Aspiring teachers awarded scholarships

MARCH 2009
By Lisa Gilby

Pittsworth State High School graduate Daniel Burke is looking forward to starting university, safe in the knowledge he has a $20,000 Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarship to help him become a teacher.

Daniel is one of 20 aspiring Queensland teachers from rural and remote areas or with Indigenous heritage who were awarded scholarships to study education at university at a special ceremony at Parliament House in February.

Pittsworth State High School graduate Daniel Burke.

'I was always going to uni but there are so many things to pay for,' Daniel said.

'Now I can use the scholarship money to keep me going so I don't have to work.'

Daniel said he would study for a Bachelor of Science at the University of Queensland, followed by a Graduate Diploma of Education.

Director of Professional Development for the Department of Education, Training and the Arts, Penny Bedson, said the Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarships and the Pearl Duncan Teaching Scholarships aimed to boost the number of state school teachers in rural and remote areas and the number of Indigenous teachers.

'Bid O'Sullivan scholarships are available to Year 12 graduates from rural and remote parts of Queensland who have been accepted into an education degree course at a Queensland university in 2009,' Ms Bedson said.

'The Pearl Duncan scholarships are for aspiring teachers with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage.

'The scholarship winners will receive up to $20,000 to help them financially while they are at university.

'They are also guaranteed a job with the Department of Education, Training and the Arts after they finish their degree and receive a suitable ranking for employment with the department.'

Ms Bedson said 14 people were awarded Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarships and six people were awarded Pearl Duncan Teaching Scholarships for 2009.

Pearl Duncan scholarship recipient Krystal Stanley, from Winton, said she felt relieved and proud to be awarded a scholarship to complete her studies in a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at James Cook University in Townsville.

'I felt relieved because I was working two jobs and I was worried about the financial side of going to uni, like all students are,' Krystal said.

She said news of her scholarship win spread quickly through her community.

'It was the talk of the town because nothing really happens in Winton,' she said.

A total of 70 Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarships have been awarded since 1999, including this year's 14 recipients. A total of 123 Pearl Duncan Teaching Scholarships have been awarded since 2000.

For more information visit the department's Professional Development website.