Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall, left, with Premier’s Teacher Scholarship recipient O’Connor College Maths Co-ordinator Stephen Chapman.
MEMBER for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall today personally congratulated Armidale’s O’Connor Catholic College Mathematics teacher Stephen Chapman on being awarded a prestigious NSW Premier’s Teacher Scholarship – one of only 19 granted across NSW.
The scholarship was presented at a ceremony at Parliament House on Saturday by Education Minister Adrian Piccoli.
Mr Marshall said the Financial Literacy Scholarship would see Mr Chapman head off next Easter on a five-week study tour, visiting schools and organisations throughout Europe, USA, Canada and Australia that specialise in financial literacy or have programs to educate high school students about money matters.
“This exclusive scholarship program gives Mr Chapman an exceptional and exciting opportunity to further develop his professional skills in financial literacy and, on his return, share that knowledge and experience with his students and the wider teaching community,” Mr Marshall said.
“These scholarships are about further developing the State’s best educators and I’d like to commend Mr Chapman on his selection; he was one of only19 recipients in the state from 325 applications. It’s recognition of his expertise in this field and his care for his students.”
Mr Chapman said financial literacy was an important component of general maths and also overlapped with the field of commerce.
“The NSW curriculum requires students to study the subject which deals with a wide range of money matters that helps students now and later in life manages their financial affairs,” Mr Chapman said.
“I’ll be travelling to Rome, Zuirch, Paris, Amsterdam, and London, Washington DC, Calgary, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and visiting 18 locations. About half of them are schools and the others are organisations that are studying financial literacy or have programs to educate high school students about money matters.
“During the trip I will have some days off to process and document the information and when I return to Armidale, I will be disseminating my findings in numerous conferences and journals.
“These scholarships are an investment by the sponsor and State Government and this is such an honour. I can’t wait to build connections throughout Australia and the world and seeing how schools operate in those countries is a fringe benefit too.”