Education support staff to become teachers

A NEW pilot program will aim to help three hundred education support staff and Koorie education support officers in rural and regional Victorian state schools obtain their formal teaching qualifications while working on the job.

The $13.9 program to be delivered by Federation University Australia and La Trobe University is due to start next year.

Teaching assistants, integration aides and cultural liaison officers will be supported with Department of Education-funded living expenses scholarships, relocation incentives, as well as mentoring support. In the final years of the program, they will be eligible to start teaching as paraprofessionals.

While both universities’ schemes will focus on aiding participation by education support staff in rural and regional Victoria, La Trobe’s is set to also encourage participation from Koorie education support officers.

State Minister for Education Ben Carroll said the funding would ensure “outstanding education support staff have the support they need to pursue rewarding teaching careers.”

“The undergraduate level employment-based teaching degree initiative opens up teaching to a broader pool of diverse candidates by supporting staff to gain teaching qualifications while working in our schools,” he said.

“The initiative is yet another example of the Victorian Government removing financial and geographical barriers so that our schools can recruit the next generation of dedicated teachers.”

The new employment-based teaching degrees will build on Victoria’s current suite – known as the Teach Today and Teach Tomorrow programs – which are available to postgraduate students.