Forming Future School Hubs

Alphacrucis College has signed its first agreement with a school network to develop a dense 'hub' of educational opportunities. From January 2018, the first intake of initial teacher trainees will experience a cadetship type arrangement whereby they work in the school during the week, and take courses with Alphacrucis during the holidays. Over the four years (FTE) of their training, the successful applicants will have both unprecedented amounts of support (both financial and in terms of mentoring), access to school experience, and ultimately employment opportunities. 

Professor Mark Hutchinson, Dean of the Faculty of Education, Arts and Social Sciences at Alphacrucis College, commented that "this closes the loop between the burgeoning Christian schooling sector, their community, their churches and the Christian academy in Australia." The program will produce not only record numbers of quality, aligned, Christian teachers for the sector, but also opportunities to develop the future thought leaders in the area.

Dr David Hastie, who oversees Hub coordination, noted that "the sector is urgently searching for processes to produce quality, validity, and coherence, whereby it can live up to its calling as a contributor to education in Australia. St Philips is already an outstanding centre for sustainable educational innovation. Research with clusters of MPhil and PhD students in schools will make the St Philips schools leading contributors to thinking transformatively about schooling's place in the community, from a Christian perspective." 

In 2018, St Philips will provide mentored places for 8 initial teacher candidates, and 6 MPhil and PhD candidates. Other professional development programs--such as the Masters of Leadership--are also being planned.