CITE Alliance Story
Can you imagine training to be a builder without ever getting to hold a hammer for yourself? We know intuitively that learning the theory behind the skills of building is very different to actually feeling a structure come to life under your own hands. Figuring out how to use a hammer - the weight and force of the strike, the accuracy of driving in that nail - all comes down to practice.
It’s the same with teaching.
What happens in the classroom can be explained with case studies and theories, certainly, but that moment when you stand in front of a group of expectant students and open your mouth to speak? That’s where it all comes together.
For a long time, teachers have been taught how to teach through theory. Sure, there are a couple of placement stints throughout the course, but the main focus has always been the study. Trainee teachers have been expertly equipped with head knowledge, but what about the confidence to inspire and transform the minds and hearts of the next generation?
We started imagining a better way.
What if we could rethink the entire structure of the way we teach teachers? What if we could design a course in which teachers can learn in the classroom - gaining invaluable ideas and strategies from veteran teachers who’ve already weathered the storms along the way? What if we could help graduate teachers step into the classroom confidently, with the skills and techniques needed to flourish right from that first moment?
This process of imagining birthed a new partnership: the Christian Initial Teacher Education (CITE) Alliance. Five quality Christian schools and Eastern College Australia working together to ensure that each graduating teacher is supported and nourished on the path to becoming fully qualified.
It’s our hope and passion to empower and encourage each teacher-in-formation on this journey. We want you to learn how to teach by osmosis and great modelling, to be guided by mentors and encouraged by peers, so that one day you might teach authentically from who God has made you to be.
Teachers may not build structures, but they do transform lives.
It’s the ultimate investment into what truly matters.