Top university graduates will be offered paid teaching jobs in the classroom while they study as part of a new program to attract high achievers and mid-careers professionals into NSW’s public schools.
Teach For Australia – which operates in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania – will create a program for NSW to fast-track students into teaching reports The Age.
In the latest initiative to tackle teacher shortages, about 50 students are expected to be recruited to a pilot next year and placed in public school classrooms in 2024.
Premier Dominic Perrottet said the model would help NSW actively seek out the best candidates for the classroom. “The modern workforce has changed but pathways into the teaching profession have become more siloed, with students spending most of their time at university and unable to earn an income until they complete their placements,” he said.
Under the Teach for Australia model, students complete their master of teaching degree at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) while they are employed in a school in a low-socioeconomic, regional or remote community for two years, after first completing some intensive subjects.
ACU said the successful applicants will be paid to teach at 80 per cent of a full-time load while completing their qualifications.
As part of the NSW program, principals will have greater say in how the model is implemented in their school.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said mid-career professionals would be a particular focus of the program.
“Not only do tailored mid-career programs ease the burden of months of unpaid leave, they also provide future teachers with instrumental experience in the classroom – which teachers constantly tell us is where their most valuable learning takes place,” she said.
