Natalie Craig receives ACE Victoria Media Award

Natalie Craig addresses the AGM

Natalie Craig with ACE Victoria committee member Ian Sloane

ACE Victoria president-elect Catherine Scott (left) with current ACE Victoria president Annette Rome

The ACE Victoria 2011 Media Award was presented to Natalie Craig of the Sunday Age at the state Annual General Meeting on November 10.

Ms Craig was named the award winner in September for a series of stories on the Teach for Australia program. 

Ms Craig was also guest speaker at the AGM where she described her experiences writing about the early days of the Teach for Australia program in 2009.

She researched her 'fly on the wall' style story by shadowing a young Teach for Australia Associate, Sean Isbister, who had completed six weeks of intensive training at university and was then 'parachuted' into his class at a disadvantaged Melbourne school.

Overall Ms Craig said her impressions of the Teach for Australia program were positive.

"I saw that this young man was very keen. I'd never seen a teacher give so much one on one attention and fly around the classroom with such speed," she said. 

However, Ms Craig said that recruiting graduates with a glittering CV into teaching was not necessarily the way to go in the long term.

"I think we need a program to open up teaching to as wide a group of people as possible," She said. "People who have their heart in it and the knack for teaching need to be given a go somehow."

Ms Craig said it is very difficult to predict who will become a good teacher so lengthy trial periods should be applied to teaching as they are in other professions such as in the finance sector.

"What does it say about society when people who control money are made to go through more hoops than people who teach our children?" she asked.

Audience members noted that a number of pre-service courses for teachers are becoming increasingly rigorous.

Victorian branch president of ACE, Ms Annette Rome, said the ACE media award recognises the contribution of the media and journalism to community understanding of developments in education, affecting students, schools and communities.

"Natalie Craig has provided great service to teachers and the education community through raising the profile of educational developments affecting the schools sector, engaging with and analysing issues and encouraging the education sector to participate in the wider debate on national issues that vitally affect schools," Ms Rome said.

Natalie Craig is a feature writer and general reporter for the Sunday Age and M Magazine.