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Scholarships and Incentives

Student Teacher Practicum Scheme - Are you eligible?

You have access to the allowances under the scheme if you are a student teacher in the final or penultimate year of a pre-service teacher education course and you undertake a placement of at least fifteen days duration in a designated Victorian government school.

If your placement is undertaken in a school in one of the provincial cities of Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Shepparton, Traralgon, Warrnambool or Wodonga you are not eligible for the allowances.

Living away from home allowance

The living away from home allowance will be final year or next to final year student teachers (next to final year students include third year students in a four year undergraduate teaching degree and first year students in a two year Masters of Teaching degree) undertaking placements in a:

    (a)       designated Priority School (PDF - 121Kb) (Victorian government); or

    (b)       designated Rural School (PDF - 209Kb) (Victorian government), where at least one supervised method is one 

               of the Department’s designated Hard to Staff Subjects (PDF - 34Kb)

for a minimum:

  • cumulative total of 15 days at the same school (eg: block of three weeks or a block of two weeks followed by a further block of one week) – allowance of $1,000; or
  • cumulative total of 25 days or more at the same school (eg: 2 days per week over 10 weeks followed by 5 individual days) – allowance of $1,600.

The following priority criteria based on the practicum location and subject area applies:

Priority 1 are those placements in either:

There are a limited number of accommodation allowances available which will be allocated on a "first come first served basis". Payment of the accommodation allowance will be made on confirmation from the principal that the placement has proceeded and that the application meets these and the living away from home criteria. Applicants may be placed on a Reserve List where there are a large number of applications for an accommodation allowance.

Each applicant will be advised of their application status.  Throughout the process respective university placement coordinators will be periodically advised of the applications made by their students and their application status.

Priority 2 are those placements in a designated Rural School (PDF - 209Kb), where the supervised method is not in a designated hard to staff subject.

There are a limited number of accommodation allowances available which will be allocated on a "first come first served basis". Payment of the accommodation allowance will be made on confirmation from the principal that the placement has proceeded and that the application meets these and the living away from home criteria. Applicants may be placed on a Reserve List where there are a large number of applications for an accommodation allowance.

All applicants receive a letter confirming their eligibility and status of their application.

 

Living away from home bonus allowance

Student teachers may access the Living Away from Home Allowance only once during their course of studies. 

However, an extra one-off payment of $600 Living Away From Home Bonus Allowance will be available to some applicants who have previously received the Living Away From Home Allowance, in the following circumstances:

(a)   the applicant is undertaking a second placement at a designated Priority School (PDF - 121Kb) or Rural School (PDF - 209Kb); and

(b)   the applicant falls into one of the following categories:

       •        he/she is a teacher undertaking special education qualifications;

       •        he/she is a teacher who is retraining under the Rural Retraining Scheme; or

       •        he/she is undertaking an internship or induction during the Masters component of a Master of Teaching

                course.

There are a limited number of bonus allowances available which will be allocated on a "first come first served basis". Payment of the bonus allowance will be made on confirmation from the principal that the placement has proceeded and that the application meets this criteria. Applicants may be placed on a Reserve List where there are a large number of applications for a bonus allowance.

All applicants receive a letter confirming their eligibility and status of their application.

 

Travel allowance

The travel allowance is available to offset commuting costs if you are an eligible student and are required to undertake one way travel of 50 minutes or more on a daily basis from your current place of residence to either:

Up to 40 travel allowances are available each year. If you meet eligibility criteria you are considered for payment of the travel allowance on confirmation from the principal that your placement has proceeded. You receive written advice of this approval.

After 40 travel allowance applications have been approved, any subsequent applications are placed on the Reserve List. If you are placed on the Reserve List you will receive written advice of your status.

All applicants receive a letter confirming their eligibility and status of their application.

Reserve List

Mid-way through Term 2 (mid-May) and again mid-way through Term 4 (mid-November) any uncommitted scheme funds are assigned to applications on the Reserve List. Funds are assigned to applications on the reserve list in the following order:

  1. Any Priority 1 applications not already approved (in application received date order)
  2. Any Priority 2 applications not already approved (in application received date order)
  3. Any bonus allowances not already approved (in application received date order)
  4. Any applications for travel allowances not already approved (in application received date order)
  5. Any new applications for term 1 or 2 practicums (in application received date order) received after mid-May or after mid-November for term 3 and 4 practicums
  6. Any application where principal confirmation has not been received within two weeks of a placement ending.

 

More information

For more information about the Student Teacher Practicum Scheme, see:

Contact


Phone: 1800 641 943 (selecting option 1)
Email: Student Teacher Practicum