Four Academy teachers are involved in an exciting initiative being launched this week to provide online masterclasses in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics to Year 12 ATAR students studying the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority senior curriculum. Mrs Baker (Chemistry), Mr Graham (Mathematics), Mrs Linecker (Chemistry) and Mrs McGovern (Mathematics) are part of the Beyond the School Gates, a pilot project in which teaching experts from eight Gold Coast secondary schools will provide high level academic virtual tutoring.
The project is an initiative of the Gold Coast Secondary Principals' Alliance, jointly funded by Study Gold Coast's Education Vision Project Fund, and will culminate with project partner Griffith University delivering school holiday consolidation workshops during the June/July school holidays.
Mr Graham shares some detail about the program and his professional involvement:
- What subject are you teaching in the program?
- Why did you want to be involved?
- The program offers grade twelve students from a large number of Queensland schools access to quality education for the purpose of assisting students to score highly in their external examinations. What excites me is that students from all walks of life are being given the same opportunities to succeed. It is very exciting to be given the opportunity to teach students from other schools and to hopefully make a difference in their confidence in their mathematical abilities.
- What are the benefits for students?
- Mathematics can be hard and although all teachers are experts in their fields, every teacher has a unique approach to the content and unique pedagogy. Students have the chance to not only be taught by teachers from other schools, but to learn in a way that they may not have experienced before. The more time students spend with topics they may not like or may not be good at, the more their confidence in those topics will grow, especially when guided by expert teachers. However, this course is designed for students with varying confidences in their mathematical abilities as it serves as an additional resource for students to further prepare for their external examinations.
Mrs McGovern, Teacher of Mathematics shares:
“In the Beyond the School Gates program I am teaching components from within the Mathematical Methods syllabus. I wanted to be involved in this project because I am eager to be able to contribute to an initiative which allows senior school students access to the best educators who will collectively provide expert targeted student support with the aim to ensure student success. A key benefit for students undertaking this program is increased academic support in the critical STEM subjects which are crucial for success in the 21st Century and beyond."
Chemistry Teacher Mrs Kahlia Baker shares her purpose in being involved in the Beyond the School Gates project:
“I have the pleasure of teaching chemistry to the Beyond the Gates students. Specifically I will be focusing on analytical techniques for the identification of organic structures. Beyond the Gates is an innovative program aiming to provide equitable distribution of excellent teaching to Queensland ATAR students, and I am excited to be involved in a project with such potentially far-reaching impact. It is also a privilege and a personal learning opportunity to be able to work with the best chemistry teachers the Gold Coast has to offer. Queensland students come from a diverse range of nonmetropolitan and metropolitan areas, and not all will be afforded access to teachers who are experts in their field. The online masterclasses allow all interested students to access high level teaching and learning, and additionally benefit from a variety of teaching styles."
Announced this week, plans are underway to extend the “Beyond the School Gates" to students in Central Queensland Schools. For more information on the program, see the Study Gold Coast article “Beyond the School Gates", published 3 February, 2022, here.
Vanessa Rebgetz
Principal
Gold Coast Secondary Principals' Alliance member