Professional Development

NTV Education: supporting teachers

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For more than twenty years, NTV Education has been providing outstanding education programs for Victorian primary and secondary students. With a focus on place-based, object-based and experiential learning, our programs encourage students to create spatial and temporal connections with our properties and the superb collections associated with them. Following the upheaval wrought by COVID-19, the NTV Education team has been focusing on ways to better support teachers through professional learning opportunities.

Professional development for teachers is essential for building subject comprehension, exploring new ways of thematic thinking, and for developing new approaches to teaching. Through this process, teachers may adjust their strategies over time, improving student outcomes. NTV Education has approached teacher professional development in different ways. Over the last 12 months, the team have been working to embed professional learning into all our education programs, focusing on the comprehension of subject matter and ways in which students engage with that content. We have taken the approach that our programs are not just for the students who attend them but are also opportunities for teachers and parents to learn as well. Drawing on our expertise in experiential learning, the team have designed comprehensive program-specific teacher resource packages which are sent out ahead of the program delivery. Through these resources, teachers are introduced to key thematic content including contextual information, relevant conceptual theories, and new thematic language. We have also designed student learning activities which help to consolidate professional learning for teachers. Through these approaches, teachers can engage with quality professional development without a significant outlay of time, a significant limiting factor for the majority of teachers today.?

Another way that NTV Education is approaching teacher professional learning is through our new seasonal schedule of professional development programs. The National Trust is uniquely placed to offer expert information and interpretation to teachers on a wide range of thematic areas, including heritage architecture, care and curation of collections, archaeology, tourism, and historic garment design and manufacture. Just as our student-focused education programs are grounded in place-based, object-based and experiential learning, so too are our professional development programs. Hosted at different National Trust properties around Victoria, the series will target thematic areas across history, geography, design and technology, science and STEAM for primary and secondary teachers.

Case study 1: Secondary programming at Pentridge Prison

Pentridge Prison is the most recent addition to the NTV Education program list. As a new site, the NTV Education team are conscious that teachers need to be supported in building their own knowledge about the site, including its historical context, collections and stories. The intersection between each of these components with the curriculum is set out in detail in the teacher resource packs, including detailed case studies of particular inmates and the sociocultural, legal and political contexts surrounding their incarceration.

Case study 2: Primary programming at the Polly Woodside

Most primary students who visit Polly Woodside do so as an experiential learning program linked to their Level 3 and 4 history unit of study on ‘First Contacts’, which explores the events, historic records and key primary sources linked to the colonisation of Australia in 1788. While Polly herself postdates HM Bark Endeavour and HMS Sirius by more than 120 years, there are many opportunities to observe similar features between these vessels. To this end, NTV education, in collaboration with renowned maritime historian Bruce Stannard OAM, has developed teacher professional development resources to support direct comparisons between these three important windships. In doing so, teachers are able to extend the impact of their visit to Polly Woodside, integrating it into broader classroom-based enquiry projects.

Case study 3: Archaeological thinking professional development program

Australian archaeology is a fun and exciting teaching tool for educators, linked directly to higher-level critical thinking, problem solving and creative-thinking skills. With at least 99.6% of cultural history occurring before the recording of written histories in Australia, archaeology plays an essential role in understanding our national story. By the very nature of the discipline, it also fosters respect and appreciation for other cultures, both past and contemporary. It can engage students to explore scientific and historic enquiry in fun and engaging ways and strengthen connections to local communities.?

NTV Education has recently launched two simulated archaeological sites, the first of their kind in Victoria. Utilising these sites, our professional development program has been specifically designed to enable teachers to get hands-on experience to better understand how to think archaeologically – that is, to see people, places and objects not only in their spatial context, but also through the additional lens of time (Zarmati 2022, p. 15). Taught by experienced National Trust archaeologists, the program is suitable for primary and secondary teachers in STEAM, history, geography, and science – including biology and chemistry – to introduce archaeological data and interpretations into their classrooms.

For more information about upcoming professional development programs, please visit our website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/educationprograms/professional-development/

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