Give 36,000 students access to specialist teachers

As we reach the halfway mark in the Australian school year, it's a good time to reflect and take stock of what 2024 has given us - and the students of remote, regional and rural schools in this vast country.

But first, we acknowledge and appreciate the impact that YOU have made by supporting the journey towards educational equity. Your gift has enabled students to access a specialist teacher...students who had previously been missing out on this. Thank you!

The Problem

Educational inequity is the result of multiple complex factors. Teach For Australia chooses to focus on the people within the system. Evidence shows that teaching is the most significant in-school factor that can positively affect student achievement.

We offer leading development programs for teachers, school leaders, and mentors who can give their students the knowledge, skills and confidence to pursue their potential.

How we're helping

In one regional school in country Victoria, there is a teacher named Michael Jones (for confidentality reasons, this is a psuedonym). He went through the TFA Leadership Development Program a few years ago, and has remained at the school after he completed it. He has been working to bring science to life, starting a lunchtime science club which has been oversubscribed! He has also identified that some students weren't being stretched by the curriculum, and with additional time and energy to offer them more, they were very capable of acheiving more. He's aptly named this group he started as the High Abilities group. Each year he now brings a group of them to Melbourne for a few days, to visit univeristy campuses, corporate offices of large companies, and show them what their future could hold - if they so choose.

His aim is to provide them with choices.

"My main motivation for running things like this is to encourage educational aspiration but also to bridge the gap that exists for regional students getting into tertiary education and dispel the idea that universities are just for 'rich kids in the city'," Mr Jones said.

"If they choose to go to university or not is not my primary concern, but I do want them to make an informed decision about their future...it doesn't matter what they choose to become...the important thing is that they've had the ability to choose what they want from their future."

Without the Teach For Australia program, Michael would still be a lab tech in a mine. But thanks to being able to access this pathway to teaching and leadership, he's making a huge and important impact on students at Cobram Secondary College. We are so proud of him, and so grateful for his motivation, passion and hard work!

Next Steps

This is one beautiful example of the difference one person can make on hundreds of students. Thanks to your ongoing support, we know we can find and train and empower many more people just like Michael, to teach and lead students right across this country. Again, we thank you for being a changemaker and coming on the journey towards educational equity!