Teach For Australia

Our Mission

Despite our prosperity, Australia's education system is one of the most inequitable in the developed world. The postcode you're born in can radically impact your future, determining the type of education you get to access. And without a quality education, our young people get left behind - set up for lives of disadvantage instead of lives of opportunity. It's not their choice; and it isn't their fault.

Right now, the education sector across Australia is facing immense and urgent challenges. Young people are grappling with a system that struggles to support them to achieve their potential. Overburdened teachers are leaving the profession in droves, and there's fewer new graduates taking their place. Schools are under-resourced with the specialists they need to deliver a quality education for their students. The gap in outcomes between the most-advantaged and least-advantaged communities is already deep - and still growing.

Our most marginalised and vulnerable students are being left behind. But together, we can do something about it.

Established in 2009, Teach For Australia's vision is an Australia where education gives all children, regardless of background, greater choice for their future: and the ability to pursue the life opportunities they deserve.

Research tells us quality teaching and leadership are major factors in making this happen. Improving teacher quality offers the greatest policy strategy to positively impact the educational outcomes of students. And school leadership is second only to teaching among all school-related factors that contribute to student learning.

Raising students' achievement and driving equity into the education system depends on the effectiveness of teachers. So we're growing a community of leaders committed to equity for children by recruiting and developing exceptional people to teach and lead across the country.

- We rigorously recruit high-calibre people from all walks of life to join our flagship Leadership Development Program; a unique two-year placement opportunity that sees successful candidates (known as 'Associates') work hands-on in secondary schools while studying their Masters in Education

- We train and support them to become exceptional teachers who can give students the knowledge, skills and confidence to realise their potential.

Associates work in the schools that need them the most: we partner exclusively with schools serving low socioeconomic communities. More than half of our partner schools are in regional, rural or remote communities. As subject specialists, Associates fill real vacancies in hard-to-staff positions; particularly in the critically in-demand science, technology, engineering and maths learning areas.

We recognise quality teaching is only part of the picture - so we also invest in developing and supporting quality leadership as we seek to disrupt the status quo.

- We energise and challenge our people to become agents of change against educational inequity; empowered to drive long-term transformational reform and innovation in education. We've established a pipeline of future leaders, with half of our teaching Alumni taking on formal school leadership roles. They're creating change not just as year-level coordinators, curriculum designers, subject leads and instructional coaches, but through school executive and principal-class positions.

- Through our Teach To Lead and Future Leaders Program initiatives, we've helped more than 200 emerging school leaders build on their experience and insight as educators and grow into invaluable leaders who can raise school and student outcomes.

In our first fourteen years we've supported hundreds of schools and thousands of vulnerable students - but we know there's so much more to do. We're determined to reach and teach 2 million Australian students by 2030.

Our goals are ambitious but clear. By 2030, with the help of our partners and supporters, we aim to: - Reach and teach up to 2 million Australian students - Place and support 4,000 new teachers - Develop innovative solutions for the system - Grow the business behind our programs