Funding for the placement

Principals at rural experience schools will be invited to identify a temporary placement opportunity for a minimum of one to a maximum of four terms within a school year. Placements are either fully funded through the initiative or co-funded with the rural host school and are in addition to the normal establishment of the school.

Requesting a placement

Principals will nominate a placement at their school by completing the Placement Nomination form emailed directly to them from the Rural Experience Program team. Principals may nominate up to three placements for their schools per year.

Types of placements

The rural experience placement needs to be within a school year and can be for a minimum of one term and a maximum of four terms.

Placements can be requested for the following position levels; Classroom Teacher, Head Teacher, Assistant Principal or Deputy Principal.

Principals need to consider what type of skills and experiences the successful teacher should have to support student learning and outcomes in their school. Some points to consider include:

• Whether the experience placement teacher will have a classroom teaching load or will a new opportunity be created which could temporarily support and extend curriculum, student welfare programs or teacher professional learning.
• Whether the experience placement teacher needs specific expertise to support and/or extend current school programs e.g. a teacher experienced in establishing sports programs.
• The possibility of a placement being shared between local schools e.g. a teacher mentor to support beginning teachers across two schools in close proximity.

Identifying accommodation for the successful teacher

During the placement application process, principals must identify a range of possible accommodation options available to the successful teacher for the duration of the placement, for example:

• share accommodation with a teacher from the school
• local caravan park with long term self-contained accommodation
• granny flat style accommodation
• current rental house availability.

Note: Teachers participating in the Rural Experience Program are responsible for arranging their own accommodation.

Further information, including roles and responsibilities, can be found in the Rural Experience Guidelines.

Information about the role and the school

The application process requires Principals to include specific information about the role, for example; what the teacher will be doing, their teaching load and any additional commitments that are a part of the role (for example: extra-curricular activities or working across different schools).

It's also important for Principals to include information about the school to help potential applicants learn more about what it will be like to be part of the school community.

For additional information please contact ruralexperience@det.nsw.edu.au or phone 02 7814 3820.