Education Alumni Chapter assists teaching students to hone their interviewing skills

Jun 05, 2007

Final year teaching students at the University of Wollongong have taken full advantage of a special opportunity whereby they can hone their interviewing skills ahead of formal interviews run by the Department of Education and Training (DET) to assess their suitability for employment.

The mock accreditation interviewing program, which is unique to UOW, began seven years ago and is driven by the University's Education Alumni Chapter. More than 45 volunteers are involved. School principals, deputies and educational consultants volunteer their time to help prepare the students for the DET interviews.

This year about 350 students - including secondary, primary and early childhood students - are participating in the program which is being staged at the main Wollongong campus, the Ribbonwood Community Centre (on Friday 1 June) as well as the Shoalhaven Campus in Nowra (on Wednesday 6 June).

Convener of the Alumni Education Chapter and Program Co-ordinator, Dr Kerrie Eyding, said the students were drawn from across the spectrum of the teaching areas including those undertaking the humanities, maths/science and physical education.

Former school principals and UOW alumni, Chris Peters and Graeme Akhurst, co-ordinated the interviews at the Ribbonwood Community Centre while Dr Adrienne Huber is co-ordinating the interview day at Shoalhaven Campus.

Dr Eyding said the educators from the DET schools conduct one-on-one interviews where they ask the kind of questions students could expect in their DET interview.

Dr Eyding, a former primary school assistant principal and UOW graduate, said the mock interviews have become an important process in the development of skills which will assist the students when presenting at interviews in the future. At the same time, the alumni who are involved gain an understanding of UOW's graduates as well as providing valuable feedback to the Faculty of Education.

UOW Alumni Relations Manager Jocelin Kelly praised the Education Chapter's efforts in helping to assist our future teachers get off to their best possible start.