Building a culture of collaboration at St Joseph’s Catholic College, Aberdeen

At St Joseph’s Catholic College, Aberdeen, a strong culture of collaboration and mentorship is helping early career teachers flourish. With one of the highest proportions of new educators in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland Newcastle, the school has made it a priority to create a supportive and professionally enriching environment – one where teachers feel connected, confident, and empowered from the start.

“Our early career teachers are a significant part of our teaching community, and we were keen to find a way to support their growth while also engaging our more experienced staff,” says Aaron Dent, Leader of Growth and Development.

To reinforce this vision, St Joseph’s joined the Strengthening Induction through Quality Teaching Rounds project in 2023, a partnership between the University of Newcastle and the Australian Government to support 1,600 teachers to participate in Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) over four years.

The first four teachers ran their set of Rounds in 2024 and reported transformative change to their practice and professional relationships. Now the school is preparing to have another eight teachers trained and participate in QTR in 2026.

New perspective for early career teachers

Before starting QTR, St Joseph’s identified limitations in providing a forum for teachers to discuss classroom pedagogical approaches outside of specific professional learning contexts. QTR has addressed this gap by fostering a collaborative environment where teachers can share classroom practices and engage in meaningful discussions and reflection, resulting in a stronger, more connected teaching team.

For Jeff, an early career Mathematics teacher, the experience particularly valuable as he worked towards his accreditation.

“The biggest impact for me was the confidence I gained from watching other teachers in the program and the discussions that followed,” Jeff said.

The structured coding and analysis that are part of the Rounds process provided Jeff with new perspectives on his teaching practice, helping him to refine and deepen his approach.

“It made me feel that my teaching was on target,” he said.

Unexpected insights for experienced educators

Not just beneficial for early career teachers, QTR also offers rich professional learning for experienced educators.

Tanya, a Japanese teacher with 18 years’ experience, found the readings and discussions insightful and she gained valuable ideas for her own teaching. The observations made during QTR also provided unexpected insights.

“It was surprising during lesson observations to watch students’ behaviour and effort and how different it could be and also see how different teachers deal with the behaviours,” Tanya said.

This reflective process not only highlighted areas of strength in Tanya’s teaching, but also offered opportunities for improvement, ultimately boosting her confidence as an educator.

“It was encouraging to see what areas of my lessons were going well,” she shared. “But also, to reflect after the QT Round on what was lacking from the lesson and what could be improved. Overall, the experience has given me the confidence to continue teaching.”

What’s next for QTR at St Joseph’s?

Looking ahead, St Joseph’s plans to embed QTR as a permanent feature of its mentoring program – ensuring that every new teacher continues to receive the guidance and support they need to succeed.

St Joseph’s experience offers a compelling case study for other schools. By investing in QTR, they’ve not only enhanced the quality of teaching and strengthened the culture of collaboration in their school community.