Australia’s young teachers are our new hope as $10,000 grants issued to help overcome shortage

A new generation of young Aussies has given schools a beacon of hope that our nation can change the teaching crisis, as 1000 teaching students have received $10,000 a year scholarships.

Exclusive: A generation of young people is offering a glimmer of hope that Australia can turn around the teaching crisis.

Despite a national teacher shortage, new figures show for the first time in a decade 13 tertiary institutions have recorded small increases in teaching enrolments.

It is believed the decision in NSW to offer a once-in-a-generation pay rise to teachers and a major campaign to elevate the status of teachers has started to have an impact on increasing the number of people who want to study education – with the federal government hopeful the results will build.

Today, we have joined forces with corporate partners Officeworks, Teachers Mutual Bank, and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools to launch its Australia’s Best Teachers campaign, to celebrate the nation’s best educators.

It is part of a concerted push to drive greater respect and recognition for teachers.

It can also be revealed today the first recipients of the federal government’s landmark $10,000 teaching scholarships have been identified – a beacon of hope to join bright young students to the profession.

Follow the Australia’s Best Teachers series and nominate here

Preliminary figures obtained from 13 institutions offering nationally accredited teaching degrees reveal that enrolments are on the rise in 2024, with a critical increase of 1 per cent across the board from 2023 after a decline of around 12 per cent over the previous decade.

Postgraduate enrolments were also up by 15 per cent and there was also an increase of 8 per cent for non-nationally accredited educational roles.

The latest data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority also shows that there were 4427 additional student teachers in the university classrooms in 2023 — an increase of 1.4 per cent from 2022. 

This suggests the number of people abandoning teaching degrees — once as high as 50 per cent — may also be on the decline.

The stunning turnaround coincides with the launch of our Best in Class/Australia’s Best Teacher campaign at the beginning of last year and an unprecedented nationwide recruitment campaign that followed.

Jack Lo Russo who is studying Master of Teaching (Secondary) at the University of New South Wales, is one of the first recipients of the federal government’s $10,000 a year teaching scholarships. Mr Lo Russo has transitioned to teaching after almost a decade working in IT. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The $10 million Be That Teacher campaign — the brainchild of Education Minister Jason Clare and inspired by the Australia’s Best Teacher launch — has achieved a phenomenal response.

Almost one million Australians have visited the campaign website and more than 60,000 have visited the ‘Become a Teacher’ page, suggesting a vast potential for future recruits.

All up, the inspiring ads — which were co-funded by the federal and state and territory governments — have been watched a staggering 77 million times.

Mr Clare said there was still much more to do and he wouldn’t rest until the higher number of teachers resulted in more kids completing high school.

“We have put on the table the biggest increase in federal funding to public schools that has ever been delivered. It is critical that we tie this funding to things that will turn this around and help kids catch up, keep up and finish school.”

The federal government’s education supremo Mark Scott — the Sydney University Vice-Chancellor charged with fixing the nation’s teacher shortage crisis — said the campaign was critical in turning the tide.

“Teaching can be an incredibly valuable and rewarding job and campaigns like this are important so we can all work together to encourage people into the profession and improve the teacher and student experience,” he said.

We can also reveal the federal government has awarded its first 1000 teaching students $10,000 a year scholarships, after 3000 applications. Another 4000 will be handed out in coming years.

The inaugural recipients include Jack Lo Russo from UNSW and Michael Long from Newcastle University, both doing a Master of Secondary Teaching, Perth’s Emily Williams who is studying a Bachelor of Primary Education at Charles Sturt University and Claire Datsun from SA’s Flinders University who is doing a Masters of Primary Teaching.

Mr Lo Russo has transitioned to teaching after almost a decade working in IT.

He had always wanted to be a teacher after being inspired by his grandmother, a public school teacher, and now feels like he is fulfilling his dream.

“Now I’m taking the leap and doing what I always wanted to do,” he said.

He said with 14 weeks of unpaid full-time prac work — in classroom training — he would have struggled to cope without the scholarship money.
After a long career in marketing, film and television, Ms Datsun decided to pursue teaching as a way to make a difference in the community.

Earlier this year the 49-year-old returned to university for the first time in three decades and has no regrets.

“It’s been a wonderful experience, it’s tough but I have no regrets,” she said..

For students like Ms Datsun, who is also a mother of two teenage girls, these financial scholarships are “invaluable.”

“It means everything when you’re a mature student to leave existing careers to retrain whilst you’ve got a mortgage and children to look after,” she said.

“It’s the difference between doing it or not so I feel blessed and honoured to have the opportunity to go back and re-educate myself and forge my way in a new career.”

Celebrating inspirational and impactful teachers across Australia. Follow the series

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Originally published as Australia’s young teachers are our new hope as $10,000 grants issued to help overcome shortage