Students starting teaching degrees in 2024 can now register for scholarships worth up to $40,000 designed to encourage more people to become teachers in places like the Central Coast.
The Federal Government initiative will see $160M delivered for the Commonwealth Teaching Scholarships Program.
In designing the scholarships, the Government consulted with school principals and teachers, who spoke about the scholarships they received and how they often included a requirement to teach for a period of time.
Based on this feedback, the scholarships will include a ‘commitment to teach’ requirement, which means recipients must be willing to commit to teach for four years (undergraduate) and two years (postgraduate) in government-run schools or early learning settings, in areas like the Central Coast.
The 5,000 scholarships will be available for new teaching students studying from 2024 and will be targeted at high-achieving school leavers, mid-career professionals, First Nations peoples, people with disability, people for whom English is an additional language or dialect and individuals from rural, regional and remote locations or from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Central Coast students who are considering studying to become a teacher should consider registering.
Scholarships of $40,000 each will be available for undergraduate teaching students over four years and $20,000 for postgraduate students over two years.
To encourage more teachers to live and work in remote Australia, students completing their final year professional experience placements in these communities could receive an additional top-up payment of $2,000.
This also builds on the Government’s program to cut HECS-HELP debt for teachers in very remote areas.
“The Albanese Government is committed to encouraging more people to study to become a teacher in places like the Central Coast,” Federal Member for Robertson Gordon Reid said.
“This is one of the ways we are working to boost the teacher workforce in areas that need it the most.
“I encourage our best and brightest Central Coast students to register for one of these scholarships.”
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said teachers did one of the most important jobs in the world, and Australia needed more of them.
“I want more young people to leap out of high school and want to become a teacher, rather than a lawyer or a banker,” he said.
“And I want more people in the middle of their careers to consider becoming teachers.
“That’s what these scholarships are all about.
“Tying scholarships to a commitment to teach is an old-school idea that will help tackle today’s teacher workforce challenges.”
Prospective teaching students can check their eligibility and register their interest at education.gov.au/teaching-scholarships.
Applications close on January 14, 2024.