Teach for Australia Program - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the rationale for introducing the Teach for Australia program?

Teach for Australia provides an opportunity for schools in Victoria’s most educationally challenging communities to benefit from high-calibre teaching recruits. The program targets top university graduates from all backgrounds and experiences with demonstrated leadership skills, and specifically those who would not otherwise have considered teaching.

Teach for All is well established internationally, and there is an increasing volume of evidence for its success launched in April 2009. Victoria played a leading role in developing the program, and will be the first state to recruit Teach For Australia associates to work in government schools.

The Teach for Australia program is one of a suite of broader system improvement initiatives taking place. It is one of the workforce reform commitments made in 2008. Collectively, these initiatives will contribute to improving the quality of teaching in Victorian schools.

The program can provide valuable information and insight relating to the development and efficacy of an employment-based pathway, and effective recruitment and selection processes. It will help to evaluate the benefits of providing training and support to teachers as they develop their practice within schools.

Schools will be selected for participation in the program based on an assessment of their level of need relating to disadvantage and also their capacity to support Associates appropriately.

How does Teach for Australia compete with, or complement, existing teacher recruitment pathways?

The program is targeted at recruiting high-calibre individuals who would not otherwise have considered a career in teaching, building capacity from otherwise untapped student cohorts. Research carried out amongst university students in Victoria has demonstrated that the program has the potential to attract a new cohort of graduates into teaching.

The Teach for Australia program shares some elements with the existing Career Change program, in that it creates additional capacity through attracting subject experts from outside the current recruitment streams. However, it is designed to be a boutique program focussed on attracting recent graduates who would otherwise be recruited by prestigious corporate organisations. A key distinguishing element of the education and training of Teach For Australia associates is a focus on leadership development, to support future career progression within and beyond the education sector.

The program is one of a suite of initiatives that create additional pathways into the teaching profession, and is one commitment amongst a number that relate to workforce reform. The initial scheme will only recruit 75 associates over two intakes – impacting around 2% of the student population in Victoria.

How has the program been developed to reflect the needs and interests of Victorian government schools?

Teach for Australia is well established internationally, and there is an increasing volume of evidence for its success. The Department made a commitment in 2008 to develop a model based on the best elements of these existing schemes, and tailored to the Victorian context.

Extensive stakeholder consultation was carried out, with oversight by a cross-Departmental steering committee. Interviews and focus groups were undertaken with new teaching graduates, principals, regional directors, the Australian Education Union, pre-service education providers, and the VIT. Their suggestions and feedback were fundamental in shaping the program that is being run in Victoria.

Why will the program be attractive to schools?

Primarily, the program will offer the opportunity to recruit rigorously screened, high-calibre candidates to fill vacancies that are hard to recruit to. Schools will benefit from the Associates’ subject and discipline expertise, relieving some pressure on existing staff, and reducing the need for them to teach outside of their fields of expertise.

The in-school teaching fellows will also receive the benefit of training and support from Teach for Australia Professional Development coaches. This professional input will have spill-over benefits for the school, through building capacity and capability for staff mentoring and support.

The costs of providing on-going training, development and support for the associates will largely be met by the Department. Evidence from similar initiatives overseas demonstrates that the program can deliver student outcomes that are as good as, or exceed, those that would normally be expected from graduate teachers.

In an annual survey of principals who manage Teach for America teachers in the US, nearly all principals (95 percent) regard Teach for America teachers as effective as, if not more effective than, other beginning teachers in terms of overall performance and impact on student achievement. [Policy Studies Associates, 2007]

Other advantages expressed by Regional Directors during program development consultations, include:

• Associates should engage with existing good performers in teams to create energy for change and spill-over effects
• Associates should also contribute to change-oriented work such as 21st century learning environments
• In the right environment, a small cluster of associates can add critical mass to reform initiatives in a disadvantaged school

What education, training and support will associates receive?

Teach for Australia associate training is designed to be highly practical, for immediate application on the job and with a clear purpose. An external education training provider will deliver an intensive summer school program for participants, with the aim of putting them on the path towards qualified teacher status. Associates will participate in a regimen of seminars and practice sessions designed to build the capabilities required to advance student achievement. This training has a special focus on dealing with issues in challenging secondary school education.

Once in schools, associates will receive academic and professional support and leadership development from three sources. A university tutor will provide ongoing academic advancement and translation of theory into practice. A Professional Development (PD) Coach will undertake observation, feedback and reflection with associates. An in-school fellow will provide ad-hoc support, advice and feedback. Overall, associates will receive approximately 3.5 hours per week (on average) of support.

Additionally, corporate partners may provide further leadership development opportunities and mentoring for associates and in-school fellows.

Won’t the creation of a ‘fast-track’ route into the classroom de-value teaching as a profession, and the qualifications of the existing workforce?

Teach for Australia is not intended to replace existing professional pathways, nor does the teacher education element of the program purport to deliver the full academic preparation. Associates will receive intensive ongoing academic and professional development support from a number of sources, not least in-school mentoring and support from experienced teachers.

It is a new employment-based pathway. The initiative supports the clinical model of pre-service teacher education, which includes in-school teaching fellows and professional development coaches. Stakeholder feedback relating to the MTeach clinical model reflected positive experiences on behalf of the graduates and the principals employing them. A relatively small number of certified teachers will be created via this route. The Department will continue to work with pre-service education providers to develop mainstream qualifications and routes of entry into the profession.

However, Teach for Australia associates will be awarded a place on the program because they have demonstrated an exceptional combination of attributes that indicate a propensity for success in teaching roles. The program offers schools the opportunity to support the existing workforce through additional capacity and discipline-specific expertise. Experienced teachers will also benefit from the creativity and energy of the new graduates, and from opportunities to develop mentoring skills and teaching teams around them.

What evidence is there that the program will be successful, and have a demonstrable effect on student outcomes?

The Teach for Australia program has drawn on the best elements of the international models, the successes of which have been independently evaluated.

In the US, the Urban Institute found that Teach for America corps members have a positive impact on student achievement relative to other teachers, including those who are fully certified in their subject areas. The study found that the incremental impact of having a Teach for America teacher is three times the incremental impact of having a teacher with three or more years of experience. Furthermore, Teach for America teachers helped their students to achieve more than a year’s worth of maths content over the course of a year [The Urban Institute/CALDER, 2008].

The most methodologically rigorous study to date found that Teach for America teachers have a greater impact on student achievement than even the veteran and certified teachers in their schools. (Mathematica Policy Research, 2004)

The UK Office for Standards in Teaching and Education (OFSTED) found that half of Teach First associates achieved the Standards for Qualified Teaching Status to an outstanding level. Four of the 80 trainees seen during visits to schools were judged by inspectors to be amongst the most exceptional trainees produced by any teacher training route. Participants remaining in their schools for a second year or more were starting to have a notable impact, for example, in transforming underperforming departments.

The Teach for Australia program reflects the best aspects of these international programs, and draws on the evaluation and learning from overseas. Extensive consultation has taken place to tailor the program to the specific context and needs of Victorian schools.

How will the success of the program and associate teachers be monitored and evaluated?

The evaluation framework will establish goals for the immediate impact of associates in schools, and the longer-term impact of the program in the community. 

Immediate impact will be assessed using a balanced scorecard of qualitative and quantitative measures, through a suite of professional development and performance assessment tools. These measures will comprise student learning outcomes and perceptions, Principal and VIT assessments of teaching efficacy, collegiality, and impact on broader school activities.

Longer term impact will be assessed in relation to the impact of the program on the status of teaching. It will also include the extent of ongoing commitment and progression by associates to leadership roles in education, social entrepreneurship, and with corporate partners.