The Victorian Government is looking for new early childhood, primary and secondary teachers needed to fill the growing demand across the state. To support this effort, Victoria’s Department of Education is currently touring its new immersive classroom experience, giving aspiring teachers the opportunity to visualise a future in the teaching profession.
Since 2019 the Victorian Government has invested over $1.4 billion in school workforce initiatives, including more than $360 million in teacher attraction and retention. Teach the Future is a teacher recruitment campaign delivered by the Department of Education, Victoria. The campaign aims to raise the profile of teaching and encourage school leavers to train to teach in Victoria.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance of our teachers, so we’re investing significantly in a range of programs to attract, train and retain the best people – from financial support for people taking up hard to fill roles to more paid, on-the-job training,” said Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins. “This interactive classroom experience gives people a great way to talk to teachers about their experiences and to explore the various pathways into teaching.”
CLASS IS IN SESSION
The Victorian Department of Education’s new interactive classroom will be touring the nation, appearing at several events in Victoria, ACT, and New South Wales. The interactive experience, built by events specialists En Pointe in consultation with teachers, is part of the Department’s Teach the Future campaign and consists of four quadrants showcasing the full spectrum of learning environments – a staff room, an early learning space, a primary classroom and a secondary classroom.
The realistic classroom experience, targeting both school leavers and those seeking a switch in career, is appearing at career expos across Australia, most recently at the Melbourne Career Expo at MCEC.
At the classroom experience, aspiring teachers learn about pathways into roles as educators and teachers in early childhood, primary and secondary education, and speak to real life educators who answer questions and talk about their own professional experience. The goal is to empower individuals to realise their potential as educators and create a more inclusive and diverse teaching workforce that meets the needs of all students.
“We made the experience as authentic as possible by consulting on design choices with a current teacher who provided industry-based advice as we created the space, carefully selected props and even insured that featured books came from curriculum-approved books,” said En Pointe Events Director, Mr Rocco Trimboli.
“Incorporating interactivity and ‘play-based learning’ was another key design focus. Just some of the ways we achieved this include a nature play table in the early childhood quadrant, sensory play mats and other calming sensory activities. These had a great impact during the Melbourne careers expo, proving popular with career seekers.”
The STEM-themed secondary classroom that showcases the latest technology in classrooms, including a 3D printer, lightning orb, engine and robotic arm, is also popular with career seekers due to its state-of-the-art interactive elements.
The interactive classroom experience is appearing at the upcoming Canberra CareersXpo August 9-10th, the Victorian Careers and Employment Expo August 17-19, and the Sydney Career and Employment Expo September 8-9th.
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