By Karen Rachel Jabagat San Pablo - Philippines, 17 April, 2025
Why I chose to study my Master of Education at QUT
I chose to study a Master of Education at QUT because of its long-standing relationship with my sending school, Philippine Science High School. I was fortunate to receive a government-sponsored scholarship under a project for the advancement of STEM education in the Philippines, which is why I decided to specialise in STEM education at QUT.
My Master of Education studies at QUT, focusing on STEM in Education and Inclusive Education, directly related to my role as a high school teacher in the Philippines. I am studying at QUT as part of a project aimed at advancing STEM education in the Philippines. As a member of the project's pilot cohort, we are expected to leverage our learning at QUT to enhance curriculum and policies in the Philippines and then extend support to schools within our respective communities to do the same. The insights gained from the various Master of Education units and other learning opportunities at QUT have proven invaluable and directly applicable to our roles as educators.
Course experience and assessments
As part of my Master of Education course, I appreciated how all our assessments, in both our STEM in Education and Inclusive Education units, prompted us to consider our own contexts. Since I studied under a selective scholarship, there was an expectation for recipients to help lead change, both in STEM education and inclusion spaces, within our high school in the Philippines upon our return. The diverse assessments at QUT have helped challenge and stimulate my thinking.
Support services and personal development
As an international student who has been away from academic study for a considerable period, I have utilised the studying and assessment writing support services offered by QUT. Some of these services include QUT’s Your Study Advantage, Grammar Matters, and Studiosity. The assistance I have received from these sessions has been very practical and has helped me better manage my time, prepare for and write my assessments more effectively.
Social and extracurricular activities
I enjoyed Welcome Week and exam block student activities the most, primarily because these are the times when I truly need support due to the challenges associated with being an international student. I appreciate the freebies, games, live performances, food for thought sessions and the therapy dogs (not to mention the goats and sheep)!
Living in Brisbane
What I like best about Brisbane is that the city resembles my home city a lot - not too noisy but also not too quiet that it is boring. I also love that the beaches and national parks are very accessible and are close to Brisbane.
Building connections and friendships
I was fortunate to meet fellow international students in many of my tutorials, many of whom I have stayed friends with even after our units have ended. I have also met many people in the various QUT/Medibank-sponsored trips I was able to participate in.
Overall support and experience at QUT
Having experienced being a postgraduate student in another country, one of the things that surprised me about my experience here at QUT is the amount of support available to students, ranging from assistance with assessments to support for physical and mental health. At the classroom level, our teachers are also incredibly supportive; I feel comfortable asking even the simplest questions, confident that they will be answered with the same care as more complex inquiries. Simply put, it seems they genuinely want me to succeed.
I am truly grateful for was the opportunity for spiritual development whilst studying at QUT. As someone who places a high value on spiritual growth, I found these opportunities deeply meaningful and instrumental in supporting my overall wellbeing during my stay.
Recommendation for future students
I would recommend QUT to future students because, in my experience, the university provides learning environments that foster success and effectively prepare students for the very real challenges of this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world through high-quality and reliable teaching and support both inside and outside the classroom
What am I doing now?
As for where I am now, I’ve returned to teaching at my home institution - a STEM high school in the Philippines. With the support of one of our QUT teachers, I facilitated a workshop on project-based learning (PBL) last year to spark interest among my colleagues in using PBL as an innovative teaching and learning approach. I plan to run more learning sessions next school year to share additional insights and knowledge I’ve gained through my specialisations at QUT.
Another exciting project I am involved in, together with colleagues from the Master of Education - STEM in Education cohort, is focused on conducting a series of workshops and learning sessions for Department of Education (DepEd) teachers across the country. Our topics will range from STEM pedagogy and leadership in education to inclusive education. As teachers at a school that is under the Department of Science and Technology (and not the DepEd), we see this as a meaningful opportunity to contribute to raising the quality of STEM education in neighbouring DepEd schools. This initiative forms a key part of our re-entry plan, which we aim to roll out later this year.
