Victoria’s brightest minds are proving their worth as teachers, working with secondary students in some of the state’s most challenging classrooms.
The state government has committed to expanding the Teach for Australia program, which places high-performing student teachers in disadvantaged schools around Victoria.
The program aims to break the cycle of disadvantage by paring exemplary tertiary students, many of whom have previously worked in law, science or economics, with secondary students from lower socio-economic areas.
Now the state government will next year assign a further 25 master of teaching students to Victorian schools, including Mill Park Secondary College (MPSC). The school has been part of the program since its inception in 2010.
MPSC head principal Trish Horner said it had enabled teachers to collaborate with some of the state’s best minds.
“We signed up because I liked the concept; I felt that recruiting high achievers and giving them on-the-job experience seemed a good way to inject some enthusiasm into the [teaching] profession,” Ms Horner said.
The government’s renewed investment in the program, announced at Mill Park last Monday, will place 65 student teachers, or ‘associates’ as the program calls them, in schools later this year, before they begin official placements in 2016.
The associates will teach diverse subjects over their two years with the program while simultaneously working on their master of teaching degrees at Deakin University.
A spokesman for Education Minister James Merlino said the associates were provided significant in-school support by Teach For Australia, Deakin University and other teachers and school leaders to ensure high-quality teaching and learning.
“This is an endeavour we’re proud to support as part of our overall efforts to address educational disadvantage and strive towards excellence for all,” Mr Merlino said.
The Teach for Australia program receives the bulk of its funding from the federal government, with contributions from state governments and corporate and philanthropic supporters. Since 2010, the Victorian government has committed more than $12.9 million towards it.
Mr Merlino’s announcement last Monday coincides with increased demand for the program from Victorian schools.
