About 30 academics, school principals and other education officials from the Northern Territory converged on the Sunshine Coast this week (Monday and Tuesday October 9-10) be briefed by their counterparts.

The visitors were attracted by the Sunshine Coast's reputation as the incubator of the acclaimed 'teaching school' teacher preparation model, which relies on partnerships between schools, education systems, academics and communities.

This 'teaching school' model underpins Central Queensland University's Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) program, which was endorsed by an Australian Council of Education Research (ACER) report.

ACER's national study reported that new-style ‘learning managers’ graduating from CQU are well prepared to meet the demands of first-year teaching when compared to graduates of more traditional education degrees. ACER reported that teachers from the BLM reported greater levels of preparedness across almost all areas of teaching compared with graduates from other programs.

In 'teaching schools', BLM students are guided in a school setting by mentor teachers (also known as learning managers).

The Northern Territory visitors interacted with BLM students, BLM graduates, learning managers, principals, learning consultants and staff from CQU's Noosa Hub.