Global Education: 2021 Australian Global Teacher Prize finalist Rebecca West

In today’s episode, we're delighted to be joined by Rebecca West, Deputy Principal Instructional Leader at Bonnyrigg Public School in Bonnyrigg, about an hour west from Sydney in New South Wales.

Rebecca was this year named a Top 10 finalist for the Global Teacher Prize. She was selected from over 8000 nominees from over 100 countries, and has been recognised for her work at her primary school in supporting students with additional needs and refining the school’s professional development program so teachers can work through identified areas more in-depth than ever before.

The Global Teacher Prize is an annual prize presented by The Varkey Foundation which recognises one teacher for their outstanding contribution to the profession. The winner takes home US $1 million, and this year that winner was high school English teacher Keishia Thorpe from Maryland in the United States. We’ll be catching up with her in the new year, so be sure to subscribe to our free Teacher bulletin at our website, teachermagazine.com, so you never miss a story.

In this episode, Rebecca shares more detail of her approach to ensuring all student needs are met, how collaboration between staff is key to improving student outcomes, and why their professional learning is conducted in three-week cycles.

Host: Dominique Russell

Guest: Rebecca West