Twenty teaching scholarships awarded for 2005

Education & Arts,   Anna Bligh  16/02/05

Twenty teaching scholarships awarded for 2005

Twenty aspiring teachers have been awarded State Government scholarships each valued at up to $20,000 to help them achieve their common career goal.

Minister for Education and the Arts Anna Bligh today presented five Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarships and 15 Pearl Duncan Teaching Scholarships to recipients at Parliament House in Brisbane.

Since 1999, 14 Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarships have been awarded to high school graduates from rural and remote areas of Queensland who want to work as teachers and after graduation, continue to live and work in the outback. Of these 14, 11 are currently teaching in outback areas, 11 more are expected to be teaching in classrooms by the end of this year.

Ms Bligh said the scholarships are named after Bid O'Sullivan - the teacher who established Queensland's first School of the Air in Cloncurry in 1959.

"These scholarships support the work of this pioneer of distance education by expanding the education opportunities for rural and remote students," she said.

Since 2000, Education Queensland has awarded 15 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scholarships to people of Indigenous descent. In 2005, the scholarships have been renamed to honour Pearl Duncan, an academic and former Queensland teacher, who is Australia's first tertiary-trained Indigenous teacher.

The Pearl Duncan Teaching Scholarships are awarded to Education Queensland staff, high school students and postgraduate students of Indigenous descent. There are currently 12 recipients teaching in State schools. From 2005, scholarships will also be available to Indigenous people who have been accepted into teaching degrees through TAFE and tertiary entrance courses.

Ms Bligh congratulated the 2005 scholarship recipients who will receive up to $20,000 each for an undergraduate teaching degree.

"These scholarships provide financial assistance to students during their studies and also guarantee them a job with Education Queensland at the end of their degree," she said.

"The population shift from southern states to Queensland is resulting in greater school enrolments and the need to provide more teachers to schools in all areas of Queensland."

Ms Bligh said the 2005 teaching scholarship recipients come from towns and cities in the far north, west and east of Queensland including Thursday Island, Andergrove, Trinity Beach, Parramatta, White Rock, Gympie, Warana, Upper Coomera, Urangan, Nambour, Blackwater, Charleville, Theodore, Mt Perry, Gatton, and Brisbane.
 
"It's important that our teaching workforce mirrors the diversity of students sitting in our classrooms.  These targeted scholarships will help achieve this".

Scholarship recipients are guaranteed permanent employment with Education Queensland for a period equivalent to the length of their degree.

List of Recipients follows...

2005 teaching scholarship recipients:-

Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarships
Lauren Nelson, Blackwater State High School
Joshua Newman, Lockyer District High State High School
Ashley Sauer, St Brendan's College (Yeppoon)
Stacey Usher, Charleville State High School
Danielle Wagner, Gin Gin State High School
Pearl Duncan Teaching Scholarships

School-leavers
Rebecca Ceolin, St John Fisher College, Sandgate
Kayla Colless, St Mary's Catholic College, Cairns
Christopher Day, Wellington Point State High School
Danielle Lambert, St Patrick's College, Mackay
Matthew Miller, Kawana Waters State High School

Education Queensland Staff
Karen Carius, Torquay State School
Karen Hollingsworth, Parramatta State School
Julie McDermid, Glenden State School
Matthew Thinee, Durack State School
Terri Waller, Nambour State School

Post-school studies
Jaclyn Akee, Thursday Island
Vicki Campbell, Upper Coomera
Gregory Fatnowna, Mackay
Shonel Messer, Boondall
Rebecca Whitfield, Gympie

Postgraduate
There were no scholarships awarded as there were no applications in this category.

Education Queensland
www.education.qld.gov.au

Mail Address:
Education Queensland
PO Box 15033
City East
Queensland 4002
Australia

Street Address:
30 Mary Street
Brisbane
Queensland 4000
Australia

General Enquiries:
Phone 61-7-3237-0111