement.

Preference may be given to students in their final year of study.

Selection of the candidate(s) will be made by a panel within the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.