Teachers win year-long fellowships

Announcement by the Royal Society of New Zealand
For immediate release

Monday 10 September 2007

Teachers win year-long fellowships

Fifty-two primary and secondary teachers will be released from school for up to a year, on full pay, to study projects as diverse as industrial mathematics and the impact of irrigated farm practices on stream health.

The New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellowships offer teachers the opportunity to expand their teaching through experience in up-to-date technological or scientific practice.

“You don’t have to produce a thesis at the end of it, the idea is just to intellectually refresh teachers. In essence it’s about releasing teachers from the classroom and letting them come back excited,” says 2005 Teacher Fellow Bernard Beckett. Mr Beckett worked with the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution and researched an acclaimed new book, “Falling for Science: asking the Big Questions”.

A list of the 52 successful Teacher Fellows for 2008 is attached and also available at http://www.rsnz.org/awards/teacher-fellowships

During their fellowship, teachers are able to fully immerse themselves in the discovery and transformation of knowledge and become more skilled in the communication of science and technology. The evidence shows that they then return to the classroom rejuvenated and better able to enthuse their students about the career possibilities of science, mathematics and technology in New Zealand, and to further the Government’s goals in moving towards the “knowledge society.”

The teacher fellowships are funded by the New Zealand government and administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, an independent academy for the advancement and promotion of science and technology. The scheme was established in 1994 and continues to grow and develop.

ENDS

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