'Don't know until you try': student teachers at St Edwards Primary School Tamworth spruik placement in regional areas

St Edward's Primary School is hosting three students from Australian Catholic University (ACU) in North Sydney, through a partnership with the Armidale Diocese to boost hard-to-staff areas.

Growing up in a rural area, Ellie Hicks said she always knew she wanted to do rural teaching, but many of her classmates in the city don't feel the same.

"It's really nice to be in Tamworth and it kind of feels like home," she said.

"I just feel like I have a better connection with the kids in the community. My sister also teaches rural and they are just begging for more and more teachers.

"There's lots of incentives, but I've spoken to lots of other people that we go to uni with and they don't even consider it."

Georgie Dowsett said she hadn't even thought about going to a regional area to work until her classmate suggested it to her, but now she doesn't want to go back.

"This last week has been my favourite week of teaching ever," she said.

"It's a lot more inclusive way of teaching here I've found, compared to Sydney."

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Fellow ACU student Rohan Heffernan said coming to a new town took him a while to settle in, but the school environment has made it an extremely rewarding experience.

"Just connecting with the kids and seeing their outlook life, it's different to kids in Sydney," he said.

"Their world is more defined by the region that they live in."

The Armidale Diocese is hosting 14 pre-service teachers across their schools, director of schools Chris Smyth said.

"Thank you so much to those teachers who have agreed to supervise a pre-service teacher; this is an invaluable contribution to the sustainability of the teaching profession," he said.

"Where possible, pre-service teachers have been placed in schools in pairs so that they have an opportunity to work collaboratively with another student during their placement.

"Our diverse system of schools has so much to offer aspiring teachers and we hope they will return to these areas to help build our Catholic professional learning community."

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