Proud to support Samoa’s drive to improve teacher quality

Australia and New Zealand proud to support Samoa’s drive to improve teacher quality

Australia and New Zealand are proud to support Samoa’s plans to improve teacher quality for the country’s future benefit and will provide scholarships to students aspiring to be teachers according to Anthony Stannard from the Australian High Commission.

Australia and New Zealand are in partnership with Samoa working to overcome the

shortage of local math and science teachers by offering scholarships to students to become teachers in these specialised fields.

These targeted study opportunities were made known to National University of Samoa students in an awareness program at the university on Tuesday (20 May 2014).

More than 100 interested students from the Foundation (Science) and Education faculties were encouraged to consider pursuing the teaching scholarships and future career.

Key speakers from Samoa’s education sector and donor countries shared with the students their passion about education and their combined desire to see the emergence of quality teachers in Samoa.

Australia’s Counsellor for Development to Samoa, Anthony Stannard emphasised to the students the need for highly qualified teachers, in his address.

“There are already great teachers in Samoa and they have done a fantastic job educating the children of Samoa, but more needs to be done,” Mr Stannard highlighted.

The Australia-New Zealand funded Scholarship Trial Program has now approved the

allocation of teaching scholarships specifically targeting the Faculties of Education and Science for the next three years, commencing 2015.

“This is the first time in the history of our scholarship program that scholarships have been offered specifically for teachers and the first time that scholarships have been provided to the Faculty of Education,” Mr Stannard explained.

A total of eight teaching scholarships are being targeted to the Faculty of Science and another four are targeted to the Faculty of Education for the first trial year. The total number of teaching scholarships will increase to 15 awards per year for the next two years of the trial.

These scholarships are an important part of Australia and New Zealand’s aid to education in Samoa.

“Over the last 20 years, the Australian Government has invested millions of Tala in education in Samoa because it is a fact that the development prospects of any country are directly linked to the quality of its education system,” said Mr Stannard highlighting the importance placed by Australia on further developing education in Samoa.

The selection of awardees will be based on academic merit, successful completion of an aptitude test through an interview.

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