Practicum Placements at Pymble Ladies’ College

Responsibilities:

• The university will provide you with a guidebook outlining what the student teacher is expected to achieve whilst under your supervision. If you would like to view a sample of a guidebook, please contact mgrzelska@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au

• You will be expected to submit a report on the student, and if the placement is over a longer period, you might also have to submit a mid-term report. Templates and guidelines will be provided by the university.

• Some universities require a meeting with their supervising placement officer, which will be arranged during the placement, and can be 

on-site or via Zoom.

• You will agree to meet the student prior to the placement, on-site or via Zoom and arrange a first day meeting place and time.

• You will support the student teacher to prepare and document lesson plans and deliver lessons, as well as provide feedback.

• If student is at risk of failing, you will inform the Director of Professional Learning.

• At the end of the placement, you complete and submit a claim form to receive renumeration from the university.

Process:

1.      Once the Professional Learning department is aware that you would like to be involved as a supervisor/mentor, the Professional Learning assistant will try to match you with placement requests from universities. These placements are usually requested at the start of each semester but can also be last minute requests due to other placements falling through. Usually, you will have 3 to 4 weeks’ notice of a student looking for a placement.

2.      In some cases, when we do not have an expression of interest on hand for a particular placement, your HoLA will approach you to ask if you would like to supervise a student.

3.      The Professional Learning assistant will start the onboarding process with the student, which includes gathering student information, liaising with HR, Security, and IT, sending the student our Policies and a Confidentiality agreement, as well as sending the student a final welcome email with a map of the College. During this process you will be copied into the first and last email with the student and receive an email with Pymble’s Professional Experience Procedure.

4.      The student should contact you prior to the placement to arrange a pre-meet, and you will arrange the meeting place and time for the student’s first day at Pymble.

5.      The Professional Learning assistant will arrange a short Teams meeting, usually halfway through the practicum placement, between you and the Director of Professional Learning, to discuss progress.

6.      At the end of the placement, you will submit your report and renumeration claim to the university and return the Practicum teacher badge to your HoLA or the Junior School Administration Assistants.

How to become involved:

• At the end of each school year, the Professional Learning assistant sends an EOI form to all staff, where you can register your interest for the next school year.

• You can email mgrzelska@pymblelc.nsw.edu.au stating your interest, as well as your department and the semester that you would prefer to supervise. You can also state your preference for a first- or second-year student teacher, or a third of fourth year student. These final years are usually longer practicum placements.

• Please check with your HoLA or line manager prior to emailing to check if they agree to you supervising a practicum student.