Centre for Excellence
DET Centres for Excellence have a hub and spoke model of operation with the hub schools partnering with universities in order to extend the benefits to a larger number of local schools.
The role of the hub school is to:
- Have a dual focus on school improvement and building strong links with other schools, the community and higher education providers to support quality teaching and improved student outcomes.
- Demonstrate, develop and share high quality teaching within and between schools.
- Promote teacher quality through coordinating ongoing professional learning across all sites and actively supporting staff to gain accreditation at higher levels.
- Cultivate collegiality, continuity of learning across sites and consistency in pedagogy and practice by hosting joint activities such as staff development days, executive and stage planning meetings, programming and authentic assessment tasks and marking rubrics.
- Develop networks and strengthen them through the use of ICT to connect classrooms and teachers as well as trial virtual supervision models for initial teacher education professional experience (practicum) placements.
- Actively seek to expand partnerships with universities in order to improve the quality of the professional experience (practicum), professional learning, programming, knowledge and sharing of teaching and learning practice and community participation.
- Ensure better integration between the theory of teaching (university study) and the reality of teaching practice.
- Implement a range of supporting strategies for new teachers, including mentoring by highly accomplished and experienced teachers.
Source: http://www.nationalpartnerships.nsw.edu.au/improving-excellence.php