The Albanese Government is investing $7.89 million to encourage our best and brightest to pursue a career as a primary school teacher.
As part of the Government's High Achieving Teachers (HAT) Program, the funding will be provided to La Trobe University to get more people, particularly mid-career workers, into primary teaching.
Our primary school teachers play a huge role in a young person's life, especially near the start of their schooling lives. But we don't have enough of them.
This is one part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan that Education Ministers agreed to last year.
In delivering the program, La Trobe will place the best and brightest into primary schools that need them most across Victoria and New South Wales.
The pilot will deliver 105 primary school teacher places. These are the first of 1,500 teacher places delivered through the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
Participants will receive mentoring and support and will be paid for their practical teaching experience.
Recruitment will commence later this year with the first lot of primary school teachers placed into schools in April 2024.
Visit the La Trobe University website for more details here.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education Jason Clare:
"We don't remember much about when we are little, but most of us remember our teachers' names.
"That shows just how important our teachers are, and the impact they have on us. And we don't have enough of them.
"This is the first program like this targeted at recruiting and training more primary school teachers."
Quotes attributable to La Trobe University, Professor Joanna Barbousas (Dean, School of Education):
"Our current Nexus program has been an extraordinary success in preparing teachers for employment in schools across Victoria.
"Preparing teachers through evidence-informed approaches and gaining hands-on classroom experiences, will set them up to make a difference in regional, rural and hard to staff schools".
