Teacher Professional Leave
Teacher Professional Leave (TPL) provides teachers with flexible opportunities to improve classroom practice, build individual capacity and contribute to school and system improvement.
The duration of TPL ranges from a minimum of four to a maximum of ten weeks and can be taken as a continuous block, spread over time, or as a combination of the two. It can be undertaken on an individual basis or as part of a team.
Participants and principals have reported significant benefits for teachers, for students and for the school overall. It is advisable that professional learning undertaken by TPL teachers is reflected in customised professional development plans linking individual teacher development needs, student learning needs and school priorities.
Who is Teacher Professional Leave for?
Teacher Professional Leave is available to teachers who:
- have significant classroom teaching responsibilities (not in a support role);
- are fully registered with the Victorian Institute of Teaching and are currently employed in a Victorian government school;
- have ongoing employment or fixed term employment in a government school for a period of at least two years after the completion of the leave with the Department. (Schools that wish to include teachers on shorter term employment as part of a professional learning team are able to do so provided that the cost of supporting them is met from the school’s professional development budget);
- demonstrate commitment and capacity to acquire and apply new learning;
- demonstrate commitment and capacity to communicate new learning with colleagues so that the learning is shared within the school and across the system; and
- have not undertaken TPL in previous rounds.
What is the purpose of Teacher Professional Leave?
TPL is designed primarily to enable teachers to:
- identify a problem/question/area of interest
- investigate ways of addressing that issue
- evaluate what has been learnt from application within the teacher’s own context
- act upon the implications of that learning.