Professionals are being encouraged to make a mid-career jump to teaching through a new pathway under development by the NSW Government.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell announced a $400,000 investment to develop a brand new model focused on attracting the best and brightest from other professions into the teaching profession.
Mr Perrottet said the model would be jointly developed by the NSW Government and Teach for Australia, drawing on their experience in attracting mid-career and high achieving professionals into teaching.
“We know that traditionally it has been difficult for people to make a career switch to teaching due to the cost associated with leaving employment whilst undertaking a Masters of Teaching,” Mr Perrottet said.
“This partnership will look at enabling successful mid-career professionals to make the switch to teaching by lessening the adverse financial impact of taking time out of the workforce to gain a teaching qualification.”
Subject areas and schools with teacher shortages will be targeted – particularly science, maths and TAS (Technology and Applied Sciences), and rural and remote schools.
Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell said the bespoke model would be developed from scratch in collaboration with key education stakeholders.
“We know that more teachers are required in priority subject areas as well as our rural and regional schools, and this partnership will enable us to attract more high quality people into the profession,” Ms Mitchell said.
“This new pathway will be aimed at mid-career professionals, not new graduates, and is being rolled out alongside our reforms to ensure the highest standards for teachers in NSW.”
This model is one of a range of initiatives the NSW Government is implementing to bolster the teaching workforce, including targeted scholarships in priority subject areas and the Casual Supplementation Program.
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