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Objective: To increase the number of people choosing teaching as a career.
1. More teaching places at universities in the right subjects and specialisations
The Australian Government will provide $159 million for an additional 4,036 Commonwealth Supported Places (CSPs) courses in education across 2023–2024 including for sub-bachelor and bachelor level courses in areas of early childhood, primary and secondary education.
Improved data collection will inform the prioritisation of places in the areas they are needed from 2024, with commissioning work to be undertaken by New South Wales and Victoria to inform this approach. This will include commissioning higher education providers and other delivery partners to deliver specific outcomes, and trials that have a strong focus on providing mentoring, school-based support and pathways for para‑professionals into teaching. In addition, the Australian Government will provide 480,000 fee-free TAFE places, a portion of which will be dedicated to training more early childhood educators.
2. 5,000 scholarships worth up to $40,000 each to help attract high quality candidates to the teaching profession
The Australian Government will provide $56.2 million to offer scholarships of $40,000 per student for undergraduate initial teacher education (ITE) students (four-year qualification at $10,000 per year) and $20,000 for postgraduate ITE students (or $10,000 per year for two years postgraduate studies). The Australian Government will also explore the application of a ‘commitment to teach’ requirement for students who accept a bursary.
The scholarships are expected to be offered in 2023 for students enrolling in an ITE course in 2024 and will be targeted at high achieving school leavers, mid-career professionals, First Nations peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and other underrepresented communities to encourage them to choose teaching as a profession. Students who undertake placements in remote areas will be eligible for a top-up payment of $2,000.
This proposal complements the Australian Government’s Reduction of Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts for teachers in very remote areas program which is designed to attract a teacher workforce. Applications for reductions will open on 1 January 2023. It will provide continuity and support for First Nations students in very remote areas where there are difficulties in attracting and retaining high quality teachers. The program provides two types of assistance, allowing school and early childhood education teachers employed in very remote locations of Australia to apply to have the indexation of their HELP debt frozen while they work in a very remote area and have HELP debt for their ITE course reduced, following the completion of four years of teaching (or part-time equivalent) in a very remote area.
3. 1,500 more places in the High Achieving Teachers (HAT) program to encourage more professionals to switch careers to teaching and trial new ways of attracting and keeping teachers in the schools that need them most
The Australian Government will almost triple its commitment to the HAT program, investing an extra $68.3 million to deliver up to 2,260 new teachers over the next four years.
The Commonwealth’s additional places in the HAT program will be used to pilot new ways to get teachers into schools most in need, attract more maths and science teachers and more Indigenous teachers into schools. This could include exploring ways to support experienced teacher aides to transition into teaching.
Work already underway in the states and territories and in the non-government school sector can be found at Appendix A of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan document.
4. Prioritise visa processing for qualified teachers and prioritise teachers from state and territory nominated visa allocations
At the Jobs and Skills Summit, the Australian Government expanded Australia’s permanent Migration Program from 160,000 to 195,000 places. This includes 31,000 in state and territory nominated visa categories and 34,000 places for regional visas, which can be allocated according to jurisdictions’ priorities. Teachers are currently on the priority skilled occupation list.
Targeted communications and marketing materials are being developed to inform potential skilled migrants and employers, including in the education sector, of visa options and encourage skilled migration to Australia. This sits alongside the Department of Home Affairs’ enhanced outreach and engagement capabilities to inform industries of skilled migration opportunities.
The Australian Government will work with state and territory governments to make sure this information points to opportunities in their sectors.
The Department of Home Affairs continues to provide priority processing for skilled visa applications in the education sector. Processing times to complete applications for Temporary Skill Shortage visas in the education sector remain at two business days (as at 25 November 2022), a reduction of 33 business days since June 2022.
States and territories will also work with relevant regulators to streamline overseas skills recognition and consider how to expedite permanent visas for teachers already in Australia. For example, Victoria is funding incentives of up to $50,000 for international teachers to work in Victoria, supported by the teacher registration authority (the Victorian Institute of Teaching) to process additional international teacher registrations, and a commitment that they are processed within a week of applying for registration.
5. Prioritise conditional or provisional registration to increase the supply of teachers
Education Ministers will agree to facilitate more efficient national teacher mobility and streamline registration for prospective teachers such as teachers from overseas, retired teachers and alternative authorisation for initial teacher education students to teach while maintaining standards. This work will consider how the registration frameworks can support increased use of non-teaching staff to complement Action 21 and will explore the potential for a single national system.
Ministers will issue a statement of expectations to Teacher Regulatory Authorities and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership to update policies and processes, including the National Framework for Teacher Registration, to reflect these expectations as required.
6. Teacher employers will look for opportunities to boost the number of permanent teachers, recognising the importance of permanency to secure jobs in creating a stable workforce
Consideration will also be given to ensuring that casual staff are well supported in their roles and have an opportunity to network with their colleagues and participate in professional learning opportunities.
State and territory governments and non-government school authorities will examine their existing workforce employment arrangements and consider how to increase the number of teachers employed under permanent or ongoing arrangements.
7. States and territories to investigate the potential to promote teaching, mentoring and other opportunities to people who are registered but not currently working as teachers
States and territories, in collaboration with Teacher Regulatory Authorities (TRAs), will undertake a review of the number of teachers who hold registration but are not presently employed.
Following this, states and territories will develop a plan to attract these teachers back to the profession, which may include identifying alternative options to classroom teaching, such as mentoring.
The development of this plan will also be informed by the results of the review of teacher retention initiatives (see Action 22).