The Faculty of Education was established when the College of Education merged with Victoria University in 2005. The former College was founded in Thorndon in 1880 and later shifted to Karori.
Associate Professor David Crabbe, the Dean of Education, says the move to the Kelburn campus is a timely one that staff University-wide have been looking forward to.
“The Faculty has been a part of the University for 10 years now. This relocation closer to the heart of the University is a logical step and one that will foster productive teaching and research collaborations. It will allow us to be even more actively engaged with the University research themes. Education is at the heart of many of them, whether it is in providing good evidence for forming government educational policy, or fostering well-being, civil society and environmental understanding through effective educational practice.”
Preparations for the shift got underway mid-November with the refurbishment of the Waiteata apartments on the Kelburn campus into office space for School of Education staff. The Faculty Office is now based in the Murphy building.
The move to Kelburn was completed by the start of Trimester 1, with a further move expected within five years to a new long-term home for the Faculty elsewhere on campus.
Robin Averill, the Associate Dean for Teacher Education, says she’s been looking forward to the move for a number of reasons. “It will enhance the existing synergies education has with other faculties within the University, particularly given the recent increase in postgraduate level teacher education programmes. My area, for example, is mathematics education, so it’ll be great to be physically closer to the School of Mathematics and Statistics. The same is true for other curriculum areas of teacher education, such as Māori studies, sciences, languages, and economics. And for Education Studies there are strong links with the Psychology programme. It’s all going to be much easier to collaborate being right here in Kelburn.”
She says being located in Kelburn will make the Faculty of Education much more visible. “We’ve been tucked away in Karori for the past 10 years, so it’s a very positive change to be working in closer proximity to other university colleagues and being more accessible to prospective students and the public.
“It also helps us work more closely with other faculties to identify students who are planning their undergraduate degree with a view to becoming a teacher. We will be able to guide them to be strategic about their choice of subjects to focus on areas of teaching where there’s the most need, such as maths, sciences, or te reo Māori.”
“There will also opportunities for greater involvement in university events and to be a part of Victoria’s culture. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to contribute to the campus spirit in both a professional and community way—the research seminars, the choir practices, the concerts and so forth. Those are the events that allow you to get to know people in other faculties even better.”
Dr Averill says, while there’s been a certain amount of sadness at leaving the Karori campus, Faculty staff are enthusiastic about the academic and professional opportunities ahead. And for some of the academic staff who were in Victoria’s School of Education before the merger, this move has marked a return to Kelburn after a decade in Karori.
“We certainly haven’t lost any of the spirit and feeling of te whānau o ako pai by moving to Kelburn—we will continue to carry it with us into the future and it’ll grow even stronger.”