A new and innovative undergraduate teaching pathway aims to address the workforce shortages in Australia’s schools by increasing teacher supply and fostering greater diversity in classrooms across the country.
The initiative, launched by not-for-profit Teach For Australia, will recruit, train and support more educational support staff, First Nations people, individuals with disability, and those living in rural, regional and remote locations into teaching via a new partnership with Charles Darwin University.
The undergraduate program will start with a small cohort of up to 10 in 2025, with participants completing a bachelor of secondary teaching while earning a wage at one of TFA’s partner schools, all with wrap-around support from experienced coaches.
The initiative follows TFA’s recent selection as the successful recipient of the federal government’s High Achieving Teachers (HAT) Program pilot expansion to provide up to 475 new, highly effective teachers over the next three years.
In 2024, 84% of those who participated in TFA’s Leadership Development Program are working in schools, including 39% who hold a position of school leadership. More than half (53%) are working in TFA Eligible schools (in disadvantaged areas), and 34% of all alumni working in schools are in regional/rural areas.
Santino Merino, who was in TFA’s 2020 cohort 2020, is one teacher who completed the Leadership Development Program.
“What made me interested in applying for Teach For Australia’s Leadership Development Program was the ability to make a bigger impact in the community,” Merino told The Educator.
“Teaching is an incredibly rewarding and challenging career. We have the ability to form strong relationships and make a huge impact on the lives of our students.”
Merino said he wakes up with a strong sense of purpose as to what he’s doing and what he’s hoping to achieve.
“So, even though I’ve been in a semi-classroom setting for 10 years, teaching English as a Second Language prior to starting the Leadership Development Program, I feel like I’ve grown so much in my practice as a teacher with the help of the TFA curriculum and wrap-around support,” he said.
“I had hoped that TFA would continue to expand, so the new undergraduate program is welcomed news, especially in light of the enormous teacher shortage. We need to continue putting passionate people into classrooms to impact young people.”