LINDA BIGGS has just taken on the big job of Head of Learning Support at the new Albany Junior High School in Auckland. Her role is to support both children and teachers across the school.
A self-confessed "study junkie", Linda has a Bachelor of Arts, and had only recently completed a diploma in IT when she enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education - Literacy Education specialisation. Linda enrolled to study part-time while maintaining a full-time teaching position. She started in 2005 and finished her final two courses in 2006.
Heinemann Education - a division of Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd - joined forces with The University of Auckland, Faculty of Education to offer scholarships to teachers enrolled in the Postgraduate Diploma in Education - Literacy Education specialisation. Linda Biggs received one of these scholarships in 2006. Linda says "I see the scholarship, and that a publisher is prepared to support teachers and teaching, as an affirmation of the value of the work teachers do. The help to pay my fees is great, but nothing beats that affirmation."
Linda says "The programme helps you gain an understanding of how to take research and apply it in practice. So often you wonder how does that research apply to the classroom teacher and how do they make sense of it? What I can now say to our teachers is: ‘This is what the research says. This is how we structure our programmes to make sense of it and this is the best use of it’."
