Teach For Australia at a glance: What we're working towards, how we're doing it, and the impact we're making.
Teach For Australia is an ambitious movement working to confront educational disadvantage in Australia.
Our vision is of an Australia where all children, regardless of background or social circumstance, are given the best chance to grasp their opportunity in the classroom and achieve their full potential.
We help do this by transforming outstanding individuals into exceptional teachers and inspirational leaders, who will shape the educational destiny of their students, and become future leaders with an influential voice in Australia’s educational dialogue.
Did you know that whilst Australia has a high performing education system overall, it is one of the least equitable in the OECD?
The reality is the gap between the top and the bottom is far too wide, and is growing.
The reasons can be complex, but a child’s socio economic status - like where they live; their parents’ education; ethnicity and family income – are having a huge impact on their own educational outcomes, and by virtue, the choices that become available to them later in life.
Most would agree that needs to change, and fast!
At the heart of our vision is our belief in teaching as leadership, and in the power of exceptional teachers to transform the lives of their students.
We attract some of our country’s most outstanding young individuals from non-educational backgrounds and empower them to pursue teaching as the cornerstone of their career journey.
Our teachers - called Associates - are placed in some of our country’s most challenging secondary schools.
They are supported by a world class model of teacher education. Our leadership program provides a pathway into further leadership, within the classroom and beyond. Our Alumni will contribute to, and one day lead, the conversation about eradicating educational disadvantage in Australia.
Our Associates will have demonstrated the qualities that make effective teachers well before ever being accepted into our program.
They come from all disciplines and backgrounds, are well rounded, high achieving, and have already excelled in their prior degree - many having received honours with their Bachelors, Masters, or PhDs.
As recent graduates and young professionals, each of our Associates has demonstrated outstanding achievement within their universities, in the workplace, across the wider community and even abroad.
We select only the most passionate, resilient, and highly capable individuals to participate.
The Teach For Australia program is a world class, intense and highly demanding two years of teacher education and leadership development, delivered in partnership with the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education.
As the first in a series of five intensive training periods, Associates begin their journey with a six-week in-residence intensive, before moving into the classroom having already covered one-third of a traditional post-graduate diploma.
The Associates continue to study towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching (TFA) through intensive study blocks, regular face-to-face support and self-paced study. The Associates are supported by an impressive network of experienced teacher mentors, leadership advisers, clinical specialists, and leadership coaches.
Over time, Teach For Australia is building a lifelong movement of alumni, who will lead from both within the classroom and beyond.
Whilst a large proportion will continue in the classroom, others will pursue leadership roles in business, law, government, in establishing social enterprises and influencing educational policy. All pathways are equally important to our mission and our effectiveness in promoting long-term change.
Our Alumni to remain actively connected to confronting educational disadvantage in Australia, wherever their careers paths take them. Through this, true systemic change can begin to take effect.
This is the true power of the Teach For Australia.
After just two years of having Associates in disadvantaged schools, we are already seeing significant and meaningful results.
Leadership Recognition: Over 50% of our Associates had already been elevated to positions of leadership, including Key Learning Coordinator, Heads of English and Heads of Humanities.
Improving academic outcomes: Through inspired teaching and innovative approaches our Associates are driving significant academic improvements. In many cases, they have helped to drive accelerated learning compared to other classrooms, closed the gap on state averages, and guided students to outstanding VCE results.
Learning Initiatives: Our Associates are trialling new literacy programs, coordinating volunteering trips, rewriting curricula and giving their students new and exciting learning experiences.
In 2010, Teach For Australia placed its first cohort of Associates across 13 Victorian government secondary schools. Since then, we have expanded into the ACT and Northern Territory government sectors, as well as the Victoria catholic sector. We have now placed over 120 Associates across 45 schools.
We continue to work with our other states and school jurisdictions towards expanding our program, growing in scale, and furthering our impact on improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged young Australians.
