Caltex and Rotary Club of Sydney Awards for Innovation in Teaching

About the awards

All NSW teachers in primary and secondary, government and non-government schools are eligible to enter.

The awards program came into being 14 years ago when a group of Sydney-based Rotarians decided the time was right to create an award that acknowledged and celebrated teachers and teaching. For the past nine years Caltex has partnered with the Rotary Club of Sydney in supporting and promoting the program.

Every year three NSW teachers win a prize, currently valued at up to $7,000, to be spent on a return overseas economy airfare to visit agreed schools or institutions, and on accommodation and travelling expenses. The purpose of the trip is to enable the winners to share, and learn more about, their area of academic innovation in an international environment.

How to enter

If you have developed an innovative educational program that’s up and running in your school we invite you to enter the awards program. Entries are currently being accepted and must be received by Monday, 1 September 2008.

Please complete the 2008 awards application form, and read and sign the awards’ terms and conditions, both found on this page. Once completed, mail both documents to:

Caltex and Rotary Club of Sydney Awards for Innovation in Teaching
Rotary Club of Sydney
GPO Box 1523
Sydney NSW 2001

If you have a query or require help, please call 02 9488 3200.

The judging criteria

Innovative programs are assessed according to their degree of originality, the results they have achieved and their potential to benefit the education sector. They need not necessarily be new but should go beyond marginal improvements to programs that already exist. Your selection and reasons to visit particular educational institutions play an important role in the assessment of your entry.

Your program can relate to any aspect of education, including:

	curriculum		teaching style
	instructional design		delivery modes
	assessment		student learning
	student behaviour		leadership
	cultural change		new and improved practices

Notes to consider

Award winners will be advised of their success in October 2008 and invited to attend a Rotary Club of Sydney luncheon on Tuesday, 11 November 2008 where their success will be announced. Leading members of the education community and the principals of the recipients’ schools will be invited to attend the function.

It is a condition of entry that information about winners and their pioneering programs can be released to the media.

The selection of the schools or institutions the successful teachers visit, will be an interactive process involving each winner, the school or institution, Caltex and the Rotary Club of Sydney. Winners are required to travel abroad rather than interstate.

Each winner may have ambassadorial duties at Rotary meetings while away and, on return, will be asked to give a short talk about their visit experience to the Rotary Club of Sydney in October or November 2009.