Subject: Joint U.S.-New Zealand Fulbright Scholarship Announcement
Joint United States-New Zealand Fulbright scholarship announcement
28 March 2014
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and New Zealand Minister of Education Hekia Parata today announced the establishment of the Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Awards Program.
The program provides selected New Zealand and American teachers the opportunity to spend three-to-five months experiencing the other country’s education system.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament today, Secretary Duncan said that recruiting and retaining high quality teachers was a key ingredient in the best-performing education systems across the globe to prepare students for college and career.
“Programmes like the new US-New Zealand Fulbright teaching exchange will give our educators a chance to see firsthand what’s working in New Zealand’s classrooms and return home with new strategies for ensuring all students graduate ready for college and careers,” he said.
Minister Parata said the establishment of the Fulbright programme would further deepen the education relationship between New Zealand and the United States.
“This agreement reflects our on-going commitment to raising the status of the teaching profession through cooperation and collaboration. It is a great opportunity for teachers from both New Zealand and US education systems to share their successes and their challenges, and learn from each other,” she said.
At a joint press conference in Wellington today, Minister Parata and Secretary Duncan announced the first two New Zealand award recipients: Su Mukand from Papatoetoe High School and Fiona Jeffries from Paraparaumu College. [Bios below]
This year’s program will take place from mid-August to mid-December.
The program would send twenty or more teachers from the United States and New Zealand to each other’s respective countries on fellowships over the course of the next three years.
New Zealand will be the eleventh country to partner with the United States on the Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Awards Programme. Other participating countries include: Chile, Finland, India, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Singapore, South Korea, and United Kingdom.
The New Zealand Ministry of Education and US Department of State have agreed to co-fund the program at a cost of over NZ$1,200,000 for three years starting this year.
Caption: US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and New Zealand Minister of Education Hekia Parata with Fulbright award recipients (l-r) Su Mukand from Papatoetoe High School and Fiona Jeffries from Paraparaumu College, and Fulbright New Zealand Chair Helen Anderson.
Contact:
Sean Gillespie, US Embassy, 027 273 0132
Charlotte Haycock, Office of Hon Hekia Parata, 021 359 076
Further information:
- The Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Awards Programme is for accomplished elementary and secondary teachers and others such as library/media specialists, counselors, special education coordinators, or administrators, who spend at least half of their time working with students.
- It provides these New Zealand educators with the opportunity to spend 4 months in the United States and U.S teachers to spend 3-4 months in one of 11 countries, including New Zealand, to take courses for professional development; spend time in local schools observing, co-teaching, and/or offering seminars or workshops on their areas of expertise; and pursue an action research project of their own design, which they propose during the application process.
- Participants are typically placed at a university or college of education, which facilitates various aspects of their program by providing an advisor for their projects, connecting them with local schools, working with them to schedule seminars or workshops as appropriate and helping them locate housing.
- Fulbright New Zealand was established in 1948 and is funded by both the US and New Zealand governments. It is the fifth oldest such partnership in the world, and has sent more than 3,000 Americans and New Zealanders across the Pacific on academic exchange.
- For more information: http://exchanges.state.gov/us/program/fulbright-distinguished-awards-teaching-program
New Zealand recipients:
Su Mukund teaches science and is head of biology and coordinator for gifted education at Papatoetoe High School in Auckland. Originally from India, she began her teaching career in Tamil Nadu, before moving to Oman where she taught for 10 years. She moved to New Zealand in 1999. She has published articles in the New Zealand Education Gazette and in local newspapers, received the Ministry of Education Study Award for TESSOL in 2004, and the Royal Society Fellowship Award to work with top scientists in Biotechnology on DNA research in 2008. She loves drama and encourages her students to learn about the arts. While on the Fulbright program in the United States, she will be working on a project called “Making it REAL: Retaining and Engaging ALL Learners in Secondary Science Classrooms” examining how professional development in the US helps teachers work with diverse learners.
Fiona Jeffries is an English teacher at Paraparaumu College and teaches low-progress learners who enter high school showing gaps in their literacy learning. In addition to teaching she serves as the assistant head of the English department. She has developed a tool kit to promote literacy across the curriculum and led a professional development group for science, physical education, math and health teachers to help them develop their students’ literacy skills. In 2008 she received the Ministry of Education Study award to complete her Masters. Through her Fulbright project, “Using Digital Technology in the English Classroom”, she will examine the impact of digital tools on student engagement, learning and success, with a particular focus on low-progress learners. This project supports a new initiative in New Zealand which requires all teachers to incorporate digital technology into their teaching.
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