Top teacher educator
by Michèle Nardelli
When Dr Rosie Le Cornu undertook her teacher training at Murray Park College of Advanced Education, teaching was mainly about what they call in the profession, “chalk and talk”.
If you had told her then, that one day she would be winning awards for her work in educating new generations of teaching students about how to carry out the practice of teaching, she would probably have thought you were a bit mad.
But it is Dr Le Cornu’s work in researching practice-based learning that has made an impact.
She has just been named the Australian Teacher Education Association’s Pearson Education Teacher Educator of the Year for 2009, a prestigious peer acknowledgement of her impact on teacher education and her absolute passion for excellence and innovation in the profession.
She was one of the first researchers to gain a PhD focused on the teaching practicum and across her career has developed the evidence-base to support real innovations in teacher education including peer learning, critical reflection, extending the practicum to non-school teaching environments, and using new technologies to enhance practicum supervision among others.
"Things certainly have changed for teachers and for teacher education," Dr Le Cornu says.
"When I was a student, the compulsory ‘prac’ was utterly undervalued and the notion of looking at the practice component of teacher education in an academic context was unheard of – there was no analysis or reflection on this vital area.
"The concept of what makes a good, effective teacher has changed enormously and fortunately so has the practice of teaching and teacher education."
Dr Le Cornu says teaching has moved from a very passive model – where teachers presented information with the expectation that students would just "learn it" – to a much more active model, one that considers children’s social, emotional, physical and intellectual development.
"This makes the job much more demanding," she says. "Being a teacher today is about being a professional decision-maker and that means teachers need to engage in meaningful analysis of how they teach, how they measure their outcomes and how they work in a school environment."
She says with the increasingly broad demands on teachers and alarming rates of exit from the profession, the way we educate teachers for their practical engagement in the work setting, is more important than ever.
"We are losing up to a third of teachers from the system, with many young teachers leaving after only a few years in the workforce," Dr Le Cornu says.
"I encourage all teacher education students to understand that they are not alone as teachers. They work as part of a teaching team and they can and should engage with colleagues at their school. This improves outcomes for the schools and for students because a supportive, collaborative environment where teachers can reflect, improve, learn and innovate delivers a better education system."
Dr Le Cornu advocates this collegial approach for all educators to ensure they get the most enjoyment from their careers and to support professional growth and renewal.
She says the most memorable professional moments have always been collaborative – in the classroom, on research projects, in consultancies and a range of other roles.
"My colleagues within the School of Education, the mentor teachers I work with and the leadership staff I work closely with in schools, continue to play a vital role in my career."