Covering a vast breadth of fields and topics to bring benefits to those in their local communities and beyond, each of the people awarded a fellowship was driven by the desire to make positive change in an area of importance to their communities.

The fellowships offer recipients the opportunity to travel overseas for four to eight weeks to explore a topic or issue that they’re passionate about, and come back and share knowledge to improve their community.

As examples, last year NSW educator Edward Washington won a fellowship to investigate how museums in Europe teach contested or challenging history and perspectives to primary students, while Catholic school educator Eamonn Moore’s win meant he could investigate best practice in delivering innovative Stage 6 curriculum through virtual learning.

Victorian Emily Wilson’s fellowship is helping her journey to Canada, New Zealand and Norway to learn how music teacher educators and music teachers are decolonising their practice, while Lama Shono now has the opportunity to investigate evidence-based innovative trauma response and treatment models in Europe, to incorporate into practice in South Australia.

Offered annually, the Fellowships began as a doorknock appeal just a month after Sir Winston Churchill died in 1965 and are now worth, on average, $35,000 each.

Since 1965, more than 4700 Australians have embarked on life-changing journeys overseas.

West Australian educator Drew Mayhills started his career as a secondary school teacher back in 2012.

Since then, he’s had the opportunity to learn and work in a diverse range of educational settings, Mayhills tells EducationHQ.

“I’ve been very intentional about gaining professional experience across a diverse range of environments – the public and independent school systems, the disability sector, technology-focused projects, immigration detention, and more recently in the tertiary sector working with preservice teachers."

Lecturing these preservice teachers in Edith Cowan University’s School of Education, he says has been a joy.

“I absolutely loved working with them,” he says.

“You can’t help but be re-energised when working alongside preservice teachers – their enthusiasm and engagement was just a brilliant reminder of why we pursue a pathway as an educator in the first place. The future of the profession is in great hands.”

These days Mayhills is Chief Learning and Development Officer at the Australian Institute of Management WA (AIM WA).

“I see my role as helping to create the conditions for the teams across our organisation to do their best work in the pursuit of our vision – inspiring better workplaces through the delivery of high quality learning experiences,” he says.

In his 11 years of experience, Mayhills has earned a reputation as a dedicated leader, innovator, and advocate for improved educational outcomes, and has undertaken pioneering work in the use of innovative technologies for teaching and learning.

“When I reflect, what stands out to me the most are not so much the technical achievements, but rather where I’ve been able to support and encourage educators to realise the benefits of integrating technology in their practice – for their students and themselves,” he says.

“Where technology has been able to improve a child’s access to learning or provide greater opportunity to demonstrate their understanding, while reducing a teacher’s time spent on administrative tasks – and helping to make those outcomes more visible to the child’s family and the broader community – that’s what I’m interested in.”

Last year, Mayhills applied for a Churchill Fellowship to investigate how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can enhance teacher effectiveness, seeking to address Australian educational challenges, including teacher shortages and educational equity in remote areas.

Having been made aware of the fellowship through Mike Morgan, principal of Shenton College in WA, it took Mayhills quite a while to decide on applying.

“I spent the best part of seven years wondering what I might focus on,” he says.

“I had lots of ideas around education, technology, creativity and addressing various challenges in the teaching profession over that time, but it all felt quite disconnected and overwhelming.”

The advent of AI coming into mainstream society through the likes of ChatGPT helped focus his thinking.

“In AI, I saw an enormously important and relevant context that could contain and improve my existing ideas,” Mayhills says.

He’s interested in understanding how teachers, schools and school systems can leverage AI in a way that addresses teacher workload, supports teachers to maximise the quality of their time spent with students, and to differentiate learning for diversity.

“We know that the challenges of teacher shortages and equity of access are felt more acutely in regional and remote areas of Australia, so I’m committed to ensuring that the findings and recommendations arising from the Fellowship are translated into practice so that students and teachers alike reap the benefits,” Mayhills says.

The WA educator says he’s looking forward to journeying to Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the US to undertake his Fellowship in late August-September of this year.

“While I’m yet to depart, the amount of interest and support I’ve received both in Australia and overseas has been terrific, so I am very much looking to getting underway.”

For nearly 60 years, the Churchill Fellowship has empowered Australians from all walks of life to make a meaningful impact on their community, their state or territory, and the nation.

No academic qualifications are necessary – just curiosity, a desire to learn and to make a difference.

Churchill Fellowship applications for 2024 are still open (until May 1).

If you’re passionate about education, or working in or interested in any area of education, and if you know something is happening overseas that is better than in Australia, a Churchill Fellowship offers a means to get you overseas to find out more and to bring your learnings home.