Bridging the gap in rural schools

TFA chief executive Edwina Dohle said TFA worked exclusively with disadvantaged schools in rural parts of the country.

“We are focused on addressing educational inequity by recruiting and developing exceptional people to teach in schools with the greatest needs,” Ms Dohle said.

“I grew up in a small country town in south-west Victoria, so I know first-hand that the schools in these communities are the heartbeat of the community.”

The Leadership Development Program has been running for 16 years and has over 1200 alumni.

“The program makes it possible for high-calibre graduates and career changers to be able to make the change into teaching without taking years out of the workforce to study,” Ms Dohle said.

“Over those two years, participants will complete a masters of teaching qualification with our university partner, the Australian Catholic University, while also working four days a week in low socio-economic schools.

“So from the beginning, they’re earning a salary and getting real life experience in being a fully independent teacher in schools.”

Ms Dohle said there were two different issues contributing to the teaching shortage.

“There’s getting great people in at the beginning and the second part is keeping them long term in schools,” she said.

“We’ve had 148 start in the program this year, with an average of 165 the last five years.

“About 92 per cent complete the program and 73 per cent of those are still teaching after five years.

“It’s strong proof of how effective this model is at bringing great talent in and converting them into long-term teachers.”

Madalena Russo moved to Cobram in January to work at Cobram Secondary College as part of the Leadership Development Program.

“I always wanted to go into teaching, that was my initial plan when I left uni,” she said.

“I was going to major in physics and then do a masters of teaching, but I found that engineering subjects suited me a bit more...

“So I did that and thought I should probably see what engineering as a career looked like and give it a go.

“But I found that once I was out there in the field it wasn’t really for me, the corporate environment didn’t suit me much.

“I wanted to move back to my original plan of teaching, and TFA seemed like a really good way to do that.”

Ms Russo’s said she found the environment at CSC was “really supportive” and felt she was ready to leave Melbourne.

“All the stars aligned,” she said.

“It’s a big change, but it’s a really great community, and the community of young teachers up here is very welcoming, so it's been nice to have that support.”

Ms Russo said the TFA program was great because it allowed teachers to work and study at the same.

She is currently teaching maths to Year 8, 10 and 11 students at CSC, and is loving it.

“Working as a teacher, I feel like I am actually doing something that is helping people,” she said.

“That’s one of the things that you feel a bit separated from in engineering, just like a tiny cog in a big machine.

“But as a teacher, you can actually see students develop and feel the impact of what you’re doing more tangibly.”

For more information on the TFA, visit teachforaustralia.org.