It’s back to school for Victoria’s best and brightest teachers, with the Andrews Labor Government today launching the Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership and flagship Teaching Excellence Program – an Australian first.
Minister for Education James Merlino today officially opened the new purpose-built Academy in Melbourne’s Treasury Precinct, part of a $148.2 million Labor Government investment supporting teachers to develop their skills and provide an even better education for Victorian students.
The new Academy will provide a nation-leading opportunity for high-achieving teachers and school leaders to develop and share their expertise and make a deeper impact on students in every school and community across Victoria.
In addition to the new CBD location and an existing facility in North Melbourne, a further seven regional sites of the Academy – in Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Mildura, Moe and Shepparton – will open by the end of 2022.
The Academy provides high-quality professional learning in two streams: Teaching Excellence and Leadership Excellence.
The Teaching Excellence Program supports up to 500 highly skilled teachers from government, Catholic and independent schools across Victoria each year to advance their professional practice, with access to the best research in the science of learning and discipline-based content knowledge.
The course will be tailored to teachers in diverse subjects like the arts, English, health and physical education, humanities, languages, mathematics, science and technologies.
These teachers will share their expertise, knowledge and networks with their own school communities, ensuring every classroom and all students can benefit from this investment.
The Leadership Excellence Program delivers targeted, evidence-based learning opportunities for Victorian government school leaders, building on the legacy of the Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership.
As stated by Minister for Education James Merlino
“This is an investment in our fantastic teaching workforce, but it’s also a profound investment in the education of students across Victoria – delivering the best teaching techniques to make sure our kids get the best learning outcomes.”
“This Australian-first Academy is just another initiative that cements Victoria as the Education State – with campuses in every corner of Victoria to ensure all teachers have access to world-class upskilling opportunities.”
