Minister for Education Mr Jason Clare has announced the Government is investing $70.9 million to get almost 1,500 new teachers from a range of backgrounds into schools across the country.
The Government is tripling the number of teachers entering into the High Achieving Teachers (HAT) Program, which provides financial assistance, mentoring and training to get teachers into the classroom more quickly, helping to tackle the teacher workforce shortage.
The funding will be provided to ten providers to get more people, including mid-career professionals and high-achieving school leavers, into the teaching profession.
“We don’t remember much about when we are little, but most of us remember our teachers’ names,” Mr Clare said.
“That shows just how important our teachers are, and the impact they have on us. And we don’t have enough of them.
“This program targets recruiting and training more school teachers in schools that need them the most.”
The HAT Program is part of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan that Education Ministers agreed to in 2022.
It builds on the success of Phase 1 of the HAT Program already underway in Victoria and New South Wales with 94 per cent of graduates from the La Trobe Nexus program continuing to teach after graduating.
The providers will support the teachers-in-training to complete their qualifications and make a successful start in the classroom, providing them with the skills they need to commence a career in teaching.
Participants receive a salary and split their time between practical teaching in the classroom and studying.
The new school teachers will start to be placed into schools that need them the most in 2025.
The program focuses on attracting new teachers, including with a STEM background, First Nations peoples, people with disability, teacher aides and people based in remote locations.
They will teach across all states and territories, in government and non-government schools, and across primary and secondary schools.
A list of successful providers from the open-competitive grant opportunity follows:
Teach for Australia (475 HAT places)
Australian Catholic University Limited (285)
La Trobe University (231)
Charles Sturt University (100)
Western Sydney University (100)
Queensland University of Technology (90)
Edith Cowan University (74)
University of Canberra (60)
University of South Australia (42)
University of Tasmania (40)
Further information is available on the Department of Education’s website.
